Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Training Student Workers For Cross-Departmental Success In An Academic Library: A New Model, Kindra Becker-Redd, Kirsten Lee, Caroline Skelton

Library Staff Publications

Many academic libraries rely on a student workforce for everyday operations, interacting with patrons, and assistance with larger projects. Training these students for such multifaceted and customer-service-focused positions can be a challenge. This article traces an overhaul of training procedures made during the transition to a centralized, services desk workflow. All aspects of training a large student workforce, from planning and presentation to assessment, are outlined. Interactive group sessions and peer-to-peer reinforcement of procedures have proven to be most effective in training student workers for varied roles in an academic library.