Information Scotland The Journal of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland ISSN 1743-5471 Issue contents | Journal contents | About the online edition of the journal February 2006 Volume 4(1)

Training

Sharing and learning

New CILIPS President Ivor Lloyd has pinpointed partnership as his priority for the year. Frances Scott outlines the training activities of one regional partnership, the Tayside and Fife Library and Information Network (TAFLIN).

The TAFLIN training programme has been running successfully now for six years. Throughout this period very positive evaluations have been received from staff who have attended the various training courses. Feedback indicates that the cross-sectoral aspect of the training courses is of particular appeal and benefit to the participants. It presents a marvellous opportunity for exchange of ideas and discussion of practice in the various organisations involved.

Beginnings
TAFLIN’s origins date from a meeting which in 1988 called by the then Director of Library Services of Angus Council, Gavin Drummond. He invited Chief Librarians in the area to discuss ways of collaborating to develop a Library and Information Plan (LIP) for Tayside. As a result, the Tayside Chief Librarians’ Group was formed, comprising chief librarians from the area’s further and higher education institutions and public library services, plus representatives from school and specialist libraries. Tayside comprised the separate areas of Angus, Dundee City, and Perth and Kinross.

Fife was included in the group in the mid-1990s, at which point the group was renamed TAFLIN.

The major organisations involved in TAFLIN are the local authorities (including schools) of Angus, Dundee, Fife and Perth and Kinross, the Universities of Abertay, Dundee and St Andrews and all six FE colleges in the area – Adam Smith (formerly Glenrothes and Kirkcaldy Colleges), Angus, Dundee, Elmwood, Lauder and Perth.

Training platform
The LIP was published in 1992, closely followed by a Directory of Services, but as TAFLIN evolved, it became clear that it would be an ideal platform for providing cross-sectoral training for library staff. To pursue this aim, a training co-ordinator was appointed to organise the programme on a yearly basis. Much of the success of this initiative is due to Mary Lakie, who was the training co-ordinator from 1999 until her retirement in 2004. Mary established the initial structure of the training programme and organised many successful courses over the years. On Mary’s retirement, I took over the job of training co-ordinator.

Training programme outlined
The training programme runs from January to May each year. Training topics are identified at the yearly meeting (usually held in August or September) between the training co-ordinator and the nominated training managers from each organisation. The training managers consult their staff prior to the meeting for ideas for training topics.

On average, nine to twelve topics are pursued for the following year’s programme, which are aimed at a range of target participants such as frontline staff, supervisors or senior management staff. Topics are often tied in to current initiatives and new developments (particularly in the area of ICT) which have an impact on training needs, such as the introduction of the People’s Network.

Some of the topics over the years have included internet search skills, copyright issues, frontline communication, teaching skills, ICT troubleshooting, digitisation, customer service, supervisory skills and equality and diversity issues.

Tutors for the courses are often sourced from staff from the various member organisations. In this way, the TAFLIN courses can be offered at very competitive prices compared to standard commercial rates.

Information
You can find details of the current training programme on the TAFLIN website. Priority is given to staff from the member organisations, but others are very welcome to attend when spaces permit. Please contact the training co-ordinator for availability.

Frances Scott is TAFLIN Training Co-ordinator.
She may be contacted at: Arthurstone Community Library, Dundee, t: 01382 438891.

Information Scotland Vol. 4(1) February 2006

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