Interactive Library Inductions Project

Introduction

The interactive library inductions project aims to create a practical resource whereby

library staff can find tips, hints and ideas to make their library inductions more

interactive, with the view that this will lead to more engaging inductions. The main

components of this project include the background survey (results below), case

studies documenting interactive induction techniques and a literature search.

This project originated in the West Midlands Trainers’ Group. It had been noted that

library staff sometimes post messages to discussion lists wanting to know of

methods to engage groups of staff better in library inductions.

Survey Results

As part of this project, a survey was sent out to NHS library staff in two regions: the

Midlands and the North West. The aim of this survey was to gather data on how

NHS libraries are currently conducting inductions and what methods they are finding

most useful. The results of this survey are presented in this document.

The survey results

Question 1: Who do you deliver inductions to?

(Results by size of group, duration of induction and venue for induction).

Several group inductions are for smaller groups for between two and ten participants. The larger audiences tended to consist of mixed staff groups (such as for trust inductions), nurses and students. The fewest formal inductions were delivered to managers, administrative staff and scientific/technical staff. One library delivers inductions to volunteers.

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2-5 6-10 11-20 21-30 31-40 Over 40

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Size of Group

Size of group inductions by staff group

Mixed Staff Groups(e.g.Trust Induction)

Admin & Managers

Allied Health Professionals

Doctors

Nurse/Midwife/Visitors

Scientific/Technical

Students - placement

65% of inductions are between 11 and 30 minutes with no group more likely to have

any other amount of time. 9% were over 60 minutes with 15% being under 10

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Up to 10 mins 11-30 mins 31-60 mins Over 60 mins

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Duration

Duration of induction by staff group

Mixed Staff Groups(e.g.Trust Induction)

Admin & Managers

Allied Health Professionals

Doctors

Nurse/Midwife/Visitors

Scientific/Technical

Students - placement

Libraries and lecture theatres are the most common venues with IT suites being the least popular. Other venues included the foyer outside a venue, in a hired hall and one also offers inductions via teleconferencing. Marketplace inductions and library information in new starter packs were also highlighted by respondents.

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LectureTheatre

SeminarRoom

IT suite Library Other

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Location

Location of Inductions by Room Type

Mixed Staff Groups (e.g.TrustInduction)

Admin & Managers

Allied Health Professionals

Doctors

Nurse/Midwife/Visitors

Scientific/Technical

Students - placement

Question 2: What methods of delivery do you use for your inductions?

Other responses were as follows:

Stall/stand with looped presentation and freebies, iPads to demo resources,

and playing cards with FAQs for participants to choose

Use of the Prezi and Panopto softwares

For library tours – large laminated departmental signs for staff to browse their

shelf and comment

Practical tasks – go in to the physical library to answer questions about it or

find book/journals.

Basic introduction with a film about the library

Quiz with voting system

Handouts

Get participants using computers to find information

Cephalonian method

Registering for Athens/Base Doc

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Talking withPowerPoint

Talking withoutPowerPoint

slides

Library tour Demonstration ofresources where

participantswatch

Other

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Teaching Method

Teaching methods used

Question 3: how important are interactivity, innovation and engagement for

inductions?

Comments from respondents about interactivity, innovation and engagement:

Compulsory attendance can result in poor motivation

“Corporate inductions are the hardest audience as it is an all day session and you face a lot of people being negative on arrival who do not want to be there but have to be” (3) “Some sessions are scheduled by placement supervisors for their students and they can be less engaged that (sic) teams of staff who have come along willingly!” (14)

Enable the audience to ask questions to increase active participation

“It is important to ask what their needs are and to get a feel of how many people will use the library in the future. If they are interested you go into more detail about the library and its services” (26) “Interactive sessions help participants to retain information more effectively and also help to remove barriers between the library trainer / host and the group so that sessions are more free-flowing. Participants are

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Very Important Important Not very important Not important atall

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Ranking

Interactivity

Innovation

Engagement

far more likely to contribute and offer suggestions for nre (sic) resources, feedback on services if they are relaxed and feel their contribution is valued i.e. encouraging their involvement” (33) “The audience need to be able to ask questions and that presentation has informed them about your service” (16)

Keep it simple to avoid information overload. The detail can come later.

“This is usually the first time participants meet Library staff and see the facilities and it’s important to create the right impression. They are given so much info at induction that we need to stand out. It’s not so much about them remembering everything we talk to them about but knowing there’s something here for them and seeing that we’re approachable and friendlt (sic) – hopefully they will come back” (21) “I believe simplicity is key for people to understand procedures, they normally get overloaded with information; being able to reply to their enquiries on the spot increases their awareness” (10) “The opportunity to explain how we can help them with their work is enough for follow up later” (17)

Interactivity and engagement were seen as inter-linked with the former resulting in the latter.

“Obviously more participation is likely to engage customers more” (1) “Ideally I think all three of these should be in the delivery of induction. The three merge into each other and all would make a presentation more memorable and interesting” (29) “Given the shortness of the presentation I think trying too much interaction or too many unfamiliar techniques would eat into the time available too much” (24) “I don’t think innovation for innovations sake is so important, but engagement definitely is” “No formal presentation so interactivity and innovation difficult to achieve” (34) “As there is no opportunity for a formal presentation/induction session we can only give an opinion on interactivity or innovation as we are not experiencing it” (36)

Communication skills are very important.

“We all remember things that are fun and make us laugh especially when we are not expecting it” (8) “Having an informal chatty approach makes it more engaging” (37)

Question 4: Describe the most effective induction you’ve ever delivered. What

factors helped to make it successful?

Three highlights from the responses:

“I had a group of student nurses who came to the library. I gave a short introduction,

outlining the catalogue and major resources. I had prepared a quiz for them and they

had to do a 'treasure hunt' to find the references in the quiz, using library resources

such as encyclopedias, reference books, the catalogue, classmarks etc. The students

loved it. One nurse said she had never used libraries before and she became a very

avid convert, spending a lot of time in our library and the public library!”

“I provided an induction to a group of around 45-50 nursing students. At the beginning

of the session I put a powerpoint slide up with a number of options on the various

services and resources the library offered and asked the nursing students to tell me

what they wanted to know about the library service. Giving them the choice about

what they wanted to know seemed to enhance engagement in the induction session.”

“Induction for Pure Innovation Students with Learning Disabilities who were about to

start work placements at the hospital. We helped them to find information on the

particular area of the hospital they would be working in. We made the Library tour

interactive with the students each taking turns to use the library catalogue etc. We

were able to chat about their work placements. Thus, the students felt very relaxed in

the library environment and with the library staff.”

Other responses to the most effective inductions delivered:

Method used What was effective?

Short talk Free pens

Session with hands on computer work or a Prezi presentation

Participants were very keen and wanting to know what is on offer

Get participants to do something active or encourage questions from them in some way

More experience of library staff in doing these sorts of sessions

Participants not having to listen to one voice all the way through

Good to have interaction with participants – makes it more informal and they enjoy it more as a result

A mixed session with several different activities – short presentation, look at journal, use computer to search for book, find book in library

Enjoyable and barrier-breaking introduction to the library

The fact that this quantity of time is given to spend with the inductees

Tailoring the session to the exact needs of the group

Purpose-built session for a specific audience

Adding genuine enthusiasm for the subject to the session, learn names and engage with participants as individuals.

Enthusiasm rubs off onto participants

Stud presentations with links to live websites so you can demonstrate e-resources

Providing a live demo of e-resources instead of just talking about them.

Insert appropriate humour Puts people at ease

Use of playing cards with FAQs

Participants enjoyed this unusual method

Do not overload inductions. Can stick to 3 key points: -

1) There is a library 2) There is a librarian 3) How to get in touch

Keeping it simple so participants retain these basic facts rather than becoming overwhelmed.

Market place induction Participants are free to ask their own specific

questions after a short talk

Receiving smaller groups of inductees

Small numbers led to the opportunity to give them a tour around the library

One to one inductions Can be more effectively tailored

Mix of e-resources searching and intro to the library with

Mixed session for various learning styles and to make it more interesting, taking an interest

freebies, discussions on how they might use the library, followed by a follow up email with links to useful websites for library and e-resources

in how participants work, making it easy for them to contact the library afterwards

Consider the following: relaxed presenter, humour, relevance, engagement, and short key points

Question 5: What barriers, if any, affect your delivery of inductions?

(Please explain these barriers as applicable).

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Time (too littleor too long)

Facilities Venue Group size(too small or

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Motivation ofparticipants

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Barriers

What barriers affect Inductions?

Comments about barriers

Time

Too little time and other sessions over-running. However, could be a good thing to avoid information overload.

“We are sometimes restricted on time as the library induction is usually part of a wider induction programme for a particular group of new starter e.g. Nursing Students” (9) “Generally too little – so it can only be a very brief mention of services and resources” (3) “Too little with the junior doctors as previous sessions seem to run over” (4) “Occasionally if the induction is running late, they do not have time to look around the library” (26) “Too little time or as in the case of corporate induction – just some slides through the break” (8) “Breaks are often not on time – so sometimes miss staff” (34) “We have a generous lunch break period to interact with staff but there are a number of stalls competing for attention” (36) “Time is a factor for new doctors in August and February as we only have lunchtime and have to ‘compete’ with bleeps and car parking!” (21) “It would be nice to have more time with the junior doctors/students and have more of a practical element to things, but I think about ten minutes for a whole-trust induction is about right as there is a real danger of outstaying one’s welcome” (24)

Venue and facilities

Physical library tours valuable but size and disruption issues present

“If in the library, can be disruptive, if outside of the library, hard to describe all features out of context” (11) “Our library is small, so when we get large cohorts of students, we go to a seminar room instead. A physical tour is preferable” (30)

Market place inductions can get crowded

“Sharing venue with other groups at Market Place style inductions” (10) “Tables can be crowded making it difficult to meet everyone” (36)

Room layout impacts on opportunity for interaction. Choice of room not always available.

“Need right size room – and all should be able to see and hear well” (6) “Often rooms are set up either as lecture theatre for presenting or as an IT suite and so a mixed (talking and hands on) approach is not always easily achievable” (33) “Ideally all would be done in an IT training room but this is it (sic) how real life works and we have to fit into other’s induction programmes” (3) “Usually beyond our control as we have to fit into other’s induction programmes” (3) “This is usually determined by the induction TT” (20) “To some extent the layout and timings are out of your control and this can affect the format of the induction (constraints)” (33)

Libraries appeared to prefer IT facilities in rooms, but only when the network is working!

“IT can be problematic” (12) “IT suites are few and far between. We have recently got a MIFI unit but this does mean carrying around laptops etc to venues and they take a long time to set up and can be difficult to keep online” (14) “Depends if the IT suite is available and the

computers are working” (18) “An internet connection that works at a speed above glacial is always a bonus bur rarely happens” (24) “We require more work stations” (30) “Network down is a killer” (37)

Group size

Larger group sizes linked to poorer interaction, participation and engagement

“Sometimes if we have a large group it is difficult to engage everyone” (9) “More difficult with hands on inductions if group too large – some lose focus/interest” (11) “Sometimes smaller groups would make it easier to do interactive work and do more active learning” (24)

Large group sizes also a problems in providing sufficient facilities for all

“We have to split groups of 8 or more as we run out of desk space and seats for form filling” (21) “Our IT suites hold 11 and 9 so it can be difficult for larger groups. We either have to hold 2 sessions or not use computers if the group is larger than 11” (8) “If groups are larger than 9 we have to provide laptops for click throughs, which can be difficult” (25)

Motivation of participants

Motivation can be hampered by timing of session within wider induction programme

“They are likely to be less motivated when other events have taken place prior (sic) the library induction e.g. training courses or other department inductions” (10) “If they have to attend and the presentation is in the middle of the day, there is an overload of information” (16) “For Trust inductions, our session comes toward the end of a long day, and they don’t always seem very motivated” (28)

Mandatory attendance also viewed as reducing attendees’ motivation

“Yes they often just attend because they are required to” (1) “This is a major factor – not good when students aren’t interested and they have been forced in by their tutor” (7) “This tends to be one of the larger barriers to a successful induction as groups which have been sent to a library induction don’t always want to participate/listen” (9)

Pitching induction at correct level and making the information relevant to needs is very important. Can be a challenge for very mixed groups though.

“It is a mixed group from secretarial to consultants so the degree of motivation is very variable” (36) “Ensuring that the session is relevant and at the right level is something that has come up in feedback, and is a matter which we need to do more work on” (35) “Certain groups e.g. FYs like to approach the library on their own terms and are less appreciative of directed inductions – they can see this as wasting their time and motivation / enthusiasm can be low! Better to select a single resource or service that they really use and train them to use it effectively. Find out from PG Education or survey FYs directly” (33)

Libraries also acknowledged their responsibility towards achieving motivation

“They have to be interested in what I’m teaching them. But then, it’s my job to gain their interest,

and therefore their participation” (18) “That has to come form (sic) you as the trainer / teacher” (20)

Other

Not receiving invitation to inductions

“Not being invited at (sic) all the events” (2) “Can be difficult to get a slot in the first place” (19) “Motivation of other staff to book them in as inductions are run by OD&L and PEFs” (21)

Question 6: Do you have any further comments/tips/experiences advice to give

about engaging library inductions?

Use the back of the library registration form to offer opportunities to sign up to

extra services such as E-TOCs or a journal club mailing list. This may be

particularly valuable if you have limited opportunity to interact with potential

customers in another way.

Hand out post it notes so participants can jot down questions they want

answering at the end.

Use humour/have a fun element

Get testimonies from existing staff/students to use

Pay attention to induction feedback

Keep it simple, follow it up later, put some of the detail into e-learning content

Be confident about what you are offering and that the library provides

something for everyone.

Emphasize that we are a support service.

Anita Phul, Nicola Ager, Stuart Purchase and Laura Walsh

With thanks to our library colleagues in the North West who carried out this

survey simultaneously in their region.

June 2015