In addition to Email Scam Competency Testing, here's another tool for evaluating staff technology competencies.

Developed by Alicia Verno, Head of Technical Services at the Wilmington (MA) Memorial Library (who generously agreed to share with everyone), this is a nice staff technology competencies matrix [pdf], breaking down tech skills by subject/software and assigning different skill levels based on position.

The skill levels are:

• Level 1: Basic (Circulation Staff, Tech Services Asst.)
• Level 2: Intermediate (Department Heads, Information Desk staff, Administration)
• Level 3: Advanced (Technology Committee members)

and the required skills are broken out into these categories:

• Workstation Basics
• Operating System
• System Security
• Printing
• Internet
• Email
• CASSIE [time management software]
• Horizon [ILS]
• Horizon (Tech Services staff only)
• Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft Word

I really like this fine-tuned approach. Assigning library positions to different skill levels is an easy way of being able to find help if a question is over someone's head.

I also like breaking out each skill area. It plainly lays out which skills are important for staff to know, but also shows them skills above their level, perhaps enticing them to be curious and figure things out.

We're going to modify Alicia's matrix [pdf] for use at my library, and I'd like to add:

• Printers/Copiers: changing toner, adding paper, cleaning jams, checking print queues, deleting print jobs, overriding payment system, shutting down/starting up print server
• Museum Passes: booking a pass, deleting a reservation, checking out a pass
• ILL Requests: requesting through local catalog/state-wide catalog/OCLC requests, checking on a request

I'm sure it could be an endless list, and I know the point isn't to be exhaustive - nor is it to point out peoples' shortcomings or reasons why someone shouldn't be in the position they're in. Really, competencies lists should identify the areas in which staff feel uncomfortable, so supervisors can make sure they get the training they need.

Thanks again Alicia!

Posted under Uncategorized on Thursday, May 27th, 2010 at 9:43 am, by Brian Herzog. Post and comments available via the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.