paper by Sally Earney and Louise Harrington given at the ALISS 2014 summer confernece

1. Doing something different – Staff
Development and Workplace
Learning at Cardiff University
Sally Earney
Louise Harrington

2. ULS Staff Development & Engagement Group
(Chair - Sally Earney)
Staff Development Policy, oversees training budget, Action
Plan, Training Programmes, staff development newsletter,
communication
Workplace Learning Working Group
(Chair - Louise Harrington)
Job rotation, Job shadowing, “Do Something Different” Days

3. Workplace Learning @ Cardiff University
• How it all started
• How it evolved
• What it looks like
today
• Where it is
going…

4. Sally Earney
MSc Human
Resource
Management
University of
Glamorgan
05/06
Dissertation topic:
Piloting Job Rotation in
Cardiff University Library
Service
1. Whether job
rotation improved
motivation and job
satisfaction
2. Whether
technical and ‘soft’
skills increased

5. Background in 2005
• 18 site libraries
• Large service (approx 250 staff)
• Number and variety of roles being performed
by clerical staff
• 2005 Merger – different cultures
• More opportunity for promotion since
restructuring

6. Library Environment
• Administrative repetition
• Increasing technological
change
• Restricted financial resources
• Diverse staff – range of
expectations from their
employment
• Lack of promotion
opportunities

7. What the literature says - benefits
• “High Performance Work Practice” (HPWP)
• Fosters employee learning / skills
• Career development and promotion
• Career ‘plateaued’ employees
• Creates innovation
• Aids assessment of employees interests
• Increases ‘social capital’ – quality of relationships
improved

8. And the list goes on…
• Reduces turnover
• Grows in-house talent
• Speeds employee development
• Creates agile and flexible employees
• See ‘big picture’
• Increases job satisfaction

9. Costs
• Learning curve – errors
• “Non-participant” jealousy (additional
workload)
• Non-participating Managers jealousy!
• Financial cost of running scheme
• Zero reward / promotion at end – employee
leaves
• Decrease in output during rotation

10. 3 pairs “rotatees”, 6 week rotation
Matt Robinson
Lego 6301 - Town Mini-Figures (1986)Reproduced under cc licence

11. Who were they?
No of hours
swapped
Pair 1 Senior Library
Assistant
Aberconway
Library (Business)
Senior Library
Assistant
Nursing &
Healthcare Studies
Library
29 hours /week
Pair 2 Senior Library
Assistant
Arts & Social
Studies Library
Archives Assistant
Special Collections
and Archives
15 hours /week
Pair 3 Senior Library
Assistant
Biosciences Library
Acquisitions
Assistant
Collection
Management
Services
30 hours/week

12. New “Soft” Skills
• People skills
• Creativity in
approach to
tasks
• Confidence
U.S. Embassy Pakistan 2012
U.S. Embassy Officers playing soccer with Pakistani athletes Reproduced under cc
licence

13. Technical Skills
• ILLs (2)
• Database searching
(4)
• Advanced word
processing (3)
• Voyager circulation (3)
• Report writing
• Athens passwords
• Using photocopiers
• IT troubleshooting
• Voyager cataloguing
• S: drive
• SIMS
• Microsoft Access
• Orientation
• Classification systems
• Microsoft Excel
• Internet searching

14. Building Relationships
You can’t put a price on
getting to know other people
in those situations…and I
think that facilitates any sort
of cross-departmental
working which I think is very
important
Enjoyed it from start
to finishA brilliant experience
We are in little pockets and
we tend to stay in little
pockets…most people have
not got a clue as to what is
going on in other pockets of
it

15. • New friends
• Perceived improved career
prospects
• Learning – soft and technical skills
• Increased confidence
• Learned about preferred working
environment / roles
• Comparison of workplace practices,
questioning, revised practices
• ‘Ripple effect’ - interest of other
staff
Outcomes

16. Successful BUT lack of volunteers!
Reproduced under cc licence
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-
sa/2.0/
Rudecactus.com 2005

17. Terrigal Headland: chilly rock pool Nadia308 under cc licence
Same aims
• Making
friends/building
relationships
• We do that differently
• Less daunting
• Learning new tricks
• One library service
• Building confidence
Shorter rotation?

18. Formalisation
• Started as a project – pilot of the Job Rotation
to become a formal annual scheme
• Workplace Learning Working Group formed
2008
• Reports to the ULS Staff Development &
Engagement Group
• Range of schemes organised and monitored
by the Group

19. Do Something Different Day
• Run twice a year in May
and November
• Usually on a
Wednesday
• Very popular – 20 took
part in last DSD Day out
of 31 applicants.
• 134 participants have
taken part since it
started

22. Quotes
I learned about services to
Distance Learners which I
can apply to my workplace
The team were really helpful
and made the experience
worthwhile and enjoyable.
I feel as though I know individual
members of the team and their areas of
expertise well enough to consult them in
the future.
DSD could be extended beyond
Information Services - we could visit
other Divisions and Schools.
"I found DSD day to be a really interesting and stimulating experience. I visited the
Welsh Government Library and Archives, and it was fascinating to see their facilities and
find out about what services they provided and what the day-to-day work of the library
staff involved - especially as it was so different to that of academic library staff. Even
though it is such a different working environment, it was still very useful to share ideas
and compare experiences & best practice."

23. Job Shadowing – ‘Don’t be afraid of
your own shadow!’
• Pilot in spring 2010
• Spend a few hours per
week for 6-8 weeks
shadowing a person in
ULS in a different role.
• Gain insight into specific
tasks and skills involved.
• Very flexible – the
schedule and timings
bespoke

24. Job shadowing
2010 Pilot - Library Ops
manager shadowed a
subject librarian and a
Senior Library Assistant
shadowed a LOM
2011 – Subject
Librarian shadowed a
Site Librarian
2012 - An IT assistant
shadowed a team of
Subject Librarians from
Aberconway Library
2013- The PA to the
University Librarian
shadowed the
Senghennydd Library
team

25. Job shadowing
2014 – 6 participants!1 courier
shadowing a
Subject Librarian
1 Senior Library Assistant
shadowing a Subject
Librarian
2 SLAs shadowing
Library Operations
Managers
1 Library Attendant shadowing
staff in Aberconway, Bute, Music
and Senghennydd Libraries
1 Library Assistant
shadowing the
Acquisitions and
Cataloguing team

26. Feedback
“I gained more than I was expecting from job shadowing.
I expected to passively watch a standard ‘day in the life’ of
a single subject librarian. Instead, the team of subject
librarians met with me for an initial chat, and we
discussed the specific gaps in my personal experience.
They suggested activities that were coming up in the next
few months, and invited me to sessions which I would not
normally have the opportunity to experience… I really
appreciated how much time the subject librarians were
willing to give to me, and their focus in making sure I had
a broad, high quality experience.”

27. Quotes“Being shadowed is an excellent opportunity
to reflect on routine actions & choices. It also
provides a fresh perspective on ambiguous or
difficult situations. “
“I felt it was an opportunity to think
about what I do & how I explain myself
to others.”
“I found it rewarding to provide an opportunity for
job shadowing as it helped the shadower gain
knowledge and experience

28. What next?
• Work placement
programme with IT?
• Expand partnership
with CLIC?

29. • Earney, S. 2011. Do Something Different Days
at Cardiff University Library Service. Sconul
Focus 51 pp.70-72
• Earney, S. and Martins, A. 2009. Job rotation
at Cardiff University Library Service: a pilot
study. Journal of Librarianship and
Information Science, 41 (4), pp. 213–26.
Articles

30. Which workplace
learning initiatives do
you have in your
organisation?

31. How would you
encourage staff to
participate in
workplace learning?