A Snapshot of Staff Development Preferences of Public Library Workers Post-Pandemic

Abstract

Staff development for public library staff is a critical component for all public libraries. In a post COVID-19 world, this study set out to see what the preferences for staff development now look like via a sample of responding Indiana public library workers. A survey was emailed out via the Indiana Public Library Staff List-serv run by the Indiana State Library, and the results can be helpful to public library staff members. Results show that public library staff members are not eager to return to face-to-face training, which is interesting to compare to preferences in prior literature pre-COVID-19. Results are broken down by library size, age range, and job title, but also how staff hear about opportunities, and the frequency of such training.Takeaways give guidance and recommendations on how to best structure staff development programs going forward.