Martin County Library System awarded H.W. Wilson Staff Development Grant

For Immediate Release
Tue, 03/04/2014

Contact:

Cheryl Malden

Program Officer

Governance

312-280-3247

cmalden@ala.org

CHICAGO — The Martin County (Fla.) Library System has been named the H.W. Wilson Library Staff Development Grant recipient for 2014, for its "Connect: Customer Service Excellence at Martin County Library System” program. The focus of this program is to develop and train each staff member to be knowledgeable in every area of library operations. After completion, staff will be capable and confident in answering complex questions and handling difficult situations.

With this grant, the Martin County Library System plans to develop the final team-building module of the program, develop and implement program evaluation tools and fund a speaker for its annual staff training day.  Six other modules have already been developed and launched, focusing on communication, technology, event planning, collection development, budget basics, and people in charge. Kaleigh Trendell, the system’s staff development specialist, is responsible for implementing the Connect training program and measuring its impacts.

In selecting Martin County Library System for this year’s H.W. Wilson Grant, jury members commented on how the well organized module system was designed to fill a documented need, according to Jury Chair Laurel Bliss, of San Diego State University. 

Members of the 2014 H.W. Wilson Library Staff Development Grant jury were Laurel Bliss, Chair, San Diego State University; Deana Groves, Western Kentucky University; Tobi Oberman, Skokie (Ill.) Public Library; Jasmine Posey, Greenwich (Conn.) Library; and Teri Switzer, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs.

The award will be presented at the ALA Annual Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada in June. More information about the H.W. Wilson Staff Development Award including how to submit a nomination is available on the ALA website.

The deadline for submissions of applications for the 2015 H.W. Wilson Library Staff Development Grant is Dec. 1, 2014.