The Ohio Library Support Staff Institute (OLSSI) awarded H.W. Wilson Staff Development Grant

CHICAGO — The Ohio Library Support Staff Institute (OLSSI) has been named the H.W. Wilson Library Staff Development Grant recipient for 2015, for its cooperative venture to provide professional development opportunities for support staff from academic, public, school and special libraries throughout the State of Ohio. The focus of this program is to develop and train library support staff to become good supervisors and to serve their patrons better.

With this grant, the Ohio Library Support Institute plans to provide attendees interested in library supervision with some basic skills they will need to motivate employees, evaluate performance, navigate the implementation of library policies and determine their own best management style.  Good supervisors make it easier for staff to serve patrons better.  The goal of these sessions is to assist the library support staff develop good supervisory skills that will benefit their libraries and their own careers.  All attendees will be given the opportunity to attend the supervisory track, but especially the five (5) library support staff who apply for a $275 scholarship with the supervisory track in mind.  The sessions will be evaluated by the attendees and in this case there will be follow-up with participants to see how many have taken on supervisory responsibilities in the year following the institute and/or how many have applied for a supervisory position. Based upon the results OLSSI will determine if the track should continue.

In selecting The Ohio Library Support Staff Institute (OLSSI) for this year’s H.W. Wilson Grant, jury members commented on how this supervisory training program seemed well designed to meet a need in libraries.  The jury was also delighted that five scholarships are to be offered, according to Jury Chair Joseph Egan, Montgomery County Public Libraries.  

Members of the 2015 H.W. Wilson Library Staff Development Grant jury were Joseph Egan, chair, Montgomery County Public Libraries; Jezmynne Dene, Portneuf District Library; Janice Flug, American University; Deana Groves, Western Kentucky University; and Rebecca Nous, University at Albany (SUNY).

The award will be presented at the ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco 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 2016 H.W. Wilson Library Staff Development Grant is Dec. 1, 2015.