Goals and Intentions Statements - Guidelines and Suggestions

If you are going to request funding for a conference or outside learning event, you need to submit the "Request for Authorization for Leave and-or Expenses to Attend" form (354).  Along with this form, you must submit a "Goals and Intentions Statement," that explains why you want to attend this event.

Your statement may be brief, but should include the following:

1.)    What is the purpose/focus of the conference or training?  Who is the intended audience?  Put this in your own words and connect it to the library, don’t just copy and paste from the website (1-2 sentences are usually fine).  

2.)    Why do you wish to attend the event?   How is it relevant to your job and/or the library?  How will the library benefit from your attendance?  What skills/ideas do you expect to gain from attendance that will improve your job performance and/or customer service? (this section should be the longest and contain the most detail).  Avoid statements that would be true of any attendee at any conference (e.g. “at this conference I’ll represent the Pratt library”) and focus on why YOU should attend this particular event.

You might include:

• Experiences/information gained from prior years' attendance that you have used in your job.  If this is your first time attending you might include information you received from others who attended or what you expect to bring back from the event.
• Specific information/training offered at the event that you cannot receive elsewhere.
• Lists of specific sessions at the event which are relevant to your job, or which prompted your request to attend.
• If committee service is part of your request, you need clearly describe the committee and its goals, and explain how service on this committee benefits the library, the staff, or our customers. 
• If you are a member of the sponsoring organization, or have a membership that entitles you to a discount in registration or other fees, include this information and your membership number in your statement. 

Remember that the goal of this statement is to give the reasons why you wish to attend the conference and how the library staff or customers will benefit from your attendance.   Be specific.  

If you have any questions about your statement,

please contact Staff Development and Training before you submit your paperwork.

Before, During, After: Learning doesn't begin and end in the classroom.

Many people view learning as a one time event.  Go to class, learn something, leave.  However, we know that this approach doesn't lead to a high rate of retention.  You have to prepare for learning before you enter class, ask the right questions during class, and then review the information after class to get the most out of each learning experience.

Before

Think about what it is you want to "get" from the class.  Why did you register for this class - what appealed to you?

Look at the learning objectives and/or course description.  What do you expect to learn in this class?  Is there an aspect of the topic you don't see in the description/learning objectives that you expected to see?  Make a note of it so you can bring it up in class.

What do you expect/want/need to be able to do once you have completed the class?  If you don't know what the end result should look like then how can you determine if the class was a success?

What do you already know about this topic?  What questions do you have or what else do you want to know about this topic?

During

What material is being covered in this class?  What questions do you have?  Write them down as they occur to you so that you can ask the instructor.  Does anything seem to be missing?

Are you able to understand the material being presented?  If not, why not?  Do you need the instructor to repeat something or go over the material in a different way?  Don't be afraid to ask relevant questions. Do you need more information, details, or examples?

Take notes in class.  We forget most of what is covered almost immediately, so a written record of the important ideas can help you remember them.  Notes can also be helpful when sharing the information with your supervisor or colleagues.

After

Time to evaluate.  Were all of your questions answered?  Did you "get" what you wanted from the class or do you need to explore further?  Did the trainer share resources that will help you to go further with the topic?

What worked well for you?  What problems did you encounter with the information or the instructor?
If asked, could you provide your supervisor or co-workers with a summary of the information presented in class?  If you can't, it's a good thing you took those notes in class.  Review them to see what points you might want to revisit.

Where do you want to go from here?  What other elements of this topic are of interest to you?

Study like a Ravenclaw or work to the sounds of a storm at sea

Ambient-mixer.com

Ambient-Mixer.com has a section dedicated to the background sounds of fictional worlds, so you can study to the sounds of the Gryffindor common room, read in Belle’s library, or browse the Internet while you’re being chased by a hoard of Dothraki.

Library locations

The only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library.

Albert Einstein

Online Learning and CEU Requirements - a new form

For a training to be counted toward your CEU total it has to be at least 60 minutes long (and counted in 30 minute intervals after that). 

Many of the SkillSoft classes are now less than 60 minutes, but there is a way to complete these shorter classes and still receive credit.

For SkillSoft Classes that are less than 60 minutes long.

1.      Create a new, distinct title for each group of classes that you want to complete.  The title must reflects the subject or overall purpose of the programs in the group.  For example, several classes on sentences, grammar, and capitalization could be called “Business Writing Essentials.”  Other possibilities might be “Gender and Leadership,” “Update Your Customer Service,” “Excel Basics” and so on.  
2.      Find 2 or more classes on a similar topic that together total an hour or more.  
3.   Go to the "Forms" page of the blog and select "Learning Log for Online Programs

4.     Enter your general title and purpose of the classes in the space marked "What do I want to learn?" and put the name of the program or provider of the classes in the space marked "Program Used."

5.      As you complete the programs, add the names, length, and completion dates to the log.  Print your completion certificate for each class and attach the certificates to your log.

6.      If your total is over 60 minutes write down the number of complete hours and look at what is left.  If you have 30 minutes or more you can claim that extra half hour, but will lose any time less than 30 minutes.  For example, a 72 minute total is worth 1 hour, a 95 minute total is worth 1.5 hours, and a 130 minute total is worth 2 hours.  Put the “total” hours on the log in the "Contact Hours" space.

7.   Sign the bottom of the form and submit the log and certificates to SD&T.  The log takes the place of the CEU form in this case.

                                                                                                                                

You need to complete a separate form for each group of classes, and submit all of the paperwork together to receive credit .

As always if you have any questions, contact the SD&T Coordinator before you begin.

What's that word again?

Can't think of a word? Need a better word?

Wordhippo.com is a website that helps you find synonyms, antonyms, and even  sample sentences containing your word.  It will help you conjugate your verb, translate a word into English or into a large number of other languages, or even find a word when you only have a phrase that describes it.  Give it a try.

Review: Motivate, Engage, and Energize Your Team

Motivate, Engage, and Energize Your Team

Che’ Evans, instructor

Baltimore City HR Department

July 20, 2017

The instructor, was enthusiastic and brought a great energy to the discussion.  She was happy to answer specific questions and adapt the course to the needs and interests of the participants.

The class started by discussed employee motivations and how to create an environment that encourages employees to be engaged in their work.  Communication is definitely the key to sharing expectations and clarifying what tasks are “do now” and which can wait.  We also learned that employees can be working at a satisfactory level, but if they are not supported or even worse are in the wrong job they will not improve their performance or be motivated to expand their abilities.

One suggestion offered in class is to meet one-on-one with each member of your team at least once a month to review progress and discuss any problems.  This doesn’t have to be a long meeting, and shows the staf that you are interested in their growth.  Another interesting ideas was to provide interim performance evaluations with scores to staff having difficulties so that they can track their progress from version to version, and review areas that need improvement. 

This was a very interesting class, and I highly recommend it for supervisors and managers.  It does seem to be directed toward managers of larger groups, but those with smaller teams will still get some good ideas to try with their staff.   

Lisa R. Kenyon

Staff Development and Training