LEARNRT Round Table

I will be running our 2nd virtual new employee orientation in a few weeks. The first one in June went well with modifications but I'm looking for some ideas on fun activities we can do in a virtual environment.  I tried a jeopardy style trivia game last time but going back and forth between the presentation and chat where staff were answering was a little clunky. 
Any ideas to share?
Thank you!
Cassie

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Cassandra Collucci
Training Manager
Somerset County Library System
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Hi Cassie,

You might have luck browsing SessionLab's facilitation techniques library. They have created a collection of activities that are virtual-friendly. They can be further filtered down into goals, so you can designate if you're looking for teambuilding, collaboration, skill building, or so on. I've used a few of their activities in the past with success; they just may need to be modified inventively for your situation.

The full link is here:  https://www.sessionlab.com/library/remote-friendly.

I'd love to hear what you end up doing! Good luck,
Kerri

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Kerri Milliken
District L&D Consultant
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This is a great discussion.  I work for a vendor and right now we are bringing on new support staff.  My job is to teach them all about libraries: how they work, who works in them, their workflows, cats, cardigans ... you know, all the important things.  

At this point, we are using Google Forms for quizzes in between our automated and live presentations.  We include fun facts about the company and libraries in the quizzes so they aren't just dry "what do you remember" forms. 

We are an ILS vendor (among other things) so one of our activities is "Be a Library Patron" where we have them use the PAC software like a library user.  I think that one crosses the vendor/library staff line as a great activity, especially during this very virtual period.  Anything that puts the staff in the mind of the user trying to access the organization's services online.  We do it so that they understand what the library staff may encounter from their patrons.  We also have them spend time as different types of librarians using the software. 

We are challenged, however, by that spontaneous social aspect you usually get bringing on new people.  We use Slack so we are trying out different tactics like assigning them a Mentor, so they have a connection other than us.  We brought on a Bid Writer the day we instituted Pandemic Protocols (closed our offices and went virtual), so we did that with her and it seems to have worked well.  She also "shadowed" different meetings just to get an idea of what the other departments did and got to know who was who.  That isn't always practical, however, it seemed to make her feel like she was more a part of the organization since she wasn't going to be passing these people in the hall or seeing them in the lunchroom.  We also encouraged staff members to reach out and "chat" on Slack or email.  

I am looking forward to seeing what else people suggest or do. 

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Melissa Powell
Customer Success Manager
The Library Corporation
She/Her/Hers
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Original Message:
Sent: Aug 12, 2020 05:16 AM
From: Kerri Milliken
Subject: Virtual New Employee Orientation

Hi Cassie,

You might have luck browsing SessionLab's facilitation techniques library. They have created a collection of activities that are virtual-friendly. They can be further filtered down into goals, so you can designate if you're looking for teambuilding, collaboration, skill building, or so on. I've used a few of their activities in the past with success; they just may need to be modified inventively for your situation.

The full link is here:  https://www.sessionlab.com/library/remote-friendly.

I'd love to hear what you end up doing! Good luck,
Kerri

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Kerri Milliken
District L&D Consultant
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Cassie,
What is included in your virtual orientation.  I need to start these and was wondering what all you covered and how.  Thanks for any help you can give!

Have you considered doing Polls to learn more about the staff as an interactive component?

Cheryl

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Cheryl Wright
Manager, Organizational Learning and Development
Chair, Learning Roundtable of ALA
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Sort of along the lines of Cheryl's suggestion, I used a google form survey in the middle of the training. In the in-person version I give people colored dot stickers to mark what part of the strategic plan :resonates most with them,  surprises them; what parts they think: the library already does a great job with, areas where they see room for growth. Doing it as a poll made it a less tactile experience, but it had a similar visual effect at the end so I like how it turned out.

I didn't try this with my virtual training, but in live trainings I used to do interesting fact bingo. I had a bowl full of information about the library that new staff wouldn't stumble on immediately and  were fun to learn about. For example, oldest item in the collection (North American Review 1821), Who were the people our buildings are named after? etc.. You'd have to find a way to distribute bingo cards, but I think it would work well in an online format.

Good luck, please share whatever you end up trying!
      Patrick

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Patrick Hoecherl
Staff Development Coordinator
Salt Lake City Public Library
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Hi, Cassie,

I haven't tried it virtually, but you might look at Kahoot! Participants use their phone to answer quiz questions and live results appear on the presenter's screen. I too would be interested in a "Table of Content" of your orientation.

Good luck,
Heather

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Heather Shockey
Staff Development Coordinator
Greenville County Library System
She/Her
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Thank you so much for all the ideas. This is our agenda (and I've been updating/adjusting it after we've had a session.) The feedback has been positive but I'm trying to cut down on the content. Our in-person session is 4 hours and I cut down the first virtual presentation to 2.5 hours. 

Agenda: 
Welcome, Learning Objectives (10 minutes)
Activity:  Introductions (Name, branch, position, first job or favorite book)
All About Us: Our Library System (40 minutes)

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Cassandra Collucci
Training Manager
Somerset County Library System
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: Aug 13, 2020 08:04 AM
From: Heather Shockey
Subject: Virtual New Employee Orientation

Hi, Cassie,

I haven't tried it virtually, but you might look at Kahoot! Participants use their phone to answer quiz questions and live results appear on the presenter's screen. I too would be interested in a "Table of Content" of your orientation.

Good luck,
Heather

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Heather Shockey
Staff Development Coordinator
Greenville County Library System
She/Her
------------------------------

One thing that has greatly helped me cut down the amount of information in the initial orientation is spreading orientation out over several weeks.  Although I will hit some highlights from our employee manual and emergency procedures, most of that has been moved to the weeks following.  For example, I have an Emergency Procedures Manual Hunt.  Although we do now have an LMS that I use for these sessions, they were previously in a Google Forms or videos.

So, the initial orientation is face-to-face on Microsoft Teams where I cover library culture, customer service, highlights from the employee manual and emergency procedures, etc.  Then, depending on which topics need to be sent out, a new component will be sent out every Monday over the next 4-6 weeks such as harassment prevention, emergency procedures, library policies, etc.

Orientation for specific department procedures and day-to-day activities is handled by each department manager.  If they need assistance in putting together an orientation process, the Deputy Director and I are available to assist them.

I thought this information may be helpful for those who feel like there is so much information to cover in a short time.

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Angela Paterek
Training Manager
Rocky River Public Library
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Just finished up with a two day online new employee orientation (NEO) at our University of Florida Libraries this past week. It was a mini marathon but it went surprisingly fine via  Zoom.  I provided the same link for the 30 different sessions we provided (mostly 15 minute unit meet and greets) over the two days, and had Zoom set with a waiting room so people could drop in shortly before their unit's turn to say hello to our new employees. The format seemed to help move groups along and hold to their 15 minute time slot when the next group started to trickle in/were let in. Units were asked to prepare a five-minute presentation/overview on their people, strategic direction connection, and what they are up to. The presentations were as unique as snowflakes and how they introduced their people was varied and lovely too. We are just now getting eval results on the event but early feedback from participants and units was that it was good but 15 minutes per unit was too short for the meet and greet (it is roughly the amount they get for time when we do the physical tours too but...), and we had several requests to find a place to hold all the presentations so other employees besides our new employees could see the presentation materials. We'll likely hold onto a similar format for our Spring 2021 NEO though I think we will adjust the timing. The only technology thing I wish I would have done is tick the box to Require Registration in Zoom so I would have had the Zoom report on attendees. Thanks for the ideas you all are sharing here. I'm pondering this as we start preparing for the next one. Here is how our two days went: 

1. Tech check and review of the next two days
2. Kick off with Dean Judy Russell
3. Digital Partnerships & Strategies and Data Management
4. HR Policies 
5. Facilities Services
6. Access and Resource Sharing
7. Maps and Imagery
8. Fiscal Services
9. Latin American and Caribbean Collections
10. Conservation and Preservation
11. Social Media
12. Marston Science Library 
13. Special Area Studies Collections
14. Grants Management
15. Judaica Suite
16. Library West
17. HR and Training

Day 2:

1. Welcome with our DEI Librarian
2. Meet and Greet with Library Deans
3. Legal Information Center Library
4. Education and AFA Libraries
5. Exhibits in the Libraries
6. Governor's House in St. Augustine
7. Cataloging
8. Library Technology Services
9. Health Science Center Libraries and HSCL Borland
10. Digital Support Services
11. Shared Collections- *FLARE   * Storage and HDF Processing   * Government Documents Cataloging  * Serials Cataloging  
12. Acquisitions
13. Intro to Performance Evals, and Day 2 Wrap-up

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Cynthia Digby
Training Program Manager
University of Florida
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 8/19/2020 11:31:00 AM
From: Cynthia Digby
Subject: RE: Virtual New Employee Orientation

Just finished up with a two day online new employee orientation (NEO) at our University of Florida Libraries this past week. It was a mini marathon but it went surprisingly fine via  Zoom.  I provided the same link for the 30 different sessions we provided (mostly 15 minute unit meet and greets) over the two days, and had Zoom set with a waiting room so people could drop in shortly before their unit's turn to say hello to our new employees. The format seemed to help move groups along and hold to their 15 minute time slot when the next group started to trickle in/were let in. Units were asked to prepare a five-minute presentation/overview on their people, strategic direction connection, and what they are up to. The presentations were as unique as snowflakes and how they introduced their people was varied and lovely too. We are just now getting eval results on the event but early feedback from participants and units was that it was good but 15 minutes per unit was too short for the meet and greet (it is roughly the amount they get for time when we do the physical tours too but...), and we had several requests to find a place to hold all the presentations so other employees besides our new employees could see the presentation materials. We'll likely hold onto a similar format for our Spring 2021 NEO though I think we will adjust the timing. The only technology thing I wish I would have done is tick the box to Require Registration in Zoom so I would have had the Zoom report on attendees. Thanks for the ideas you all are sharing here. I'm pondering this as we start preparing for the next one. Here is how our two days went: 

1. Tech check and review of the next two days
2. Kick off with Dean Judy Russell
3. Digital Partnerships & Strategies and Data Management
4. HR Policies 
5. Facilities Services
6. Access and Resource Sharing
7. Maps and Imagery
8. Fiscal Services
9. Latin American and Caribbean Collections
10. Conservation and Preservation
11. Social Media
12. Marston Science Library 
13. Special Area Studies Collections
14. Grants Management
15. Judaica Suite
16. Library West
17. HR and Training

Day 2:

1. Welcome with our DEI Librarian
2. Meet and Greet with Library Deans
3. Legal Information Center Library
4. Education and AFA Libraries
5. Exhibits in the Libraries
6. Governor's House in St. Augustine
7. Cataloging
8. Library Technology Services
9. Health Science Center Libraries and HSCL Borland
10. Digital Support Services
11. Shared Collections- *FLARE   * Storage and HDF Processing   * Government Documents Cataloging  * Serials Cataloging  
12. Acquisitions
13. Intro to Performance Evals, and Day 2 Wrap-up

------------------------------
Cynthia Digby
Training Program Manager
University of Florida
------------------------------