The Kansas City Public Library’s staff development program, Learning for a Lifetime, has been awarded the annual Urban Libraries Council (ULC)/Highsmith Award of Excellence. The $1,000 award will be presented on Sunday, July 9, at the annual ULC Leadership Breakfast held during the American library Association’s Annual Conference in Chicago.
This year’s Highsmith Award of Excellence examined programs that increase capacity of staff, board or volunteers to deliver some facet of library service. Kansas City Public Library was recognized because the staff development program, Learning for a Lifetime, has become a corporate philosophy, making development opportunities available for staff throughout the organization and rewarding learning at work. Additionally, the program can be replicated among other national libraries.
KCPL’s Library Executive Director, Daniel Bradbury, says the program is designed to "grow our own" staff, providing incentives and opportunities for staff at all levels to receive training. "This training, organized as regular continuing education credits, rewards staff who wish to continue learning and growing in their field. More importantly, it benefits our community by broadly training available staff to assist with the library patrons’ learning needs – whether it’s finding resources on the shelves or on-line." In the five years of the program’s existence, over 690 training sessions have been held for 2,596 participants.
For more information about the award-winning program or the Kansas City Public Library, please view the library’s web site at www.kclibrary.org/news/awards/highsmith. |
