I went into this project hoping to share information with others, never dreaming how much I would learn from the entire experience. We all won!~ Karen Demers, Peer Trainer, Wilbraham Public Library

WMRLS recently completed a project with the goal of training librarians to use the Thomson Gale Infotrac databases in their own school and public libraries. This population was targeted because school librarians and staff of small public libraries often have difficulty getting to WMRLS for continuing education workshops. The project was funded by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners through a Library Services and Technology (LSTA) grant.
In the course of the Peer Training in Infotrac year:

• 100 librarians and teachers were trained in their own or a neighboring library
• The trainees represented 56 of WMRLS member libraries
• 7 Peer Trainers conducted 22 sessions in all four counties of Western Massachusetts
• 85% of the participants who did pre- and post-tests showed that learning took place
• 62% of the libraries trained showed a significant increase in their amount of use of Infotrac after training
• 7 libraries that didn’t increase their use of the databases after training have shown that they are having greater success retrieving information since their training

The comments of librarians who were trained add emphasis to how successful the peer training project was. Here are a few of the many comments participants made:

Now I can better market the library as a place to find information!

I feel better equipped; with patrons who just want the magazine article, want me to retrieve it, and don’t care how I got it, the faster I can find the information the better.

The strongest feature was the respectful, open, encouraging attitude of the trainer; she was a model of competence and confidence, willing to admit when she was uncertain and promising to get back to us with the answer (which she did).

Now I have an answer for teachers who insist that students not use the computer for homework.

The librarians who participated in the design and execution of the project and conducted Peer Training in Infotrac sessions are Lisa Downing and Linda Knaack of Forbes Library, Northampton; Mindy Hackner of David & Joyce Milne Public Library, Williamstown; Patricia Wiggin of the Westfield Athenaeum; Karen Demers of Wilbraham Public Library; Lisa Prolman of Greenfield Public Library; and Shirley Keech of WMRLS.

Report submitted by Mary King, Regional Librarian, WMRLS
January, 2006