The Maryland Library Partnership is a nonprofit cooperative of public libraries that received a grant from the Maryland State Department of Education, Division of Library Development and Services to implement the first online learning opportunity for public library staff.
"Maryland Public Libraries provide services to more than 2.5 million Maryland residents with a ratio of about 1 employee to every 1,000 library-goers, so libraries are constantly looking for new ways to improve how they reach the public more efficiently, and training is key," said Stacey Aldrich, Public Library Consultant and DLDS grant monitor for the project.
"In addition, a large number of our library staff are nearing retirement so we needed a way to get new managers and administrators up to speed quickly," Aldrich said. "Two of the library systems have already used Ninth House for management training, and were really excited about the effectiveness of the training and the resulting cost-savings. Based on their results we believe employees are receiving 10 times the training that they would receive just in classroom training -- for the same price."
"The Maryland Library Partnership is showing how a well designed management-development program incorporating the best elements of engaging online training and in-person knowledge training can allow its new managers to leapfrog ahead to advanced levels of performance," noted Jeff Snipes, president and co-founder of Ninth House.
Ninth House has become the training choice of leading organizations such as British Telecommunications, the Department of Justice, CNA Insurance, Wells Fargo & Co., First Union National Bank, Indiana University's Kelley School of Business and Empire BlueCross BlueShield.
Ninth House's training courses combine the content of some of the world's foremost business thinkers, such as Ken Blanchard, Peter Senge and Tom Peters, with engaging, interactive delivery that aids retention and fosters real-world application.
Ninth House courses, simulations and Instant Advice can be accessed from a single desktop computer or can be made available across an entire enterprise, providing organizations with a rapid and cost-effective tool for developing shared management practices.
