DIA builds librarian capability and stronger communities through Covid.
The Challenge
DIA’s National Library’s New Zealand Libraries Partnership Programme (NZLPP) has supported librarians and library services throughout Covid-19; ensuring that librarians are able to continue serving the community through tough times. Covid has meant new community needs and therefore a focus on new capabilities for staff.
The first challenge for this project was to resolve the new capabilities that would see library staff best serve their communities. The goal was to roll out a national offering that enabled staff to choose relevant capabilities and select learning opportunities from a range of providers that
“The huge amount of success that we’ve had across the programme is testament to the individual successes, and the improvements we were able to make so quickly because of the exceptional partnership that we had with Synapsys.”
Jonathan Beveridge, DIA
Our Partnership
A flexible, responsive project process was required to get things done in the available time. At the same time that we resolved the ideal mix of capabilities, we also started implementing a learning platform that would provide the right learner experience – Totara LXP.
As soon as the capabilities were clear, we scoured New Zealand for suppliers that had offerings that were on point, and we could trust to be responsive. The learning solutions comprised a mix of existing opportunities from around the country, ranging from formal courses and qualifications to snippets of digital media. Where courses weren’t available, we built out learning experiences from existing materials.
At the heart of the experience was learners being able to select from the capabilities that mattered to them, find relevant learning opportunities and have them approved at a local level. DIA of course needed reporting that made clear the uptake of learning and the outcomes that were being delivered to the sector.
The first enrolments were flowing in within 12 weeks, and we continued to build out the complete set of offerings over the next couple of months.
Our role also encompassed reporting to DIA on learning spend, learner uptake and experiences, in order to constantly improve the engagement of learners, and their managers.
“We can only assume that Synapsys pulled all the stops out, because the whole process from initial contact to going live was phenomenal. Under pressure, they never pushed back, and were able to deliver the entirety of the project in just 12 weeks.”
Jonathan Beveridge, DIA
The Impact
The results to date have been impressive:
- 175 librarians and 81 managers engaged, 163 enrolled in learning
- 3032 courses added to learning plans
- 743 courses completed
On the back of this success, the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA), through National Libraries, engaged us to expand the platform further to support the wider resource and engagement needs for members of Public Libraries of New Zealand (PLNZ) across the country.