Impact 3 months after completing the course
Three months after Trainees successfully graduate from either the short or full version of Frontline, they are emailed a short questionnaire which asks what they retain from the course and what difference they feel it has made to their practice, their library and their borrowers. Completed questionnaires are emailed automatically to their Co-ordinator and also to Opening the Book. The three months’ later email is a way of testing how enthusiasm has lasted and what effect the course has had.
The questionnaire poses open questions which elicit individual replies, there are no tick boxes. Graduates are asked what they remember best from their learning and what impact, if any, they feel that the course still has on their day to day work and their library.
642 Frontline Graduates received the automatic email with the questionnaire in a period from August 2008 to February 2009. 296 responses were returned, a rate of 43% which is high for a ‘cold’ survey of this kind. Analysis of individual responses showed:
- 91.5% reported that their library now undertook more effective displays as a result of their work on Frontline.
- 57% said that doing the course had increased their confidence in talking to borrowers.
- 34% said that they felt confident to talk about books they hadn’t read or didn’t like as a result of taking the course.
- 49.5% of Graduates said that what they had learned on Frontline had resulted in borrowers telling them directly that they had read something - as a result of a specific display, promotion or recommendation made as part of the course - that they wouldn't otherwise have picked.
- 99% enjoyed the course and found it relevant and interesting although many found it hard to get time to undertake it.
Comments sent by recent Graduates 3 months after finishing:
‘How exciting it is to watch borrowers becoming involved with the recommendations I put out eg on the noticeboard - the feeling of success when someone picked the book of the day I had chosen, or a display emptied quickly.’
Frontline Graduate from Kirklees Libraries
‘Frontline really changed and developed the way that I think about books: all
the different types, how they are marketed, who they do and don't appeal
to and what we can do to promote them, no matter what our own feelings
about them are.’
Frontline Graduate from Melbourne Library Service
‘One difference that taking the course made for me was realising how important it is to interact with people who come into the library and not hide away behind the desk.’
Frontline Graduate from East Lothian Libraries
‘If there is one thing I will remember about doing the Frontline course, it
is that it showed me that a well planned, well targeted and thought-out display
makes all the difference between books being taken out and enjoyed by
borrowers and languishing on the shelves for months on end.’
Frontline Graduate from Waterford City Libraries
‘I found the discussion board fascinating as it gave a real insight into the way other people do basically the same tasks as my colleagues and I do but sometimes in very different ways.’
Frontline Graduate from Northumberland Libraries
‘One thing a reader said/did in reaction to the work I did on the course was
that they were glad that a book was on a display - it had been exactly the one they were looking for! It was an older book, which hadn't been out so much, but which was eye catching, and of high potential interest to some of the library's main readership. If it hadn't been on the display, she may not have found it - the book may even have been withdrawn!’
Frontline Graduate from Brent Libraries
‘As a result of Frontline our library now has lots of good displays of all kinds, fiction non-fiction etc. I have noticed how quickly these empty especially at weekends. Staff are all joining in and putting up some good displays.’
Frontline Graduate from Guernsey Libraries
‘Frontline has been very useful for ideas for displays ( I have never done much before) and it has been a good introduction to spending time with the borrowers -useful techniques for floor walking.’
Frontline Graduate from Leicestershire Library Services
‘One difference that taking the course made for me was that I understand much better what influences people to borrow, what catches their eye and what to avoid.’
Frontline Graduate from Oxfordshire Libraries
‘Doing Frontline motivated me to try different approaches and to use tried and tested techniques from other areas. Quite a number of people made positive comments about my efforts, including the library staff and our orderlies at HMP Garth. One difference that taking the course made for me was that it expanded my approach culminating in the highly successful Library Guide which was displayed on the Inter-Library News Network.’
Frontline Graduate from Garth Prison Library
And two favourites from 2009:
‘The course is actually communicating ideas to staff that they could take years to pick up through the normal work processes.’
Frontline Graduate from Tameside Libraries
‘I have found that our readers can not always be judged by their covers!’
Frontline Graduate from Essex Libraries