The findings revealed that participants generally felt that working in the smaller project groups had been extremely enjoyable, and that it was a more beneficial working style than the core training days of Year One. They said, for example:
'I think it has been a much more effective use of time'
'The project groups have been very enjoyable, enabling a more focused approach to a particular aspect of reader development'.
Many skills were developed as a result of project work, including:
- training skills
- team building
- understanding user needs
- ICT awareness
- increased knowledge of contemporary literature
- working with external agencies
A particular strength of Branching Out is undoubtedly the enthusiasm of all participants, the fact that they keep up to date not only with the one project they are required to be involved in, but that they also demonstrate commitment to the initiative as a whole. When asked to list the disadvantages of group work, comments made included the following:
'Not being aware of other projects in any depth'
'Need to guard against tendency to lose sight of the big picture and indeed to keep up to date with other Branching Out work in general'.
Evidently, a major aim of a pilot initiative such as Branching Out is to cascade the message of reader development as widely as possible, and a number of participants are beginning to recognise the impact of their work on their local authority and beyond:
'at first constantly asking staff to get information was necessary but now the scheme has extended beyond the original libraries the comments are unsolicited and have been very positive' 'Staff awareness is good, and growing as I cascade training throughout the authority.'
