These key points were made by the co-ordinators reporting on their own experiences of managing the rollout of the course in their authorities:

Strategy

• The key contributions that Frontline is making to the strategic plans of authorities is in offering appropriate skills to staff who will work in libraries where self-issue is being introduced as well as in refurbished libraries.
• The main issues for everyone were time management and staff motivation, and restructuring and cuts have held back the progress of the rollout in many authorities.  Whilst benefits have been seen, it’s been difficult to get the training valued in those situations.
• Authorities who have made Frontline a training priority, provided cover where necessary and timetabled staff to do the course have progressed the fastest.
  One authority reported dedicating an entire year’s training budget to providing cover and time resources for all frontline staff to do Frontline.
• A non-hierarchical approach to roll out is preferred, and experienced as very successful where it is happening, but is not always feasible in all authorities.

Quality

• It was perceived that Frontline staff, when given the opportunity, make very good supervisors of their peers and were often more enthusiastic, supportive and faster than those in a managerial position.
• Co-ordinators take differing roles in their different circumstances, but most aimed eventually to stop supervising trainees directly in time, in order to concentrate on supporting supervisors, checking quality and collecting evidence of impact.
• Co-ordinators who were being pushed to hurry trainees through felt that the quality of learning would suffer as a result.
• Using the email tool to contact other co-ordinators directly, especially those in comparator authorities had helped those present with their rollout decisions.

Time management

• Imposing a deadline for trainees to finish a module, or the whole course is recommended as the key move to speed up the rollout.  2 months to complete the course has been the deadline in the authority with the most complete rollout to date. However, bad experiences of ECDL were cited by those co-ordinators who felt that tightly imposed deadlines were unhelpful. Others recommended asking trainees to set their own deadlines in consultation with their supervisor.
• Co-ordinators report that their time working on Frontline is not seconded and has to be fitted in alongside their many other tasks.  In the one authority where a secondment of 18 hours a week for the co-ordinator was initially offered, it was not delivered in practice.

Staff motivation

• All co-ordinators reported that Trainees had enjoyed doing the course, and many have become good advocates for it.  Some reported individual cases of staff who have been inspired to do other training by doing Frontline
• Many staff who at first are reluctant have often been the ones who have benefited most by taking the course
• Short course may be a good option for less enthusiastic or time-poor trainees.
• Introducing ‘friendly’ competition between staff seems to be a good motivator when staff worked in the same library.