【文章內(nèi)容簡介】
e library. This can be a cause of inadequate service. If librarians wish to have a more than adequate level of service, a top priority for student employee supervisors should be to devote time to the planning and implementation of training programs. Aquality training program for student employees benefits both the library and the student. The library benefits from a productive worker who presents a positive image to the public. Students benefit because they have an opportunity to develop good interpersonal and job skills as well as to develop a source for future job remendations that can ment on actual performance, not potential. LITERATURE REVIEW Many recent articles on training student employees examine a variety of ways instruction can be given to these employees. Susan Rawlins and Marvin Guilfoyle looked at the issue from the perspective of large institutions that have to train a large number of students, and they advocate puterassisted Martha Faller and Gregory Crawford considered training student assistants in smaller institutions. Crawford discussed the use of videotape, whereas Faller examined the value of a clear handbook in training student Nathan Smith presented the benefit of programmed training and found that “programmed instruction is a valuable tool for training student library assistants, which can be substituted for the lecturedemonstration method without any loss of proficiency.”4 Penny Beile argued for petencybased training designed around specific Janice Burrows raised the issue of training students whose cultural orientation is not the dominant one and called for a variety of training Charlene Clark discussed the interrelationship among training, motivation, and recognition to increase the mitment and retention of student employees. 7 Mary Nagel and Jeanne Molloy described a successful program, using experienced student employees as training supervisors. 8 Finally, a very helpful work is Sheila Creth’s Effective OntheJob Training. 9 Although not written specifically for student employees, the techniques and suggestions that she offers are extremely valuable to anyone involved in training in libraries. Rather than look at specific delivery vehicles for training student employees, which the above articles and others cover well, this article presents a conceptual model for training student employees that can use various modes of training appropriate for the size and culture of the individual institution. UNIQUE PROBLEMS OF TRAINING STUDENT EMPLOYEES There are several issues that make training student employees different from training regular, fulltime staff. First, because students are parttime employees, it takes approximately four student employees (given they work an average of 10 hours per week) to equal one fulltime employee. This increases the plexity and the amount of time needed for training. Because of their parttime and student status, student employees have only a partial mitment to their employment. In addition, their knowledge and understanding of what a library is and does can be very limited. Clearly, new student e