Information for programme organisers

Want to run or adapt the IATUL Impact Things Programme at your institution? This page contains information to help you implement the programme locally. Find out if another institution in your region has run this programme before by visiting our community page.

This programme is an open resource provided under a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike License. The embedded videos and linked content remain the intellectual property of their original creators and may require permission for downloading, modification or recommunication.

The project team welcome corrections or suggestions to the IATUL Special Interest Group – Metrics and Research Impact (SIG-MaRI) for consideration.

Programme Outcomes

  • Library staff achieve required level of bibliometric competency and understanding of institutional context for their role
  • Subject matter experts are identified and developed in areas of identified growth
  • Library staff develop their confidence to engage in discussions about the use and limitations of particular metrics and tools

Leadership support

  • Working through the programme materials requires time and space be set aside for staff. Managers will have different ideas about where a staff development programme fits in their list of priorities. Having a broad, open discussion with leadership at the outset gives time to advocate for the benefits of the programme.
  • Programme promotions and updates from central communication channels confirm that the programme is valued by the organisation. Senior leadership communicating out to the broader institution that your unit is working on a learning programme shows the ongoing knowledge and skill development your team are engaging in.
  • Space to suggest new processes/projects based on learning applies new knowledge to tangible outcomes for your organisation.
  • Managers encouraged to follow up on learning in team meetings demonstrates commitment to knowledge and skill development.

Programme structure

The programme can be run in a number of ways – as an individual self-paced learning programme, within teams or in cross-unit learning groups to encourage knowledge sharing between staff with diverse skill and knowledge areas. Choosing your programme structure will depend on the available time, resources, and support of management at your institution.

If your event has more than 50 participants, you may want to consider alternative options to access the content of this website as some of your participants may encounter access issue.

Open forums for sharing reflections

Space for reflection, discussion and knowledge sharing can be facilitated through:

  • Online forums
  • Regular conversation/check-in meetings
  • Paring smaller groups of programme participants

Catering for different learning styles

The programme includes a range of resource types and styles. It is useful to spend time at the start of the programme discussing learning preferences with participants. How long will you take for each ‘Thing’? Will participants explore the material independently and share their reflections and questions with the group or will there be time set aside to look at the material together? What opportunities are there for participants to extend their learning by communicating knowledge back to their colleagues?

Asynchronous engagement methods

Particularly when your programme participants are from units across your institution, providing asynchronous engagement methods allows for conversation between teams.

Content adaptation

Consider questions and exercises are a good place to add in additional prompts that relate to current relevant projects in your institution. These questions are mostly open-ended. Where appropriate, contextual information, pointers, or hints to complete the consider questions should be provided at local level to prompt discussions.

Institutional customisation

  • Institutional/State/Country/Funder policies
  • Available platforms – do you subscribe to any of the platforms mentioned in the programme? Are there current roadblocks/skill gaps in engaging with these platforms that the programme could be part of exploring? Are there open alternatives to achieve the same goals?

Programme evaluation

Building in programme evaluation has multiple benefits. Engaging with programme participants in the planning stage allows for customisation of programme content and activity scheduling to suit the learning preferences and interests of your cohort. Early open discussion about programme outcomes means that the programme evaluation can then speak to the aims of your group.  Programme evaluation can be carried out in many ways:

  • Outcomes based
  • Skill/capability self-assessment
  • Case study/interview

Additional activities

Guest speakers

Inviting guest speakers from within and outside of your institution is a good way to engage a broader range of staff in the programme. These events can also build professional learning networks with colleagues in complementary parts of your organisation.

Knowledge exchange with other units

Where a unit is working in depth in an area that relates to one of the ‘Things’, consider having that unit do a showcase of the ideas in practice – what does their work in the area look like? What are the key challenges? Where do they see things heading in the next few years? Giving this opportunity for staff to reflect and share their expertise was noted as highly engaging in programme feedback surveys.

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