BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA, February 22, 2022 — East Baton Rouge Parish Library (EBRPL) has selected Skilltype for Teams — the only skills management platform designed exclusively for libraries, including the 9,000 public library systems in the United States. Launched in 2020, Skilltype addresses the shift to remote work and online conferences. It enables personalized professional development for employees. Additionally, it produces real-time talent insights across the organization. EBRPL is the largest library system in Skilltype’s home state of Louisiana, with over 400 employees across its 16-branch network.
Addressing Professional Development and Resource Access
The software enables library staff to identify the right training and development resources. They can find what they need for both personal and team development at the right time. Access to quality training resources today has never been greater. Subscriptions to popular training platforms like LinkedIn Learning, Udemy, and online conferences are occurring on a frequent basis. But the time and effort required to identify relevant, quality opportunities has also increased as a result. Skilltype allows each employee to create personalized profiles by selecting interests from an industry-first skills vocabulary. This process produces targeted recommendations from available training offerings.
Mary Stein, Assistant Library Director for Administrative Services at EBRPL, says “Our most valuable resource is a well-trained staff, and our scarcest resource is time. Skilltype will enable us to bridge the gap between the two, by providing a curated training experience for staff at all levels and with tremendous depth and breadth. We see this not only as a great platform for skills development and continuing education but also for succession planning.”
“After supporting our company’s growth and development with meeting space and resources, we are finally able to return the favor by supporting their development through our software,” says Skilltype founder Tony Zanders. “EBRPL has been an award-winning library district for several years, and we hope to help them continue their track record of innovation by identifying the expertise required for the future.”
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About East Baton Rouge Parish Library
The East Baton Rouge Parish Library (EBRPL) was established in 1939 with a collection of second-hand donated books. During its first three years, the library established eight additional library branches to service the Baton Rouge area. Today, EBRPL is comprised of a Main Library and 13 community or regional branch libraries, and several bookmobiles. With a staff of more than 540 employees, the Library is open a cumulative total of 958 hours weekly. Additional outreach service is provided on a regular basis to area schools, day care centers, retirement centers, and various community centers.
The Library’s collection numbers almost 2 million items. In 2019, our 264,732 registered borrowers made 2,292,168 visits to local libraries, checked out 3,105,034 items, and received assistance with 970,069 reference inquiries. 397,214 people attended a total of 9,646 library programs, and 133,881 patrons attended community meetings in Library meeting rooms. EBRPL is the recipient of numerous national and state awards including the Modisette Award for Excellence from the Louisiana Library Association and the President’s Coming Up Taller Award. Recently, the Library received a Starred Ranking from Library Journal for the ninth consecutive year.
About Skilltype
Skilltype is an American software company headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Founded in 2018, the company offers talent management software for information professionals and their teams to analyze, develop and share expertise.Academic libraries in the United States funded Skilltype, which has since developed a global community of learners and training providers across 12 countries.