We are pleased to announce the latest update to the Skilltype platform. Our dedicated team has been working diligently to develop new features and enhancements, all driven by your valuable feedback and our commitment to making our product the best it can be.

TL;DR:

• Updates for all users

  • Improved job role selection process (now "Job Category")

  • Added "Job Title" field

  • Easier skill selection with custom UI tools

• Updates for organization administrators:

  • Invite new members to your organization with an organization-specific weblink

  • Increased team sizes (up to 300 teams and 600 members per team)

  • Increased team manager limit (from 3 to 9 users)

• Minor upgrades and bug fixes

  
  

Updates for All Users

In this release, we have focused on refining the user experience and addressing critical issues. We are responding to feedback reported by our users as well as a recent usability study completed by MLIS students from Simmons University. The students invested considerable time evaluating our software, and we expect to implement their recommendations over time, focusing first on the navigation and selection of skill tags. 

'Job Role' Is now 'Job Category'

One significant area that our usability studies identified was the process of selecting a job role and skill tags during the signup process. We have made selecting your job category and skill tags more straightforward and user-friendly.

We heard that the term' job role' was ambiguous from various groups. Some users expected to see their job title within the list, and others expected to see a department or area of library work. In response, we changed the field 'Job Role' to 'Job Category.' So, for example, If you work in circulation, the Circulation & Access Services category will recommend Skilltype tags relevant to you. 

In addition, we added a new field called 'Job Title.' This addition allows you to choose a broader job category (Subject Specialist & Liaison) and a specific job title (STEM Librarian). In the future, this data will help enhance our training recommendation engine and vocabulary.

We also began merging similar job categories to improve the vocabulary and resulting user experience. You may have received an email or Skilltype notification that we had combined your job category with another one.

Selecting Skills Is Now Easier

In addition, we significantly upgraded our UI tools for selecting skills, again based on your feedback and the usability study from the students at Simmons University. By improving the navigation of skill selection and updating Skilltype's unique controlled vocabulary of library-specific terminology, selecting skills is much more accessible. It will result in more relevant recommendations and accurate talent data.

If you'd like to revisit your job category or skill tag selections, visit app.skilltype.com -> select the 3-dot menu in the upper right corner -> choose Restart Onboarding.

Updates for Organization Administrators

Invite New Users With a Link

Skilltype is a data-first organization. When reviewing user adoption rates per organization, we noticed some users were not receiving or responding to emailed invitations to join Skilltype. We've observed that the libraries with the most effective use of Skilltype have a critical mass of staff using Skilltype and those where Skilltype has been embedded into other staff development workflows. To address this issue, we created a unique invitation link that links staff to your Skilltype organization without needing to access an email. You can now share this link in staff development web pages or newsletters, Slack/MS Teams channel, or during a Zoom call.

We Increased Team Sizes

We value user feedback at Skilltype. A common feature request was to increase team sizes and the number of teams. We have adjusted the settings to allow 300 teams and up to 600 members per team. If your organization would like to create a team that includes everyone, or a team that connects all staff learning about diversity & inclusion, you can. We also increased the team manager limit from 3 users to 9 users.

Minor upgrades

• Changed 'Revoke' to 'Remove' for organization administrators in the user directory.

• First and Last names are now prefilled on the signup page based on the invitation.

  
  

As always, we encourage you to share your thoughts and feedback on this release and any suggestions for future improvements. You can reach our product team at product@skilltype.com, or if you'd like to join our Skilltype users group on the skilltype platform, let us know, and we will send you an invitation. Our mission is to help libraries and library workers close skill gaps, and we remain committed to evolving our product to meet your ever-changing needs.