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Use Cases

Develop a Mentorship Program

The problem

For those at the start of their library careers, success encompasses more than mastering the technical nuances of librarianship taught in academic programs. It includes learning to navigate the intricate dynamics of the workplace—a skill set not always covered in formal education. Moreover, with many in the field lacking a specialized degree in library or information science, there’s a clear need for foundational knowledge sharing. Traditional methods like certifications are often too costly for the average library worker. Mentorship, provided by experienced professionals, offers a personalized, cost-effective solution for this knowledge transfer, fostering essential workplace skills through valuable relationships.

However, mentorship programs often struggle to scale. Matching mentors with mentees based on interests and goals, coupled with orchestrating impactful interactions, requires a significant and sustained effort, creating a challenge for long-term viability. Organizations face the difficulty of sustaining these programs and ensuring the compatibility of skill sets, which, if mismatched, can impede productivity and thwart organizational objectives.

The solution

Skilltype introduces a dynamic and sustainable approach to mentorship in the library sector. With Skilltype Teams, libraries, associations, and consortia can invite individuals to craft profiles showcasing their skills, interests, and career aspirations. This information feeds into a real-time, private dashboard, streamlining the process of group organization based on geographic or interest-related commonalities.

Participants, from the convenience of their Team dashboards, can explore the capabilities and experiences of potential mentors and mentees. Coordinators can distribute pertinent resources, including those found via the Skilltype Central Index. They can also distribute internally generated materials, facilitating continuous engagement and learning.

As the mentorship community evolves, Skilltype’s visibility ensures new participants can seamlessly integrate into the program. This not only simplifies ongoing engagement but also nurtures a self-perpetuating growth mechanism, organically expanding program participation and enriching the professional development landscape over time.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Skilltype’s talent platform uses real-time data to help information professionals and their teams identify, develop, and share expertise. The platform aggregates thousands of training resources, opportunities, and talent profiles of individuals, describing each with a controlled skills vocabulary to create a personalized career and organizational development experience.

Skilltype is used by library managers and their teams, along with communities, conference organizers, and vendors that train information professionals. Customers include libraries of all sizes ranging from 5 employees to 500 across North America, Europe, and Asia. Skilltype’s largest customers have thousands of data points being surfaced to help inform career pathways and organizational development strategy.

Skilltype indexes training resources and opportunities from over 100 conferences and training providers, enhances the records with our proprietary skills ontology, and delivers them to users through a personalized recommendation engine. We also partner with training providers who aim to grow and engage their communities using Skilltype’s tools.

Small libraries can be up and running in a day or two. Larger libraries may require more conversations and take up to a week or two. No implementation or professional services teams required. Just appoint a project manager to coordinate with our onboarding team on the timeline you set to roll it out across your organization.

Skilltype is priced on a per-employee basis. Most libraries sign annual or multi-year subscriptions, but we support shorter pilots for larger organizations with complex use cases. Skilltype also works with consortia to streamline your procurement process and offer discounts for Enterprise capabilities with additional features and premium support are available for organizations upon request. Contact us to get more details.

Signup for a quick demo to see Skilltype in action.