Pre-Assessment

Use this assessment as written or change it to fit the specifics of your library system. The goal is to determine what the overall comfort level of your staff is when it comes to using, talking about, and recommending new media as a resource or in programming at the library.

We used the results from this survey to shape the focus of our peer coaching, lead coach training, and lead coach book discussion. Your library's results might reveal different needs than we had, resulting in different areas of focus for your lead coaches as they mentor the rest of your staff.

It is important to keep the survey responses anonymous to encourage honest answers. Asking questions about job title and job duties (Questions 1-2 on our survey) help analysis of the data in a more meaningful way (i.e. only the branch managers are comfortable using new media in storytimes - why and what can we do about that?).

Questions 3-5 were written to determine how staff currently uses technology in their various roles and what pieces of technology equipment they would like more training with, if any. Question 6 asked staff to rate their understanding of the three C's of media mentorship (content, context, and child), a central component of this project. Questions 7-9 were written to gauge the resources staff currently use for advisory purposes. Question 10 asked staff to identify topics for future professional development. Question 11 gave staff the opportunity to rate their comfort level in advising families on digital media use. Finally, Question 12 asked for a description of the value of being a media mentor for their community.

Whether this assessment is used as written or changed to fit the specifics of your library system, analyzing the results will help you target the needs of your staff as you begin your Peer Coaching Media Mentorship initiative.