Your organization probably has contracts or license agreements for proprietary information resources and services for legal research, business and technical research, news and issues alerts, document drafting, and other purposes. The agreements typically address the availability of education and training, whether online or in-person. One of the best ways that you can ensure competent, efficient use of those online research services is to offer and encourage training. Even more fundamentally, training announcements remind or alert your professional staff that you actually have access to the information resources.

Who Offers the Training?

Every reputable online information service will provide some form of training and documentation. The vendors and publishers know their products and are invested in proving the value of their service; we can expect them to offer well-crafted training. However, there’s a strong argument to be made for training offered by law librarians and other information professionals. They are deeply experienced in research and are typically platform-agnostic. They are very familiar with your organization’s users and will be able to speak to specific needs. They were involved, surely, in product vetting and selection so they know why you’re using a particular tool. The best approach is generally blended – take advantage of your vendors’ offerings but don’t cede control of professional development to the provider.

Make Sure the Time is Well-Spent

When considering a training session or a series of offerings, sell it and support it. Why should your people attend a class or sign up for a webinar? What will they get out of it? Explain the specific benefits, make time and space for it, place value on it, provide food and useful trinkets, and name the intended educational outcomes and efficiencies or workflow improvements. Invite questions and examples and work with theThe dosage pattern viagra 100mg pfizer has to be followed as per the doctor. You will get 100mg pack of the product is recommended as it can be continued for longer period without facing viagra store in canada any other medical threats. Lower urinary tract obstruction, urination is also check my storefront tadalafil 50mg a major cause of men’s erection problem. Numerous individuals are experiencing viagra online from canada the dysfunctional behavior makes the glad life into the hopeless one. trainer to customize it to your needs. Control the agenda. Make it relevant to the audience. Show tips and tricks. Evaluate the utility of the session.

Flexibility of Training Format

Information resource providers can often accommodate a range of delivery formats: live in-person or group sessions, one-on-ones, or prerecorded sessions, for example. And the length can be a quick ten-minute session to focus on a specific search technique or content area or it can be a deep dive.  I like “coffee breaks” (very short sessions on discrete topics) as well as longer, substantive sessions intended to develop a thorough understanding of the product. The critical factor is to determine what’s best for your team – and that’s often a variety of formats to accommodate availability and learning preferences.

Supplemental Resources

Training doesn’t stop when a live program or webinar ends. Expect and promote short, prerecorded tutorials for just-in-time learning, documentation, embedded help features, a trainer dedicated to your law firm or organization, follow up sessions, and phone and chat customer service.

We pay far too much for information resources to leave learning to chance or to tolerate a superficial understanding of a product’s search techniques and evaluation and use of results. Make time for meaningful training and your organization will be much more likely to find a healthy return on investment.