Beyond the stacks: A sneak peek into library staff engagement with job shadowing

Do your Library teams struggle to stay in touch with each other? Do your staff sometimes not know the function of other teams within your Libraries, and who to turn to with a problem?

The University of Nottingham Libraries Training and Development team saw just that, and wanted an engaging way to combat it. Thus our Libraries Job Shadowing scheme was born.

Job Shadowing is a way for staff to spend time with another team, learning what they do and providing the lightbulb moments when the pieces of the Library jigsaw fall into place. The scheme upskills staff and improves staff engagement, but also promotes cross team collaboration.

This session was presented at the Mercian Conference 2024 and at UKSG 2025.

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