Staff development and training in the digital library environment

Traditional approaches to library training flourished in the period of hard copy collection building, when certain common generic skills, such as those of cataloguing and indexing, formed the bedrock of knowledge for many LIS professionals. The skills required in the digital library context are more heterogeneous, fluid and fast-changing. They require a different training philosophy, one more closely identified with a 'constructivist' approach to teaching and learning. This article attempts to flesh out these ideas by relating them to past and present practice, and sketches possible paths along which digital library training might evolve.