Niles-Maine District Library

Top Suburban Chicago Library Offering Customized Training for Patrons

Niles-Maine District Library is no different than many other suburban Chicagoland libraries. With a total yearly visitor count coming in at over 390,000 people per year, the Library has a tough task of serving the wide and varying needs of a large audience that spans a considerable geographic area. While print material rentals have always been a staple, the move to cater to the 21st century skills development realities for this audience is something that became top priority for the library.

To help expand on an already wide array of training programs being offered, Niles-Maine was interested in bringing in a local IT partner that could dig into topics that were previously off-limits. Patrons were increasingly interested in learning about computer security, Google’s G Suite, Office 365, mobile computing, and other pertinent topics in the news.

Working closely with lead internal technology trainer Ruth Schuster, FireLogic began crafting staggered custom training classes for patrons covering a multitude of topics. All classes were staged to come in at a two-hour timespan to maximize content consumption for the audience. In addition, all training classes were recorded and made publicly available on the FireLogic YouTube Channel for anyone to review afterwards or share with others.

To date, FireLogic has delivered dozens of custom training classes at the Niles-Maine District Library, with most them being “standing room only” affairs due to their overwhelming popularity. FireLogic has provided all classes on a purely volunteer basis, reinforcing our company commitment to giving back to the local community. The Library continues to work closely with FireLogic on future patron-facing training programs.

Project Goals:

While Niles-Maine District Library has always offered technology training for its patrons, specialized topics such as Office 365, Google G Suite, Windows, and Security were tough for internal staff to train on. The Library sought out a local IT partner that had the experience and background to successfully create customized training programs that could apply to a diverse local patron audience.

Vertical:

• Legal
• Consulting

Solutions Involved:

Customized Training