Research librarians were the focus of the SSHOC Train-the-Trainer Bootcamp which took place Tuesday 23 June as part of LIBER’s annual conference LIBER 2020 ONLINE.

Attended by 51 practising librarians from across Europe, the event offered both theoretical and hands-on sessions including demonstrations of the recently launched SSHOC Training Toolkit and CLARIN services in the European Open Science Cloud.

SSHOC Training Toolkit

Ricarda Baukman (DANS) opened the proceedings and introduced the SSHOC project and the CLARIN infrastructure before presenting the SSHOC Training Toolkit, a searchable inventory of training materials tailored to users in the SSH field and contributed by 41 different organisations. A total of 76 items are offered currently on topics including FAIR data, Open Science, research data management, and didactics, and new resources will be added on a continuous basis.The presentation led to a very fruitful discussion where questions were raised about sustainability and plans to add new resources were raised; the relevance of the Training Toolkit for the library ecosystem thus became very clear. 

CLARIN services in the European Open Science Cloud

A demonstration of the CLARIN services in the European Open Science Cloud and a follow-up practical hands-on session co-prepared by Jakob Lenardič (University of Ljubljana) was conducted by Darja Fišer (CLARIN ERIC). Darja presented step-by-step instructions on  how to conduct different kinds of linguistic analysis with the help of CLARIN tools and integrated services. Thereafter, participants were invited to engage with these tools and they undertook a guided exploration of the CLARIN resource families and searched the CLARIN repository. The aim of the practical session was to familiarise librarians with the CLARIN tools and services so as to be equipped to support users.

Running Successful Training Events Online

The third and final part of the bootcamp was focused on how to run successful online training events, a hot topic in the new ‘normal’ we currently inhabit. Tatsiana Yankelevich (LIBER Europe) shared her experience as a training coordinator, and gave useful practical advice concerning the importance of housekeeping rules, introducing good ice-breaker moments using online polling tools, and stimulating an interactive discussion - perhaps one of the most challenging aspects of organising online events. A method of encouraging interaction suggested by Tatsiana is using Google slides with sticky notes on which participants can add questions anonymously. In this way all participants have the opportunity to contribute, trainer bias is eliminated, and it's easier to keep track of the topics discussed. Tatsiana's vibrant presentation style contributed significantly to a lively session!

To learn about upcoming SSHOC webinars, check our Events page or subscribe to the SSHOC newsletter.

View the workshop slides and other materials

Check out the SSHOC Training Toolkit

Explore the resources available in the CLARIN repository