PALCI Implements Multi-Year Partnership with SkillType

NISO Member News

Drexel Hill, PA | June 27, 2022

The Partnership for Academic Library Collaboration & Innovation (PALCI) is making a first of its kind investment in increasing the capacity of its 71 academic and research libraries by implementing a multi-year partnership with talent management platform Skilltype.

By adopting Skilltype, PALCI is now able to access new opportunities for networking, leveraging the platform’s data-driven approach to expertise sharing across this unique interstate academic library community.

“We are excited to use Skilltype and apply our experiences with library resource sharing to now begin facilitating consortial collaboration for human resources and expertise sharing too. In many of our recent meetings and informal polls, staffing has risen to the top as one of the biggest issues our library leaders are challenged with this year. This three-year PALCI-wide pilot with Skilltype represents an opportunity for us to test the waters and explore the ways in which the consortium can deepen collaborations to address the challenges in this space,” shares PALCI’s Executive Director, Jill Morris.

Formerly known as the Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium, Inc., PALCI has an expanded membership across the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and West Virginia. Its members include the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, and Carnegie Mellon University, three of the initial cohort members during the Skilltype implementation.

“Skilltype will enable us to develop an intentional and systematic approach to continuous learning and the development of new capacities and competencies among our staff at a moment when we face many expectations for enhanced skills in parallel with resource constraints on our ability to hire new talent to meet all of those needs, ” says Joe Lucia of Temple University, a PALCI member.

By adopting Skilltype, the academic library consortium will also provide access to a global database of professional development and continuing education resources to all library staff at member institutions.

“As we advance our University’s strategic intent to create a 21st century library, we recognize the need to help our colleagues continue to develop their skills and professional knowledge, and to do so in a way that respects individuals’ unique talents. Skilltype has developed an innovative platform to help us create personalized plans that will help us achieve our ambitions,” said Keith Webster, Helen and Henry Posner Jr. Dean of University Libraries at Carnegie Mellon University.

“Under Jill Morris’ leadership, PALCI has consistently pushed the boundary for what’s possible for libraries through deeper collaboration,” says Skilltype CEO Tony Zanders. “This partnership marks a further step, using Skilltype to identify opportunities for shared services during a time when both budgets and talent pools are tighter than ever before.

About These Organizations

About Skilltype

Skilltype is a library software company specializing in using data to create modern talent management workflows. Libraries across six countries use Skilltype to provide personalized training to their employees, identify skill gaps, and make data-informed decisions on whether to recruit, reskill, or share expertise. Skilltype was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

About PALCI

PALCI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership organization, which originated in 1996 as the Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium, Inc., a grassroots federation of 35 academic libraries in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Known today as the Partnership for Academic Library Collaboration and Innovation, the PALCI membership now consists of more than 70 academic and research libraries in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and West Virginia. PALCI’s mission is to enable cost-effective and sustainable access to information resources and services for academic libraries in Pennsylvania and surrounding states. PALCI is well known for its highly-regarded EZBorrow consortial ILL service. PALCI members partner to serve over 800,000 students, faculty, and staff, with a particular focus on collaborative collections programs, resource sharing services, and innovative technology projects and approaches to library services. For more information contact jill@palci.org or visit palci.org.