Evaluating librarian continuing professional development: Merging Guskey's framework and Vygotsky Space to explore transfer of learning

The aims and motivation for training and continuing professional development (CPD) for librarians are many and varied, depending on the organizational context and the needs of participants. How to evidence the transfer of learning from CPD activities to the workplace has long troubled academics in the management field but has not been a topic of focus in the librarianship discipline. The results of a study testing a new approach to the assessment of CPD outcomes for individual librarians, their workplaces, and their patrons are presented. Adapting Guskey's (2000) framework for assessing teacher CPD, two questionnaires were designed to assess the short-term and long-term outcomes of CPD. The analysis indicates that the approach was effective in identifying how participation in CPD inspires change first in individual professional practice and then organizational learning, resulting in service innovations for the benefit of the whole community. The process is conceptualized through Vygotsky Space. •A framework for assessing librarian continuing professional development based on Guskey's (2000) framework is presented.•The application of learning from continuing professional development is conceptualized through an adapted Vygotsky Space.•The framework is effective at identifying individual and organizational outcomes of continuing professional development.•Continuing professional development inspires change first in individual practice and then organizational learning.•The transfer of learning results in service innovations for the benefit of the whole community.