Impact of Staff Training on Service Delivery in Delta State Library Board

This study assessed the impact of staff training programmes on service delivery at the Delta State Library Board in Delta State, South South Nigeria. Training is a fundamental human resource development strategy for improving the knowledge, skills, and attitude of library personnel, with direct implications for the quality of services provided to users. A descriptive survey design was employed, and data were obtained from trained and untrained library staff across twelve library board branches through structured questionnaires and direct service observation. The study found that staff who had participated in formal training programmes within the preceding three years demonstrated significantly higher proficiency in user interaction, catalogue management, and reference provision compared to untrained colleagues. However, training opportunities were irregularly provided, poorly planned, and not aligned with identified service delivery gaps. The study recommended that the Delta State Library Board conduct annual training needs assessments, develop a structured annual training calendar, and formally evaluate the transfer of training to job performance. Keywords: staff training, service delivery, Delta State Library Board, library management, human resource development.