Explain the information technology (it) competencies needed for library staff
Answers
For those librarians who feel overwhelmed by technology, wonder what technology skills are the most desirable, or have trouble creating a meaningful job description or advertisement, Core Technology Competencies for Librarians and Library Staff, LITA guide 15, edited by Thompson, will prove extremely appropriate and useful. Thompson and seven other library technology experts have assembled a pithy but detailed method for identifying the core technology skills that library staff should possess. Thompson acknowledges in the preface that there is no one set of technology skills that is relevant to all libraries and that she intends the book to be a starting point for individual libraries to develop their own list of core technology competencies. She also emphasizes the core competencies that are more than merely technical skills. The overall effect is a highly useful and relevant work that is strongly recommended for all library staff and should be required reading for anyone responsible for managing technology or the people managing it.
The book is organized into three parts and features eight chapters. Part I, “Overview of Technology Competencies for Today's Librarians and Library Staff,” as the title suggests, is a broad look at technology in libraries and sets the context for the rest of the book. In chapter one, “History and Overview of Technology Competencies in Libraries,” Thompson explains what is meant by core competencies and why it is important to define them: abilities that either require “use of digital technology to accomplish a task” or thorough understanding of “the technology itself in order to support existing systems” (p. 6). Thompson does not just list concrete technology skills like web design, course management applications, and database skills, but she also mentions “soft” technology skills. For instance, Thompson cites Farkas's “Skills for the 21st Century Librarian” [1], where the focus is on personality traits like the abilities to embrace change, learn new technologies, and troubleshoot technologies as well as flexibility, comfort with constant learning, and good communication skills. Thompson also briefly chronicles the history of library technology from the 1950s through present day and discusses how much and how fast technology has changed libraries. Chapter two, “The Library School's Role in Preparing New Librarians for Working with Technology,” written by Neal, examines the core competency statements of library organizations and surveys library practicum supervisors to develop a list of both “hard” and “soft” technology skills that library graduate schools need to make certain their graduates have. Neal includes a wealth of survey data and supplementary information at the end of chapter two.
Part II, “Core Competencies for Library Technology Specialists,” includes three chapters focusing on systems librarians, nonlibrarian systems managers, and lone information technology librarians, respectively. In addition to outlining the history of systems librarianship in chapter three, Thomason also examines the qualifications that systems librarians need in the context of their environment. Thompson explains that each systems job is unique, and the local environment defines the necessary position and skills. She also stresses the need for a variety of management competencies for systems librarians. In chapter four, Herrera discusses library systems managers who are not librarians and offers advice on becoming a systems manager. Of particular note in part II, however, is Robertson's chapter, “Social Survival Skills for the Lone Information Technology Librarians.” The job of a systems librarian can be a lonely and thankless task that often involves more skill in dealing with people than with technology. In this chapter, Robertson does an excellent job of describing the different groups that systems librarians have to work with on a daily basis and offers real-world, practical advice for effectively navigating all the different issues for systems librarians and strategies for effective communication.
The final section of the book, “Successful Competency Implementation Programs,” is a collection of three case studies of an academic library, a public library, and a medical library. Taken together these case studies demonstrate how creating a program of core competencies and implementing it can empower both library and information technology staff, resulting in time to do more new and exciting things. Further, each case study author provides a variety of information in their chapters' appendixes, including checklists, position descriptions, guidelines, and more.