A survey of New Zealand academic reference librarians: Current and future skills and competencies

Abstract

A survey of New Zealand academic subject/reference librarians was conducted in mid-2011 to identify the most highly valued knowledge, skills and competencies of reference librarians working in libraries in the tertiary sector. The project was part of an international collaborative project involving 13 countries. The results from New Zealand show that serving academic library customers requires not only traditional 'reference' skills, but also skills in customer service, technology support, and training. Good communication skills were also rated highly by respondents, and the high value placed on adaptability/flexibility shows that most respondents expect their roles to continue to change in the next decade. Software troubleshooting skills were also considered important. The results also suggest that traditional paper-based reference sources are expected to become much less important than online ones. There is also a shift towards using social media to interact with customers, and a focus on building sustainable relationships.

Our Future, Our Skills: Using Evidence to Drive Practice in Public Libraries

“…the personal and interpersonal skills, that are pertinent both to the LIS profession and to the wider employment environment (Kennan, Cole, Willard, Wilson & Marion, 2006;Ralph & Sibthorpe, 2010;Reeves & Hahn, 2010;Howard, 2010;Partridge, Menzies, Lee & Munro, 2010;Partridge et al, 2011;Haddow, 2012). Communication skills (Wilson & Birdi, 2008;Working Together Project, 2008;Abram, 2009;Saunders & Jordan;2013), teamwork and collaboration skills (Bagshaw, 2013), adaptability, and flexibility (Chawner & Oliver, 2013) are viewed as particularly important.…”

Encouraging continuous learning for librarians and library staff

“…The difficulty usually lies in implementing a learning environment and getting it to flourish. Complicating this is the reality that training programs must take into account the particular culture of the organization and be customized to fit the environment at hand (Chawner and Oliver, 2013). In addition to taking the particular organizational and service needs of the specific library into consideration, it is also important to encourage staff to acquire skills that are becoming necessary to their evolving roles (Davis and Lundstrom, 2011).…”

“…A high-functioning environment based on solid communication at all levels, especially among colleagues, enhances the learning environment and establishes a support system for solidifying the skills gained through various learning opportunities (Leong, 2014). When good communication is set as the standard it then becomes easier for librarians and library staff to communicate with faculty and various stakeholder groups on campus as well (Chawner and Oliver, 2013).…”

“…Traditional skills such as how to conduct reference interviews, identify reference sources, and targeting information literacy are easy to identify. The digital age, however, now also requires more technology-based skills such as the effective understanding and use of social media (Chawner and Oliver, 2013). The digital transition means that to meet changing faculty and student needs, librarians and library staff need to reposition themselves to operate fluidly in the digital sphere, even if that arena is not completely comfortable to them yet (Lewis, 2016).…”

“…Library managers are faced with the intractable task of exactly predicting which roles will emerge and what training and knowledge will be of primary importance ( Jaguszewski and Williams, 2013). While it is not incredibly difficult to watch trends occur on campus, identifying which skills need to be taught within the library proves a difficult task (Chawner and Oliver, 2013). No matter the organization, any learning program or directive should be practical enough to help librarians and library staff with skills they actually need for their specific environments .…”