Librarians of 2023 Highlights of a survey of RUL faculty June 7, 2013 Librarians of 2023 June 7, 2013 1 / 11
Introduction Goal of the project: Envision the skills, qualities, and attributes needed by RUL librarians in the future, approximately 10 years from now. Survey in two rounds: First round (51 responses) collected input on important skills, qualities, attributes from RUL faculty Planning and Coordinating Committee condensed responses into second round survey Second round (45 responses) asked for ratings and rankings of selected skills Librarians of 2023 June 7, 2013 2 / 11
Introduction The questions focused on three areas Skills - describing different domains of specialized expertise Personal Qualities - individual attributes needed by any librarian Communication skills - needed by librarians in general Librarians of 2023 June 7, 2013 3 / 11
Skills Skills for this survey were special domains of expertise that could be required of librarians. Top ranked skills were: Technology - over half considered essential (but not always ranked first) Teaching - highly ranked by those who put it in top 5 Scholarly Communication Subject Expertise More than 80% of respondents considered each of these very important or essential Librarians of 2023 June 7, 2013 4 / 11
Skills, pt. 2 Skills at the bottom end of the scale were still very important to some, but in comparison to others take on less priority. Low ranked skills were: Languages Programming Social Media Each of these seems to be of importance only to a select group in the Libraries. Very few put them into their top 5. Other skills in the middle of the scale were Discovery and Metadata, Collections, Diversity and Globalization, Data, Project Management, Media, and Mobile. Librarians of 2023 June 7, 2013 5 / 11
Skills, number required For skills, another question asked about the number of librarians who would need these skills in the future. Note there were 72 RUL faculty when the survey was conducted. Top groups remained Technology, Teaching, Subject Expertise, and Scholarly Communication. Almost 80% or more saw medium (10-30) or large (30+) groups needing these skills. At the bottom: Mobile, Languages, and Programming Most see small groups needed for these 3 skills, with more than 10 each seeing less than 5 librarians needed. Librarians of 2023 June 7, 2013 6 / 11
Qualities Personal qualities needed by librarians were identified as: Adaptability, Flexibility, Intellectually Engaged, Collegiality, Self-Motivated, Professional Commitment, Creativity, Personable, and Global Outlook. Top ranked skills were: Adaptability - 2/3 consider essential, but not always #1 pick Flexibility - all but one rate very important or essential Intellectually Engaged Collegiality Librarians of 2023 June 7, 2013 7 / 11
Qualities, pt. 2 While none of the qualities was ranked unimportant, some rated as only moderately important and less essential to some. Low ranked qualities were: Personable Global Outlook The top 3 ranking confirms these results for both the top and bottom of the scale. Librarians of 2023 June 7, 2013 8 / 11
Communication Communication skills needed by librarians were identified as: Collaborating, Listening, Sharing, Promoting, Leading, Inspiring, Negotiating, Moderating Top ranked communication skills were: Collaborating - 2/3 consider essential, all but one of the rest consider very important Listening - all but one rate very important or essential Sharing Librarians of 2023 June 7, 2013 9 / 11
Communication, pt. 2 While none of the skills was ranked unimportant, some rated as only moderately important and less essential to some. Low ranked communication skills were: Leading (did move up ahead of Inspiring in ranking portion) Negotiating Moderating (lowest in rating and ranking) One can speculate that although these are major skills, they may not be required to a large degree for all librarians. Librarians of 2023 June 7, 2013 10 / 11
Conclusion While not definitive, this survey can contribute to the understanding of future librarian roles, and does reflect the attitudes of the RUL faculty at the present time. Some potential applications: Language for job descriptions Priorities for training Ideas for interview questions Librarians of 2023 June 7, 2013 11 / 11