What is a 21st Century Librarian?
This "wordle" represents just some of the job titles now used to
describe the work done by librarians and information professionals
(adapted from lists compiled by Clark (2013) and Potter (2011), image created on www.wordle.net)
describe the work done by librarians and information professionals
(adapted from lists compiled by Clark (2013) and Potter (2011), image created on www.wordle.net)
As the "wordle" above shows, we now live in a world in which librarians are taking on all kinds of new roles, both within and outside the library. In fact, one thing that all librarians / information professionals seem to agree on is that we are living in a time of rapid technological change which has had, and will have, a profound ongoing impact on the services that libraries / librarians will be expected to provide (“Ladders to Leadership, n.d., introduction; Bagshaw, 2003; Riddle, 2003; Stanley, 2003; Parker-Gibson, 2003; and Cragg & Birkwood, 2011). What is less clear, however, is where this change will lead and what skills and traits future librarians will need.
According to Mason & Wetherbee (2004), the library profession as a whole has been slow to articulate a vision of what will constitute the “key set of leadership skills” for future librarians (p. 192) -- though this is beginning to change. In 2008, for instance, the ALA’s Emerging Leaders Program developed a set of leadership traits and competencies which they hoped an aspiring library leader could “consult in order to advance his career” (a competency being defined as “the knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, behaviors, or characteristics that people need to do a job successfully”) (Mason & Wetherbee, 2004, p. 193; Leadership Competencies, 2008). The list included 17 competencies spread across four broad meta-competencies; the latter being: Interpersonal effectiveness, Effective management, Vision, and Cognitive ability ("Leadership Competencies", 2008).
Though the wording varies, these broad meta-competencies are generally in keeping with the predictions of other authors, including:
According to Mason & Wetherbee (2004), the library profession as a whole has been slow to articulate a vision of what will constitute the “key set of leadership skills” for future librarians (p. 192) -- though this is beginning to change. In 2008, for instance, the ALA’s Emerging Leaders Program developed a set of leadership traits and competencies which they hoped an aspiring library leader could “consult in order to advance his career” (a competency being defined as “the knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, behaviors, or characteristics that people need to do a job successfully”) (Mason & Wetherbee, 2004, p. 193; Leadership Competencies, 2008). The list included 17 competencies spread across four broad meta-competencies; the latter being: Interpersonal effectiveness, Effective management, Vision, and Cognitive ability ("Leadership Competencies", 2008).
Though the wording varies, these broad meta-competencies are generally in keeping with the predictions of other authors, including:
- Maria Bagshaw (2003), who identified the following as the ten key characteristics of 21st Century librarions: Openness, friendliness, persistence, flexibility, teaching ability, patience, communication, personal attention, subject knowledge and “love of the game” (pp. 120-121).
- Necia Parker-Gibson (2003), who indicated that the following qualities would be needed: curiosity, communication skills, abroad education, tolerance for change, tolerance of diversity, flexibility, pragmatism, a willingness to seek out new sources of funding, and a sense of humour (pp. 161-165).
- John Riddle (2003), who argued that librarians need to adapt business management tools and strategies, in particular the use of “behavioral-based candidate selection” to match staff hiring to the needs of particular positions (pp. 131-133).
- David Stanley (2003), who sees challenges ahead in the areas of technology and collection development, as well as in the need to reach out to secure funding from outside organizations (pp. 135-138).
"Librarianship is a people profession ... If anyone ever thought they’d become a librarian because they liked books or reading, they would be sorely disappointed if they did not also like people too. Libraries of all kinds are keen to demonstrate their value to as wide an audience as possible, and to open up access to culturally significant resources that they hold"
(Cragg & Birkwood, 2011, para. 3). |
"The concept of the library itself is changing from one of a depository of static, archival information to a dynamic housing of many types of media and an exploding overabundance of information from which to choose. With the end user often skipping the information mediary (that's us, the librarians), we need to morph from keepers of knowledge to the facilitators of knowledge management. No more quiet, meek or stern personalities; today's librarians need to possess outgoing, friendly, positive characteristics for survival in a world where many people see librarians as obsolete."
(Bagshaw, 2003, p. 120). |
In case you missed it, one overriding theme among library thinkers is a belief that interpersonal skills (e.g. communication skills, networking, teamwork, etc.) will be key to managing change in the libraries of the future — there are others. To keep up to date on the latest thinking, try following some of the blogs, associations or twitter accounts listed under the "resources" tab.