Competency-Based Training for Digital Librarians: A Viable Strategy for an Evolving Workforce?

Abstract

Digital libraries need more digital librarians. Both library and information science educators and digital library practitioners are responding to this workforce shortage with training programs. Consensus is elusive on the nature of digital libraries, so these training programs differ significantly in their content and objectives. Competency-Based Training is proposed as a method to help both groups reach greater shared understanding of digital librarianship, and build more consistent digital librarian training programs. This paper does not list specific knowledge, skills and abilities required for digital librarianship, but it suggests a multi-tiered framework to help define the digital librarian's job. Statement of Problem For more than a decade, the supply of digital librarians has not kept pace with demand. Both library and information science (LIS) educators and digital library practitioners are responding to this shortage with a variety of training programs. Unfortunately, consensus is elusive on what should constitute core training for digital librarians. Consequently, today's digital librarian training programs vary significantly in content, focus and objectives. This should not be surprising, for LIS educators and practitioners have long struggled with issues like core competencies for all librarians, and divisions between theory and practice in the profession. However, while these debates continue today, the digital librarian workforce shortage is becoming more serious. Responding to this crisis will require LIS educators and digital library practitioners to move beyond debates, and together build coherent, complementary training programs for both new librarians and currently-employed professionals. The first step in this process is for both groups to reach a greater shared understanding of digital libraries and the jobs of those who staff them. Context In 2001, digital librarians already were in short supply. At that time, some blamed the shortage on a traditional rift between the cultures of librarianship and information technologists.1 According to this argument, libraries and LIS schools shared culpability for creating the divide, and for not recognizing the need for librarians with cross-functional expertise in both domains. At about the same time, another digital library leader attributed the labor shortage to: * varied expectations and goals for digital libraries at different institutions; * a lack of structured degree programs for this area of library specialization; * a lack of a clear career path for digital librarians; and * the need for continual learning as part of the job.2 These historical legacies, plus continuing disagreements over the significance and scope of digital libraries, have helped perpetuate an under-supply of digital librarians today. Defining the job and domain of a digital librarian is not easy. Library managers often cannot differentiate between digital librarians, librarians using Web-based technologies, and other technology professionals within libraries.3 This confusion extends upstream from the workplace into LIS schools, where theorists and educators struggle to create curricula distinguishing digital librarian training from other librarian specializations.4 The few LIS schools that have established formal digital librarian training and certification programs over the past five years have done so without shared standards or definitions of the specialization, so these curricula vary widely.5 Similarly, practitioner efforts to train digital librarians through continuing education activities suffer from the same lack of agreement. Years before LIS schools joined the effort, the digital library practitioner community and specialized training vendors were offering training to address the shortage. One of the earliest efforts to train more digital librarians was the University of California-Berkeley's 1995-1996 Institute on Digital Library Development, which provided key training and instruction in current digital library practices. …