A SURVIVAL GUIDE FOR A 21ST CENTURY LIBRARIAN

Technical Skills in light of Technology’s Impact on Changing

Professional Roles

Introduction 1.0.

Change in External Environments

Modifications in the Technologies

Flexibility and Adabtability of LIS

Professionals

Introduction 2.0.Hard Technical Skills and Competencies

Soft Generic Skills and Attributes

Status of librarianship

Information Literacy and Informal

Education

How to Navigate?

Hard Technical Skills and Competencies

Roy Tennant’s discipline-specific knowledge and the vital skills for

managing digital collections:Imaging Technologie

s

Optical Character

Recognition (OCR)

Mark-Up Languages (HTML and

XML)

Cataloguing and

Metadata

Indexing and

Database Technology

User Interface Design

Programming

Web Technology

Project Manageme

nt

Hard Technical Skills and Competencies Choi and

Rasmussen research (2009)

DL Architecture and Software

Knowledge and Experience with

Metadata

IFLA Conference 2011

Metadata is the core skillContent

ManagementInformation

Retrieval

Database Development

(FRBR, the Semantic Web,

RDF and the SPARQL query

language

Hard Technical Skills and Competencies

Ina Fourie research (2004) on librarians’ reactions

to new technologies:

Failure to be proactive

Static teaching culture

Hard Technical Skills and Competencies

Elias Tzoc and John Millard study of job announcements:

Web design and web standards

(72%)

Digital Collection Management (64%)

Programming with Scripting Languages

(64%)

Digital Content Management

Systems (48%)

Hard Technical Skills and Competencies

Web Design and Web Standards

HTMLCSS

(Cascading Style Shifts)

Interface Design

Common Software

Platforms (like

Dreamweaver)

Hard Technical Skills and Competencies

Programming with Scripting Languages

PHP (Hypertext

Preprocessor)Perl

JavaScript Ruby

Hard Technical Skills and Competencies

Digital Content Management Systems

DSpace CONTENTdm

Drupal

DLXS (Digital Library

eXtension Service)

Hard Technical Skills and Competencies Social Media Skills

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

SMO (Social Media Optimization)

Hootsuite

Podcasting

Youtube/Vimeo Video making

LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook Use

Hard Technical Skills and Competencies

Other useful technical skills

Analytics and Google Analytics

PMP (Project Management Professional)CAPM (Certified Associate in Project Management)EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) and SIRSIFamiliarity with digital devices (Digital Camera, Digital Video Recorder, Ipad, Kindle, ebooks, electronic audiobooks etc.)

Soft Generic Skills and Attributes

‘Librarians should be able to play with the technologies in the library, to learn what problems commonly come up, and to fix them if necessary, because it is often our responsibility to fix them’

Soft Generic Skills and Attributes

Comfort in Onlin

e Mediu

m

Tolerance for

Change

Keeping up with the New Ideas

Ability to

Learn

Critical

Evaluation

Soft Generic Skills and Attributes

Jennifer Rian Research

The importance of perception

Thinking about possibilitiesChange of perception

through experiments, discussions,

workshops etc.

Sue Myburgh Research

Problem Solving

Teamwork

Lifelong LearningInterdisciplinary

KnowledgeCommunication

Skills

Soft Generic Skills and Attributes

Leadership style according to Erin Dini-Davis and Danielle Theiss-White

Support and Encouragement

Com

mon Missio

n and Vision

Mo

nthly

Facilit

ators

Information Literacy and Informal Education

E-Learning and Distance Education (MOOC, Coursera

etc.)

Open Courses by Universities

Specialized Online Schools

(like W3schools)

Alison’s Courses for upgrading Digital

Skills

Information Literacy and

Informal Education‘Sixth Sense’: considering past experiencesScenario Implementations and ForecastingParaprofessional Positions

Volunteerships and InternshipsMemberships in Library and other AssociationsParticipating at Conferences

Final Considerations Lack of Technical Courses during the Formal

Education Pursuing Continuing and Independent Self-

Education Keeping in Touch with Reality Following Change Critical Evaluation Collaborative Discussions Reflective Thinking Enthusiasm to Learn the Technologies

QUESTIONS?