Librarians of the Future:
Mastering the Road Ahead
H K Kaul
Director, DELNET
Developing Library Network
2013
Librarianship in the 21st Century
The Trends
 OCLC Study: Google and other resources may weaken the
relevance of the library.
 The Ithaka faculty survey for 2009: Librarians may have no role in
faculty information discovery
 Mike Shatzkin:
within 15 to 20 years the physical library will
cease to exist; patrons will access electronic material online, and the
meeting places and cyberbars will have migrated elsewhere.
 May not be that alarming but the challenge stands
Handling the Universes of Knowledge
 To Explore the Universe of Tacit Knowledge Resident in the Minds of
People/Experts
 To Manage the Universe of Explicit Knowledge
 To Explore the Knowledge Needs of the People: Could be Unlimited
 To Capture the New Emerging Knowledge: The Universe of
Untapped Knowledge: Could be Infinite
 Networking - The Universe of Complex Interactions Between Tacit,
Explicit and the Unlimited Knowledge Needs of People
Skills for Selecting Quality Content
From Developing Collections Locally to
Accessing Collections Globally
 Important in the digital environment
 A strong relationship between subject experts and library professionals
needed
 Each library professional should also focus attention on a subject as
well
Managing Online Content
 To learn search skills which do come with regular use of online
resources.
 The use of search engines and all such Web resources which help
in selecting best online content.
 Websites of institutions specializing in similar subjects.
 Basic knowledge of Web resources and search skills is very
essential
Content Management Systems
 For management and the delivery of content: various open source
and commercial software are available for this purpose
Understand Library Users
 Help information creators understand the requirements of users
 Use ICT to bridge the two
 Support the use of reliable information by training researchers / users to cite
and link reliable content.
Use Subject Portals
UCC Library Subject Portals
UCC Library comprises the Boole Library (Main Campus),
Boston Scientific Health Sciences Library (Brookfield) and
operates a joint Library service with Cork University Hospital
Library. Subject portals cover subject resources and other links,
chosen by subject Librarians
Cleveland State University Subject Portals
Portals are available on various subjects which give directions
to paid databases and OhioLINK resources, indexing services,
full text e-journals, a list of current periodical subscriptions, and
links to reputable web sites
Classification Skills
Cataloguing / Metadata Creation Skills
ICT Skills
 Technology-Savvy Librarians
 Ability to Adopt New Technologies
 Troubleshooting New Technologies
 Database Development
 Digital Archiving and Preservation
Skills to Manage Social Media
 Library news and events
 New additions to your collection
 Links to articles, videos, etc
 Community information
 Solicit feedback
 Respond to people
 Post pictures
 Anything else
Skills to Manage Social Media
 Link wherever possible
 Talk to people
 Instruction sessions
 Print advertising
 Build a contingent of friends
 Follow and be followed in return
 Give it time
 Maintain communication.
Transforming Traditional into the Online
Project management skills
Mackenzie and Smith in their study remark: “ A review of the
curricula of forty-eight graduate library school programs accredited by the
American Library Association revealed:
Of the 48 programs reviewed, 43.8% did not require management-related
courses. A review of twenty-four program syllabi revealed that 58.3% of the
management courses included human resource management concepts and
54.2% included strategy, planning and process. The results suggest that the
library profession has yet to agree upon the requirements for preparing
future librarians for managerial positions and leadership roles.
Ability to Manage Change
Capacity to Manage Within Changing Trends
Network
 Create the ‘Pull’ around you
The more you network with students, faculty and web resources
the more successful you will be
 Use Technology Tools like e-book readers
 Be data-driven
 Be human
Digital Discovery
Search the Web Regularly
Encourage Group Discovery
Evaluating Users’ Needs
Users’ Who Come to the Library
 A complete and detailed list of users needs to be prepared
 What we feel the user may need, may not be the correct
assessment
 The users’ needs may change from time to time. There is a need
to understand the current and possibly future needs of users
 Collection of information through questionnaires, interviews and
observations
 Open-ended and frank interviews with users
 Classification of data collected
 The analysis of data and recommendations made with actionpoints
Users’ Who don’t Come to the Library
Servicing the Users
 Open access content is increasing in size, but all of it is not of
high quality.
 There is a need to see how best content reaches the users.
 Librarians will have to strike a balance and the Governments
around the world will have to look into how publishers
of commercial content collaborate in disseminating
content at affordable costs.
Contracting Library Services by Managements
Environment Friendly Bookstores
Many of the book stores are creating good environments within
their stores so that readers can browse books, sit in corner and
even have snacks and refreshments within the bookstores.
These environments are preferred by many casual readers as
they are interested in the latest titles and they can browse
without any charge. It is likely that limited browsing facility may
be given by bookstores online as well. How do the librarians
counter this move?
Ability to Market Library Services
In order to expand the use of library, LIS professionals
need better marketing skills. The more one is able to
market, the more users will join the library and the better
that will be for library resources. With the online facility it is
possible to market information resources to students,
faculty and the general public. The more a librarian does it
in future, the more relevant his or her library would be.
The Discipline-specific Knowledge
Information resources are getting so interwoven that a library professional
in future has to look at the universe of knowledge through the domain in
which he is specializing. For otherwise, he will be lost in the amount of
information available on other subjects. Each library professional has to
develop discipline-specific knowledge so that he can help students,
researchers and others in getting appropriate information. In addition to
having the discipline-specific knowledge the library professional should
be technically sound, analytical, creative, able to satisfy various types of
library users, self-motivated, with communication and leadership skills.
Generic Skills
No.
1
2
General Skills
Description
Information literacy
“empower people in all walks of life to seek, evaluate, use and
create information effectively to achieve their personal, social,
occupational and educational goals.”
In LIS context, “IL can be defined as ability to recognize when
information is needed and being able to locate, evaluate and
use effectively the needed information.”
Communication
“the ability to exchange feelings, ideas and information with
others in an appropriate manner. Communication consists of
the two key aspects of oral and written skills. Oral
communication involves using the human voice to effectively
articulate a message to an intended audience. Written
communication involves using text or graphics to effectively
transmit a message to an intended audience.”
Generic Skills
No.
3
4
General Skills
Description
Critical thinking
“the ability to reach conclusions through reflection and
evaluation by applying independent thought and informed
judgement.”
Teamwork
“the ability to work effectively with others in a group with
the view to achieving defined goals. Two distinct roles
necessary for teamwork are the team member and the
team leader. A team member makes a productive
contribution to the collaborative effort of the group by
participating in the pursuit of group goals under the
guidance of the team leader. The team leader makes a
productive contribution to the collaborative efforts of the
group by providing guidance to ensure desired goals are
met.”
Generic Skills
No.
5
6
7
General Skills
Description
Ethics and social responsibility
“an awareness of the need for and
commitment to the maintenance of high
professional standards and social justice.”
Problem solving
Leadership
“the ability to find effective solutions to
problems through creative reasoning.”
“a relationship that involves the mobilizing,
influencing, and guiding of others toward
desired goals.”
Training in Skills
 M. Cristina Pattuelli after making a study of nearly 2000 courses being
offered by LIS schools in USA and Canada finds that LIS education
courses are facing challenges and are getting redefined.
 Similarly knowledge organization courses are also facing challenges.
Joanne Gard Marshall survey for the project MUSE found that the main
subjects that are going to be important for study and research in future
include the following:
 Technology
 Development of Subject Expertise
 Management
 Communication and Marketing
 Finance
91%
84%
69%
66%
56%
 Manage change as the digital content will overshadow the print content
 Learn skills to collect tacit knowledge within your sphere of activity
Understand the growing patterns of the universe of knowledge
 Learn how to record requests of users, link them with sources of knowledge
 Specialise in available and new resources on a subject
 Manage online content
 Become collectors of selective information through various types of sources
 Understand the skills that are needed to classify digital and online resources
 Learn new skills for cataloguing digital documents
 Have knowledge of search engines;
 Master new technologies
 Be able to develop a database on any subject in the library
 Be familiar with archiving and preservation of the digital data
 Manage social media
 Have the capacity to visualize the importance of new projects, costs
involved and implementing them well
 Learn management and business skills
 Initiate several approaches in order to understand the needs of users
 Be conversant with the copyright rules
 Learn better marketing skills
 Have generic skills including communication and leadership skills
 Have personal attributes including being creative, technical and flexible
 Have non-professional skills
 A serious effort is needed to overhaul the course content of LIS education
in India and allow outside experts to take classes in chosen subjects
Illustrations courtesy Google