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Competencies and capacities for the digital library

Explore the importance of skills and competences for managing digital libraries, evaluating their development in LIS education in Slovenia and the United Kingdom. The presentation covers the structure of required skills, frameworks for development, and the current situations in both countries, offering conclusions and recommendations.

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Competencies and capacities for the digital library

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  1. Competencies and capacities for the digital library David Bawden Polona Vilar Vlasta Zabukovec

  2. Purpose of presentation • identify importance skills and competences needed for managing digital libraries • assess how these are developed in LIS education and CPD • Slovenia • United Kingdom

  3. Structure of presentation • introduction [PV] • Slovenian situation [PV] • UK situation [DB] • conclusions [DB]

  4. Introduction

  5. Digital libraries • many definitions • four important aspects for skills development • change from ownership to access • change from physical access and browsing to search and navigation • change in the nature of the ‘library place’ • changing expectations of users

  6. Many necessary skills suggested • for example • creating search strategies • analysing and interpreting digital information • guiding and training users • integrating networked sources • creating metadata • designing interfaces and portals • imaging and digitising • and many more

  7. Framework for skills development • conceptual knowledge • semantic and syntactic knowledge • technical skills [Borgman 1996] • used in full paper for analysing university degree courses and CPD courses

  8. Note at the start • many skills and competences are ‘traditional’ LIS skills, or developments of them • some are new • so need development of current education and training • not unchanged offering • not completely new

  9. Slovenian situation • one university offering both UG and PG programmes • no programme with ‘digital library’ title • UG/PG programmes include individual courses with digital library content • one PG course devoted to the topic

  10. Slovenian education • several relevant courses, mainly conceptual and semantic/syntactic, e.g. • organisation of information • library automation • database design • information retrieval systems • technical skills in ‘general’ IT courses

  11. Slovenian CPD • National&University Library (NUK), Institute for IS (IZUM) • no courses on digital library as such • but several relevant, e.g. • e-journals • characteristics of e-resources • ECDL (IT skills) • full-text databases • also mostly conceptual and semantic/syntactic

  12. UK situation • LIS education • 16 UG programmes • 47 PG programmes • in 18 universities • no programme devoted to ‘digital library’ • very few courses within programmes with such a title

  13. UK education • all programmes offer some relevant courses • mainly conceptual and syntactic/semantic, e.g. • information retrieval systems • academic and research libraries • information resources and organisation • collection management • technical material in ‘general’ IT courses

  14. UK education • programmes other then strictly LIS and CILIP accredited may be relevant to digital libraries • e.g. • Information Systems and Technology • Electronic Publishing • Networked Information Management

  15. UK CPD • CILIP, TFPL, Aslib • No courses on ‘digital libraries’ as such • But several relevant, e.g. • Organising digital information and knowledge • Metadata • Electronic serials management • Library portals • Strategic approach to internet research • Information architecture

  16. Conclusions • in both formal education and CPD • in both UK and Slovenia • adaption and expansion of courses to cover digital libraries • DL skills and knowledge being ‘embedded’ in existing courses and programmes

  17. Topics usually included • typology of resources, domain analysis • computer/network literacy, information literacy • retrieval skills • analysis of information • user characteristics and needs • metadata

  18. Strengths of this approach • gradual and incremental development • include new skills as needed • focus on what is currently important • prevents ‘traditional’ skills being ignored

  19. Weaknesses of this approach • piecemeal and partial • students may miss ‘overall appreciation’ • may be unplanned overlaps and gaps • no overall rationale for which topics to focus on

  20. Recommendations • no attempt at defined curriculum • draw up agreed ‘check-list’ of topics / competencies • based on the several lists already available • national professional body for local situation • international body, e.g. EUCLID

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