A skills refocus for digital libraries? Linda Ashcroft Liverpool John Moores University UK

‘Is the education of digital libraries adequate?’ Yan Quan Liu survey analysed course syllibi relating to education for digital libraries in North America, Europe, Asia drastic increase in such courses over past 4 years balance of theory and technology ‘the Technocrats’ ‘the Librarians-as Guides’

E-learning not only course syllibi for digital libraries, but new ways of delivery – e-learning students becoming used to working in the electronic environment student perceptions (Gregory) staff attitudes (Newton) which will influence delivery and student assimilation

E-access even on-campus students access learning tools and info electronically –eg WebCT, Blackboard, remote access to library collections public libraries also delivering material electronically, eg –North Lanarkshire –community learning hub eg e-books –Park Ridge Public Library Chicago, US –London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, UK

Users and e-materials? e-journals now full text databases appreciated by many users but after initial problems resolved, requiring skills for addressing –relevance of bundles –ease of access –licences –archives

Users and e-materials? e-books some initial difficulties similar to e-journal situation relevance of bundles ease of access licences

E-book use Manatee County library –20,000 titles via netLibrary, but only 70 titles used in first 3 months Texas A & M University –about 70% of netLibrary titles used NoWAL consortium –about 80% use of 25% of netLibrary titles

E-resources - Take up? Google v quality resources how many clicks? Athens? –(JMU change) skills to make it easy for users to access quality resources

Digital reference 24 hour reference and partnerships 24 hour reference services increasing –partnerships between countries increasing to provide these services University of Technology Sydney (UTS) –expansion as part of a global network of digital reference partners Answers Now –UK, USA & Australia Global Librarian –UK & Canada

Digital reference the question point model ( web-based communication collaboration at heart of system network for global participation digital skills required but communication and collaboration skills vital

LIS education library educators increasing focus on digital environment (Liu) concentration on technology dismissal of areas that don’t fit with technology (Gorman) important skills being neglected –eg cataloguing & classification –but demanded in context of semantic Web?

Professional bodies ALA accredits courses based on schools own vision & mission rather than national standards CILIP does not stipulate precise requirement for course content considers the wide range of skills now needed

Professional associations requirements will vary from country to country very different if variation within country if professional associations do not have specify the same core skills or are ‘flexible’ in their approach, how can quality curricula design be developed on international basis?

Curricula and library practice changing curricula re diversity of information work education programmes becoming increasingly generalised variation between countries and within countries mismatch between curricula and employers’ expectations?

Traditional core skills analysing, evaluating, cataloguing information enquiry work user education training and facilitating customer service All applicable in the digital environment

Collaboration skills Consortia purchase e-journals now e-books and other e-resources increases purchasing power expertise sharing but increases the number of different parties to work with requires good collaboration skills

Collaboration skills Working with faculty Kingston University VLE Sesl initiative librarians working with faculty to develop e-collection across a range of disciplines group work to construct e-learning activity to embed in a course

Negotiation skills provision suitable for users of all consortia members? finance groups IT personnnel faculty professionals from other libraries e-resource suppliers

Communication the skill you can’t download yes, have to communicate online but also have to communicate with more and more players involved in the digital library scenario full range of communication skills need to be built into the curriculum

Communication skills requirements challenges staff training (CPD) –at different levels – different requirements users – some remote –different groups will have different needs all other collaborators in library provision –each with different interests and concerns so wide range of communication skills required

Conclusions technology skills needed by digital librarians traditional core skills also required skills requirements for accreditation purposes? communications skills are vital