ATG Special Report — Librarian Futures Part III: The Librarian Skills Landscape, Author and Librarian Commentary

By Matthew Weldon (Library Patron Consultant, Technology from Sage) <matthew.weldon@technologyfromsage.com> www.technologyfromsage.com

Introduction

Writing about the knowledge gap in academic libraries in Against the Grain last year, we concluded that, though the challenges facing the library in recent years are various and significant, the collected knowledge and skills of librarians mean that the future is ultimately bright. In the intervening months, librarians have consistently proven this conclusion correct, repeatedly demonstrating their capacity to adapt to emerging challenges. The 2023 Charleston Conference provided an excellent platform for those librarians to share and reflect on their own practice and learn from colleagues from around the world.

Appropriately, the 2023 Charleston Conference was also where we launched Librarian Futures Part III: The Librarian Skills Landscape, the third instalment in our series of reports into the future of the academic library. Working with Skilltype, we examined data from over 2,000 librarians worldwide to assess the present state of librarian skills, how librarians think those skillsets will evolve in future, and how empowered librarians feel to develop their own skillsets. Presented below are some key takeaways from our data. Our hope is that these results are useful for both frontline library workers and library leaders, and that they help align both groups’ visions for the future of the library.

Librarian Skills — Now and Future

The Skilltype talent management platform allows librarians to indicate the areas in which they’re currently skilled. By reviewing the most popular skills selected by library workers, we were able to produce a taxonomy of core librarian skills. See Skill Domains image below.

These skills can be grouped into three broad categories:

• information management skills

• interpersonal and leadership skills

• skills in personal and community development.

With such a diverse range of skills represented among library workers, the academic library will be both resilient and adaptable when meeting emerging challenges. We also see a clear commitment among librarians to develop their skillsets further, with “training & upskilling” identified as one of the most popular skills on the platform. This will empower the academic library to dynamically respond to new challenges as they emerge.

Through Skilltype’s data, we were further able to pinpoint the specific skills that librarians want to develop in the future. Our findings reflect the often-discussed move from a focus on collections to a focus on services. Though collection-related skills continue to be listed among librarian interests, we also see a great deal of interest in skills relating to services. Here there are areas of alignment between frontline library workers and library leaders — with both groups displaying a clear interest in the library’s role in student success, as well as diversity, equality, and inclusion.

Skilltype Commentary

The Librarian Futures III report findings show high representation of information science skills across the community, suggesting a comfort zone. Librarians play a large role in connecting their communities as bridges between people and organizations. Information is the tip of the iceberg. The libraries Skilltype works with encourage re-skilling in areas such as AI, online learning, and data literacies so the library can be a full partner in teaching and research. Based on the report’s findings, Skilltype will highlight skills that help information professionals increase their impact and curate their careers in 2024. Skills that I expect to see more of include community outreach, instructional design, project management, assessment, design thinking, marketing, and user experience. These are essential skills to uncover community needs, communicate effectively with stakeholders, and maximize the library’s impact.

Christine Quirion, Chief Operating Officer, Skilltype

What Librarians Tell Us

In addition to reviewing data from Skilltype, we also conducted a global survey of over 250 librarians. Our survey questions were designed to develop our understanding of librarian perceptions of their own skills, areas in which they were more or less confident, the skills they think are especially important to develop for the future, and what effective learning, upskilling, and development is to them. Our findings provide actionable insights for both frontline librarians and library leaders, and will hopefully be the catalyst for important conversations across institutions.

Confidence in Ability is High — But Not in Career Advancement

We asked librarians to answer several questions designed to assess their confidence in their current skillset. Our data reflects high levels of confidence in day-to-day abilities, and most librarians additionally feel that they are able to meet the expectations both of patrons and managers. We also found generally high confidence in supporting student success, though to a marginally lesser extent. See graph below

However, of real concern was the far more mixed response we received when asking librarians how confident they felt in advancing their career. Slightly less than half of the librarians surveyed agreed with this, with the remainder either being neutral or responding in the negative. The problem was especially pronounced among hybrid workers, who reported being less confident in this area than their on-campus colleagues.

This finding will be of note for line managers and leaders within the academic library. In the 2022 Ithaka Library Survey, over half of surveyed directors reported that “maintaining existing staffing levels” was a major challenge. These results may offer some insight for line managers and library leaders into why this challenge is being felt so keenly. Retention is likely to be tough when staff value themselves, their skills, and their contributions to the library, and yet see no path to progression or recognition for these efforts. They are likely to look elsewhere for these, whether this is in other academic libraries, other library settings, or outside of the sector entirely.

Librarian Commentary

If I may be honest, the report left me with more questions. I was intrigued but not fully surprised by the different perspectives of library leaders and frontline librarians. This shows not only difference of priorities (which is expected), but it may also show the opportunity for a gap in communication or understanding. Are they communicating these priorities to each other? Does this impact the availability of or support for professional development? Furthermore, I’m curious as to the breakdown of “library leaders,” as there are various levels of library leaders with different priorities in the same institution (i.e., medical library director vs dean of libraries). Now that the librarian skills landscape has been identified, what is the next step? How can we help librarians advocate for the training and development they need? What additional work is needed to accurately identify those interests, needs, and opportunities?

Hannah Rutledge, Director of Library and Information Services, Longwood Gardens

Generative AI Presents a Challenge — and An Opportunity

We asked questions specifically pertaining to librarian confidence with technology and found once again that confidence was high but with a notable exception. Generative AI seems to represent a significant challenge for many librarians, with a plurality reporting that they do not feel confident answering patron questions on the topic. We later asked librarians how confident they would be advising students across a range of topics, and over half responded negatively to the phrase “using generative AI responsibly”, with similar results for advising staff, too. Clearly then, upskilling related to generative AI is necessary. See graph above.

Librarians themselves recognise this, as reflected in their responses to questions about skills for the future. Digital literacy is overwhelmingly seen as one of the most important skills to develop in the short term, with over 90% of respondents selecting this. They continue to see this being a critical skill in the medium and long term, too. Skills for critical thinking were also seen as important to develop in the near future. Both of these skills will equip librarians well for responding to AI in a thoughtful, considered, and proportionate way.

Results from elsewhere suggest that the time to upskill staff in matters relating to AI really is now: our own internal research (undertaken by a student intern working with Technology from Sage in 2023) suggests that almost 80% of students have not used AI in their studies. Other more recent results similarly show that students using generative AI are in the minority, with a McGrawHill survey showing 35% having used generative AI to help with coursework, while Chegg.org showed 40% of undergraduates have used AI. Student use of generative AI is only likely to grow, and effective support from the academic library will ensure that it is used effectively and ethically.

Librarian Commentary

Looking from the vantage point of December 2023, to meet the challenges that 2024 will bring, I have reflected on the skills, or the understanding, I will need to ensure 2024 (and beyond) is a success and that the library I lead at Lancaster continues to be at the vanguard of sustainable innovation. It would be remiss of me not to mention AI as a starter — the shift it will bring to all parts of society is akin to the changes wrought by the industrial revolution, and I need to begin to better improve my understanding of the opportunities and challenges (in that order) it is bringing. It will have far-reaching consequences to libraries and librarians as we once again reframe our old skills to meet new opportunities, it will bring lots of opportunities, but we need to better understand the skills it will require from us — and for us to keep an open mind about the changes it will bring. It will change education, but once again our skills as librarians will ensure we prosper.

Andrew Barker, Library Director, Lancaster University

Closing Remarks — Upskilling Isn’t Always Easy

Librarians are keen to upskill and know which areas of their practice they want to develop. However, these results show that it isn’t as simple as that. Librarians who reported a clear path to learning new skills at their institution were in the minority, suggesting that for many the process is uncertain. Lack of time and budget for upskilling complicates matters further — librarians that feel that there is enough resource are once again in the minority.

This seems to be an area of significant misalignment between frontline library workers and library leaders. As revealed in the 2022 Ithaka librarian survey, if asked to allocate a 10% increase in budget, few library leaders would put this toward “employee travel and personal development.” It seems, then, that librarian concerns are unlikely to be assuaged in the near future.

Library leaders looking to address this issue may find it useful to know what sort of training their colleagues will find beneficial and prioritise this in their training and development provision. Our data suggest that librarians care far less about the form training takes than they do the subject of the training — they do not display any clear preference for online or in-person training but feel strongly that any training should be relevant to their day-to-day role and should help them better meet the expectations of patrons.

Regarding discovering opportunities for learning and development, most librarians reported that they found out about their recent training via email and expressed a preference to continue to hear about it in this way. Our data also suggests that for some, colleague recommendations may be effective promoters.

Actionable insights like these are the aim of the Librarian Futures series, to empower library workers and leaders to work together to realise a more effective, efficient academic library with the patron at the heart. There are many more such insights in the latest instalment, as well as contributions from library leaders around the world.

Delve into the data yourself by downloading your copy of Librarian Futures Part III: The Librarian Skills Landscape here , and don’t forget to join the conversation using #LibrarianFutures.