Competencies of a Bibliographer: Continuity of Development and Break Points

Abstract

The competence of librarians-bibliographers is a topical subject of discussion in the professional community, as well as the framework of the activities of international and national library associations. The dynamically changing external environment is influencing the changing role and requirements of librarians-bibliographers: from traditional custodians of knowledge to new ones – collaborators, research partners, promoters and data stewards. Within the framework of the III International Bibliographic Congress in 2021, a foresight session “Bibliographer’s Competences: Continuity of Development and Break Points” was held, the purpose of which was to build a model of the competencies of a modern bibliographer. The foresight session was based on the system of methods - expert assessment, moderation and facilitation of discussions, brainstorming, as well as a survey of specialists on the strategically important competencies of a modern bibliographer. The assessment of the results of the survey was formed on the basis of the skills constructor. It was built as a result of the analysis of educational standards, curricula, literature on the modern development of bibliographic activity and the competence of librarians. The assessment of the results was carried out according to the standard Likert scale of importance. The degree of competencies importance was considered in 4 blocks: 1) general professional and professional competences; 2) skills in analytical and synthetic information processing, 3) other “hard” skills of a bibliographer; 4) “soft” skills. Each block of the survey was completed with open questions, allowing respondents the indication of any competencies they think should be included. It was determined that the importance of the competencies of a bibliographer for libraries of different types is different, in this regard, the article presents the summary rating of the competencies of a bibliographer, as well as a comparative analysis of the importance of the competencies of a bibliographer working in libraries of different types (university / scientific and public).

Keywords

• scientific libraries
• public libraries
• bibliographers
• professional competencies
• soft skills
• hard skills