Acceso usuarios
Muhammad Umar Farooq, Ahsan Ullah, Memoona Iqbal, Abid Hussain
Purpose The purpose of this research was to find out the perception of university librarians about the current and required competencies. Main focus of this study is to identify the current rank and to point out the benchmark for competencies of library professionals at public universities in Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach Quantitative research design is used for the conduct of the current study. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data. The Special Libraries Association (SLA) instrument ?Competencies for Information Professionals of the 21st Century? was used to design the questionnaire. A paired sample t-test is used to establish whether there is any noteworthy distinction between the current and required levels of skills. Inferential statistic was also used and Independent Sample T-test and ANOVA was used to identify the difference in perception on the basis of different demographic variables. Findings There is a significant gap between the perceptions of university librarians about their present skills and required skills. Present level of skills is lower than the desired level of competence. There is no significant relationship between the length of job (i.e. experience), grade and skills of academic librarians. But in case of gender, male has higher score on current level of competencies while female has higher score on required level of skills. Originality/value The findings of this study are helpful for universities in the recruitment, management, and training of their librarians on the basis of required skills. Furthermore it will be useful for librarians in their career planning and continuing education and library schools to revise their curriculum in accordance with needs.
