Knowledge and skills for the digital era academic library

a r t i c l e i n f o Technology has altered the traditional academic library beyond recognition. These dramatic changes have im-pacted significantly on the knowledge and skills requirements for LIS professionals practising in this environment. While there have been studies in other parts of the world which have investigated the knowledge and skills requirements for the digital era academic library environment, to date no comprehensive study has 'drilled' down into this area in the South African context. This paper reports on a preliminary study which is part of a wider study aimed at developing a comprehensive skills statement which would provide an objective framework against which professional LIS practitioners in the modern academic library environment in South Africa may both measure their existing competencies and also identify the need for further skills acquisition. The research question guiding this preliminary investigation was: What key knowledge and skills are required for LIS professionals to effectively and efficiently practise in a digital era academic library in South Africa? The triangulated findings (using content analysis of job advertisements and semi-structured interviews) from this preliminary investigation are used to ascertain an initial picture of key knowledge and skills sets required for LIS professionals in this environment. These preliminary findings also proved useful in teasing out some of the parameters for the wider study targeting the development of a comprehensive skills statement for higher education libraries in South Africa. The study reported here has relevance for the academic library context in other parts of the world as well. INTRODUCTION New methods of scholarly communication, expansion of the library's virtual space via knowledge or research commons, the proliferation of social media, and the explosive growth of mobile devices, tablets and related applications, have collectively altered the traditional academic library beyond recognition. These dramatic changes, largely the result of rapidly evolving information and communication technologies (ICTs), have impacted significantly on the knowledge and skills requirements for library and information science (LIS) professionals practising in this environment. The transformed landscape requires a new generation of LIS professionals to effectively and efficiently mediate it. Orme (2008, p. 627–628) categorised knowledge and skills required for this transformed environment into: discipline-specific knowledge (that is, knowledge that relates specifically to the LIS profession), generic skills (general skills which apply to all disciplines) and personal competen-cies (attitudes, values and personal traits). Choi and Rasmussen (2009, p. 465), through content analysis …