Task Force on Core Competencies for Special Collections Professionals

RBMS appointed a task force in 2005 to study core competencies for professionals working in a special collections environment. The Task Force is charged with describing these competencies in a document that can eventually be used by students, educators, administrators, professionals working in special collections organizations, other academic librarians, and affiliated groups.

The Task Force invites information, views, and comments from the membership of RBMS. Please respond to the following questions as fully as you wish. The deadline is January 6, 2006.

Send your answers to Kathryn Beam, chair of the Task Force. Her e-mail address is kjmb@umich.edu. Further messages can be sent to other members of the Task Force: Mark Dimunation (mdim@loc.gov), Jackie Dooley (jmdooley@uci.edu), Hjordis Halvorson (halvorsonh@newberry.org), Kris Kiesling (kiesling@umn.edu), Beverly Lynch (bplynch@ucla.edu), Margaret Nichols (mnr1@cornell.edu), Alice Schreyer (schreyer@uchicago.edu), and Dan Slive (daniel_j_slive@sbcglobal.net).

Questionnaire

Name (optional)

Position title

Institution name

Type of parent institution: university library, college library, public library, government library, museum, historical society, other cultural organization, other (describe), or no parent organization (describe)

Number of full-time-equivalent professional special collections staff

1. One definition for a core competency is knowledge, ability, or expertise in a specific subject area, or a skill set that serves as the basis from which additional competencies for particular jobs are developed. How would you define the term core competency in a special collections environment?

2. How is "core competencies" a useful term or concept?

3. What competencies or characteristic(s) do you look for in any special collections professional? Or, what do you see in common amongst all your peers in the special collections field?

4. What specialized competencies that apply to some special collections professionals but not to others should still be considered 'core' for special collections librarianship?

5. What competencies do you believe are often present in a special collections professional but are not 'core'?

6. What distinguishes special collections professionals from other information professionals?

7. What qualifications or responsibilities has your institution added to special collections job descriptions in the last two to five years?

8. After hiring, what skill or training must you provide, or what competencies do you often have to develop? Or, what did you yourself have to learn after you were hired?

9. What do you see changing in special collections job descriptions in the next five, ten, or even fifteen years?

10.What else do you want to tell the Task Force about core competencies?