Digital Librarian, Cybrarian, or Librarian with Specialized Skills 143 Digital Librarian, Cybrarian, or Librarian with Specialized Skills: Who Will Staff Digital Libraries? Linda Marion Abstract but are not yet coordinated and targeted at the This exploratory study examined 250 online aca- task of creating a digital librarian.” (Carbonell). 2 demic librarian employment ads posted during 2000 to determine current requirements for tech- What specific skills does a digital librarian need to func- nologically oriented jobs. A content analysis soft- tion effectively? Is a digital librarian only one who main- ware program was used to categorize the specific tains a digital collection? What is the difference between a skills and characteristics listed in the ads. The re- digital librarian, a systems librarian, and a reference librar- sults were analyzed using multivariate analysis ian who supports web-based course delivery? Is “digital (cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling). librarian” an identifiable job? The answers to these and The results, displayed in a three-dimensional con- similar questions are varied and disjunctive. It is not sur- cept map, indicate 19 categories comprised of both prising that the definition of digital librarian is unclear computer related skills and behavioral character- given that it nests within the field of digital libraries that istics that can be interpreted along three continua: is rapidly evolving and inventing itself. (1) technical skills to people skills; (2) long-estab- Although authors write about job competencies they lished technologies and behaviors to emerging consider essential in an automated library environment, trends; (3) technical service competencies to pub- there is no research that systematically examines the cur- lic service competencies. There was no identifi- rent job requirements for librarians working in that envi- able “digital librarian” category. ronment. Examining job ads is an established method of assessing what employers consider important in hiring new “… what is a digital library? Conceptions differ. staff. While job ads do not identify the characteristics of Approaches differ. Realizations differ.” (Saracevic).1 the individuals hired, they do provide a picture of current “Advances in all these technologies are underway, trends in desired qualifications and skills. In other words, Linda Marion is a doctoral student at Drexel University. E-mail: [email protected]. 143 March 15–18, 2001, Denver, Colorado 144 Linda Marion job ads represent an idealized picture of employers’ wishes • flexibility; for new personnel, and thus, employers’ vision of the fu- • innate skepticism; ture. Nesbeitt3 found that online job boards are increas- • propensity to take risks; ingly popular resources used by library job seekers. Pre- • abiding public service perspective; sumably, the individual looking for a technologically ori- • good interpersonal skills; ented job would be particularly drawn to such a resource. • skill at enabling and fostering change; and This study explored the content of online employment • capacity for and desire to work independently. ads to determine the content and boundaries of librarianship. The goal of this study was to identify the Content analyses of job ads skill sets currently associated with technologically oriented Several longitudinal studies, tracking change over decades, library jobs in order to: have examined employment ads to assess how much and • aid librarians interested in current job requirements; what kind of change has occurred in library positions. and Hong Xu6 concluded that, as technology use increased • assist managers in defining the skills needed for new in libraries between 1970 and 1990, the requirements for personnel. reference librarians and catalogers have become more simi- lar and both groups require increased computer skills. Xu Background noted that there was an overall trend toward “holistic li- Existing literature on the subject of job requirements for brarians” with titles and responsibilities reflecting func- computer related library jobs consists of: (1) articles about tional definitions rather than the traditional library job cat- technical and personal competencies, and (2) content analy- egories. ses of job ads. Zhou7 performed a systematic quantitative analysis of trends in demand for computer related skills for academic Librarians’ job competencies librarians from 1974 to 1994. He devised a thirteen-point The literature on job competencies for the technologically checklist for computer related skills appearing in job ads oriented librarian consists of two major streams: those that that include knowledge of, or experience with, the follow- focus on the knowledge base (professional skills) and those ing aspects: that focus on attributes or attitudes (personal characteris- • bibliographic utilities, such as OCLC or RLIN; tics). • automated library systems; Roy Tennant4, a leading proponent of developing digi- • online database searching, such as Dialog; tal librarians, published a list of skills he considers neces- • microcomputer applications; sary for those who create and manage digital collections • mainframe computer applications; and services. These skills are knowledge of: • CD-ROM products; • imaging technologies; • computer languages or programming; • optical character recognition (OCR); • computer hardware; • markup languages, including HTML, SGML, and • possession of a degree in computer science; XML; • networks, such as LAN or WAN; • cataloging and metadata; • Internet searching; • indexing and DB technology; • resources in electronic formats; and • user interface design; • image technology or multimedia. • programming; Zhou found that the technological job requirements • Web technology; and changed over time as new technology appeared and was • project management. implemented. When technology was new, it was more likely In a subsequent article Tennant5 acknowledged that the to be mentioned in ads. As a particular form of technologi- rapid rate of change in technology meant that certain skills cal skill, such as Internet searching, becomes commonplace, might be obsolete in a short time. To remedy this, he rec- it was less likely to be mentioned. Besides devising a useful ommended that employers seek librarians with the follow- scale for assessing computer-related skills, Zhou’s research ing attributes or personal traits: supports the idea that job ads are one early indicator of • capacity to learn constantly and quickly; innovation in the profession. ACRL Tenth National Conference Digital Librarian, Cybrarian, or Librarian with Specialized Skills 145 Smith and Lynch8 used Zhou’s scale and Tennant’s list News, and LIS programs’ job boards. Two criteria deter- of behavioral characteristics in a recent investigation of mined inclusion in the study. First, because this study fo- the changing nature of work in academic libraries in the cuses on job requirements for professional librarians, the 1980s and 1990s. They found that required computer-re- job had to require an ALA approved Master’s degree. Sec- lated skills increased over time. Additionally, most jobs in ond, the ads needed multiple mentions of “electronic”, “vir- their data set listed general, rather than specific, computer tual”, “technology”, or more specific terms potentially rel- skills; for example, “working with resources in electronic evant to computer related librarian skills and qualifications. formats” or “knowledge of computerized systems”. Men- In other words, in order to capture the most technologi- tion of behavioral traits, such as “creativity”, “enthusiasm”, cally oriented jobs, an ad needed to include more than a and “flexibility” also increased over time. The researchers single reference to “knowledge of computers” or a similar discovered that “combination” jobs that shift from tradi- general phrase. tional specialist to more complex functionalist positions The author conducted a pilot study in May 2000. The rose in their sample. original data set included ads encompassing public, school, and special library jobs as well as academic jobs. Prelimi- Questions Guiding This Study nary analysis of the data revealed that public and school (1) What specific technical skills and behavioral char- library jobs and senior administrative positions in all set- acteristics are listed in current online job ads for profes- tings overwhelmingly mentioned only very general tech- sional librarians? nologically related requirements, such as “familiarity with (2) Can a subset of these ads be classified as digital li- computers” or “knowledge of automated library systems”. brarian jobs? Special library jobs presented a different picture than aca- demic positions and will be analyzed separately. Therefore, Methods this paper reports on an analysis of academic library jobs. This exploratory study examined 250 online academic li- A content analysis software program, WordStat9, was brarian employment ads posted during 2000 to determine used to categorize the specific skills and characteristics current requirements for technologically oriented jobs. The listed in the online ads for academic libraries. The coding ads were selected from the ACRL online job board, C&RL categories were derived from a combination of sources: (1) Table 1. Content Analysis Categories Category Label Examples of Dictionary Terms Automated Library System Integrated library system, Innovative Interfaces Bibliographic Utilities OCLC, RLIN. MARC Collegial Collaborative, Interested