ASERL Hosts Summit Meeting
on Research Librarian Competencies
["Shaping The Future" Text] [Summit Agenda] [ Summit Notes ] [ Links to LIS Schools in SOLINET Region ]
| The Association of Southeastern
Research Libraries (ASERL) has released a competency guidelines for
the basic skills needed by today’s research librarians. ASERL’s
new competencies were developed as a means to increase the pool of
qualified research librarians for the future and to help current staff keep pace with the
evolving nature of librarianship and the effects of technology. The guidelines also
consider the changing environment of higher education, the library and information
profession, business and industry, and government. The ASERL competency guidelines for research librarians focus on:
The ASERL guidelines emphasize the critical role of libraries in the ability of universities to succeed in teaching and research. "No matter what the level of technology, no university can be successful without effective support from its library. And for the library to be effective, its staff must be flexible and responsive to the ever-changing demands of its users," commented Derrie Perez, Acting Dean, Library System at the University of South Florida and chair of the ASERL Education Committee. ASERL’s Education Committee led the development effort of the guidelines, and includes library directors, human resource staff, and representatives from schools of library and information science throughout the Southeast. They were created after consulting similar competency guidelines previously developed by the Special Libraries Association and the American Libraries Association/Young Adult Library Services Association. To aid the implementation of its guidelines, ASERL will sponsor a summit meeting of ASERL library directors and leaders from the 13 Southeastern schools of library and information science on May 5, 2001 in Atlanta. Cost for the summit meeting is being largely underwritten by a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). "Obviously, it does no good to develop competency guidelines and then do nothing to help them become reality," commented Paul Gherman, ASERL Board President and University Librarian at Vanderbilt University. "With the help from CLIR, we intend to start the dialogue necessary between practicing research librarians and the schools training future librarians. Together, we can make sure tomorrow’s libraries have the staffing they need to remain effective and successful." For more information about the summit meeting, please contact John Burger.
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