TY  - JOUR
AB  - Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold: to find out the perception of university librarians about the current and required competencies and 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 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. The 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 the case of gender, male have a higher score on the current level of competencies while female have a higher score on the 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.
VL  - 37
IS  - 8/9
SN  - 0143-5124
DO  - 10.1108/LM-03-2016-0017
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/LM-03-2016-0017
AU  - Farooq Muhammad Umar
AU  - Ullah Ahsan
AU  - Iqbal Memoona
AU  - Hussain Abid
PY  - 2016
Y1  - 2016/01/01
TI  - Current and required competencies of university librarians in Pakistan
T2  - Library Management
PB  - Emerald Group Publishing Limited
SP  - 410
EP  - 425
Y2  - 2024/04/18
ER  -