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As part of the EFOP-3.3.3-VEKOP-16–2016-00001 “Museum and Library Development for All” project, a national representative digital literacy survey was conducted in Hungary's public libraries at the end of 2019. The aim of the present study is to provide a deeper analysis of the data collected during the survey to answer the question of the role of gender and age in the development of digital skills amongst librarians working in public libraries. This study was designed to answer the following four research questions: Are there levels of proficiency defined by DigComp 2.1 that are more specific to men or more specific to women? Are there areas of competence and competences that are clearly perceived as stronger or weaker for men or women? Are there areas of competence that are clearly influenced by age and others that are not or only moderately influenced by age? Which competences are clearly age-related, and which are not or only slightly affected by age?

The main target group of the study were library professionals working in county libraries. The survey, based on the DigComp 2.1 (Gomez et al., 2017) framework, was conducted using an online questionnaire in the form of a self-assessment and explored four levels of digital literacy. A 30-question questionnaire was completed by 1,868 respondents. The sampling procedure was essentially stratified sampling. The large number of respondents and the sampling procedure combined with the representativeness of the sample meant that the results of the survey can be considered as generalisable to the whole Hungarian public library sector.

Of the five competency areas assessed by the DigComp framework, librarians were found to be most competent in information and data literacy, and least competent in content development, according to the proportion of those with basic skills. 32 percent of women and 22 percent of men working in libraries rated their digital skills as basic, and both groups were weak or less weak in the same skills, with a few exceptions. At the intermediate level, there is a predominance of women. In the information and communication competency areas and in the content development and integrating and re-elaborating digital content in the content creation area, a high proportion of women consider their digital skills to be medium. Relatively few men rate their own competence in these areas as average. They are most likely to have advanced and highly specialised skills. The advanced level in DigComp2.1 implies, in addition to strong digital skills, the willingness and ability to help others, while the highly specialised level requires innovative and creative use of digital technology and knowledge transfer. These top two skill levels are more common amongst men. 34 per cent of men and 27 per cent of women have advanced skills, while 13 per cent of men and 6 per cent of women have highly specialised’s level. The age of librarians has only a minimal influence in certain areas of competence and for certain competences. Skills in the information and data literacy competency area are less age sensitive. For the data management competency, which requires more technological skills, a stronger correlation between age and skill levels is observed, especially for basic and highly specialised skills. In the communication competence area, the youngest age group of librarians has the highest percentage of advanced and the lowest percentage of basic level. The proportion of advanced learners decreases steadily as age groups progress and the proportion of basic learners increases at a similar steady rate. The effect of age on the content creation is much more modest than expected. Age clearly has an impact on the safety competence area. As age increases, the proportion of those at advanced level decreases and the proportion at basic level increases. Age also has a significant effect on the problem-solving competence area. One in two librarians in the 50 and 60s have only basic level skills, compared to one in four in the youngest age group and one in three in the 40s.

Using the DigComp 2.1 framework, a digital competence survey of a whole professional group of library professionals working in public libraries in Hungary was carried out. The study provides new insights into the impact of gender and age as variables on digital competence.

This chapter frames the digital age transformation journey for sustainability from the lenses of transformation skills and competencies required for future work. It provides a synopsis of the digital transformation considering digital technologies, connecting digital transformation to future work and reflections on the new digital age to sustainability issues. In detail, this chapter comprehensively reviews digital technologies transformation skills, including digital skills and integrated skills for the digital economy linked to integrated skills. This chapter takes into consideration the possible effects from a competency point of view from the domains on issues like: global independence, trust, a shift in skills and ways of work, commitment to justice, improving the know-how, financial inclusion, data and data privacy that are critical imperatives for sustainability. Developing a digital economy requires integrated sustainable development competencies; this chapter considers combined skills for digital transformation in triple connecting points of human skills, business skills and digital building blocks skills to argue for sustainability. Because attaining Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires input from different quotas globally, sustainable competencies are needed to ensure individuals work cohesively through new-age digital technologies. This chapter further highlights emerging competencies such as critical thinking, appreciative equity, open communication and acting on collective well-being as imperatives transforming digital disruptions. The final section of this chapter puts into perspective the implication of required digital technologies for the future of work and its significance on the need to reskill and retool. It concludes by reflecting on opportunities and challenges for crucial consideration towards creating a sustainable digital age.

Kenyan Small and Medium-sized Tourism Enterprises (SMTEs) have been highly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, the tourism workforce had to face lockdowns and travel restrictions. In order to maintain business and operational continuity, the tourism workforce had to leverage on internet technologies and digitalisation as a means of enabling business continuity and providing value addition in their supply chains. This study sought to investigate on the extent to which digital skills aid in the tourism recovery process as well as improve the employees' well-being amid the COVID-19 pandemic among SMTEs in Nairobi City County.

The study took a qualitative approach based on constructivist grounded methodological approaches that emphasised specifically on the discovery of emerging trends and patterns in behaviour as well as development of new theory. The aim was to understand the tourism workforce recovery process using digital skills. The process involved data gathering from interview participants, qualitative emic and etic coding, analytical memo writing, theoretical sampling and reconstructing theory.

The findings of the study showed that due to losses attributed to the lockdowns and travel restrictions, prospective digital business models have been formulated for tourism stakeholders during the lockdown period. The changing technological landscape globally showed that digital skills will continue to be in great demand to meet the needs of the marketplace. Further, the use of social digital tools to build a mental health response to COVID-19 was instrumental to the recovery process. Technological resilience is a key factor that will play a role in reviving the sector.

A structured vision, roadmap and tourism strategy for mainstreaming digital skills and developing technological resilience within the tourism and hospitality sector is important towards coping and adaptive strategies for the SMTEs in the Kenyan context.

This study examines how digital skills are vital for tourism recovery especially for the SMTEs within the developing countries context.

The purpose of this study is to identify the digital literacy skills possessed by the students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), and the extent to which they use these digital literacy skills in their academic works.

Descriptive survey was adopted for the study, and the population consists of registered students that use the mobile telephone network (MTN) digital library, out of which 10 per cent of the population (281) was sampled for the study. A structured questionnaire was the instrument for data collection. The questionnaire was randomly administered on the respondents who come to use the MTN digital library with particular attention to the different levels of the students. The questionnaire distribution lasted for a week; 281 copies of questionnaire were distributed, out which 184 (65 per cent) responded.

The study showed that some of the students possess digital literacy skills; they use these digital literacy skills daily. Majority of the respondents indicated that digital literacy has affected their academic performance to a high extent. The major challenges of acquiring digital literacy skills include electricity failure, low internet bandwidth, ICT facilities, lack of development of digital literacy programme and standard.

Implication of this study is that the establishment by MTN has enhanced the development of digital literacy in UNN as many students utilize these facilities.

Librarians and library staff should be adequately equipped with digital literacy skills and competencies to empower them to train and educate users, as information and communication technology (ICT) is a major tool for teaching, learning and research. To achieve this goal, there is a need to engage in public private partnership collaboration to sponsor the provision of these ICT facilities in our institutions of higher learning to enhance literacy learning for national development.

The purpose of this study was to explore the essential digital competencies for developing and managing digital libraries. The study identified useful training programs for university librarians to acquire digital competencies. It examined their digital competencies for developing and managing digital libraries in universities of Pakistan. This study also evaluates their digital knowledge in applying security measures to protect digital contents.

The quantitative research method was used to conduct this study. Research questions and hypothesis were developed to achieve the objectives. In-depth review of related literature was conducted to draft a list of essential digital competencies for developing and managing digital libraries. It was circulated among the panel of experts to get their valuable feedback to make a final list of digital competencies for developing and managing digital libraries. A questionnaire was developed to measure the status of digital competencies of university librarians in Pakistan. It was pre-tested on 20 respondents before applying to the whole population. SPSS software was used to analyze data. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied to achieve results.

The findings of the study showed that digital competencies for developing and managing digital libraries fall into three main categories: digital competencies for developing digital libraries; digital competencies for managing digital libraries; and digital competencies to protect digital contents. The results revealed that training programs offered by Higher Education Commission (HEC), library associations, library schools, in-house trainings, use of online tutorials and trainings offered by skilled professionals are highly important and useful for university librarians to acquire digital competencies. The study concluded that the university librarians working in HEC recognized universities in Punjab province possess basic level of digital competencies for developing and managing digital libraries. Their digital competencies vary on the basis of their university type, i.e. public and private sector.

This study measures digital competencies of university librarians in Pakistan. The study has practical implications for librarians, library schools, library associations, university libraries and HEC.

This study has practical implications for librarians, information professionals, libraries and library schools. The results are useful for librarians to get knowledge of digital competencies which are essential for developing and managing digital libraries and protecting digital contents. They can develop their digital competencies in identified areas. This study has identified useful training programs for university librarians for acquiring digital competencies. The university librarians should use these programs to gain needed digital skills.

Librarians can get knowledge of digital competencies for developing and managing digital libraries to face the challenges of digital age.

In contrast to previous research work on investigating computer skills, information and communication technology skills, technological skills and general digital skills, this study particularly identifies the essential digital competencies for developing and managing digital libraries. It helps library and information science schools, library associations, training groups and university libraries to offer adequate training opportunities in identified areas to meet the challenges of the digital age.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the need to embrace digital ways of producing work and reaching audiences in the hard-hit sectors such as performing arts. In the context of post-pandemic recovery, this paper explores the notion of digital performance and proposes a framework for categorisation of digital skills currently associated with the digital making and sharing of performance work. It also aims to review the current digital skills offering in the performing arts training at Scottish universities and suggests strategies to drive accelerated digital skills development in performance education.

Literature on digitalisations, digital skills and digital performance have been reviewed to provide the context and inform the proposed Digital Skills for Performance Framework. Subsequently, a pilot desk-based study selected 15 Scottish Higher Education Institutions in the area of performance and analysed their publicly available programme documentation for the presence of digital skills.

While all of the programme specifications mentioned the use of “digital portfolios” and “digital performance”, there was little specific detail concerning “baseline” (transferable) and “specific” (technical) digital skills such as competency in the use of specific technologies. More notably, there was a complete absence of content relating to digital aesthetic identity.

Upskilling future performance makers in digital competencies seems particularly important at present. This paper offers a useful categorisation of the digital skills in performing arts context, which higher education programmes can use to update their curricula, prepare the work-ready graduates and explore technological opportunities for the sector's long-term post-pandemic recovery.

The advent of technology has enabled frequent innovations in the digital modes of doing business. While some users are reluctant to adopt one, others have made it their way of life. The purpose of this study is to find out the approximate time frame of a digital user in an emerging economy like India to adopt their favorite digital application. The importance of an individual’s level of internet skills is explored in the aspect of adopting digital innovations.

The study follows a quantitative approach where data collected from both primary and secondary sources are analyzed to arrive at the results. In total, 837 responses collected with the help of a structured questionnaire are entered and analyzed using SPSS. Multinomial logistic regression is the statistical tool used in the research.

Five sets of adopter categories based on Rogers (1983) are created using an adoption score and are represented in a Time Horizon to understand better. The Unaffected adopter category is used as the reference point to compare the set of internet skills against each of the other five categories. The five sets of categories comprising the internet skills depict interesting results in the case of all the four comparisons made. Social skills are not seen to have any influence on a user being an Innovator or Early Adopter as compared to an Unaffected user. It is also established that Operational and Creative skills play important role in users’ probability of being an innovator, early adopter and early majority compared to being unaffected.

The study analyzes the role of internet skills in the process of adopting digital innovations. The role of internet skill although is associated with every aspect of the digital revolution taking place all over, its application including the direct score of a digital user’s level of internet skills is not found in the literature.

This paper aims to present the findings from a European study on the digital skills gaps in tourism and hospitality companies.

Mixed methods research was adopted. The sample includes 1,668 respondents (1,404 survey respondents and 264 interviewees) in 5 tourism sectors (accommodation establishments, tour operators and travel agents, food and beverage, visitor attractions and destination management organisations) in 8 European countries (UK, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Hungary, Germany, the Netherlands and Bulgaria).

The most important future digital skills include online marketing and communication skills, social media skills, MS Office skills, operating systems use skills and skills to monitor online reviews. The largest gaps between the current and the future skill levels were identified for artificial intelligence and robotics skills and augmented reality and virtual reality skills, but these skills, together with computer programming skills, were considered also as the least important digital skills. Three clusters were identified on the basis of their reported gaps between the current level and the future needs of digital skills. The country of registration, sector and size shape respondents’ answers regarding the current and future skills levels and the skills gap between them.

The paper discusses the digital skills gap of tourism and hospitality employees and identifies the most important digital skills they would need in the future.

Digital transformation of organizations has major implications for required skills and competencies of the workforce, both as a prerequisite for implementation, and, as a consequence of the transformation. The purpose of this study is to analyze required skills and competencies for digital transformation using the context of robotic process automation (RPA) as an example.

This study is based on an explorative, thematic coding analysis of 119 job advertisements related to RPA. The data was collected from major online job platforms, qualitatively coded and subsequently analyzed quantitatively.

The research highlights the general importance of specific skills and competencies for digital transformation and shows a gap between available skills and required skills. Moreover, it is concluded that reskilling the existing workforce might be difficult. Many emerging positions can be found in the consulting sector, which raises questions about the permanent vs temporary nature of the requirements, as well as the difficulty of acquiring the required knowledge.

This paper contributes to knowledge by providing new empirical findings and a novel perspective to the ongoing discussion of digital skills, employment effects and reskilling demands of the existing workforce owing to recent technological developments and automation in the overall context of digital transformation.