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Legal information work has expanded with the growth in knowledge management and emergence of a new type of knowledge/information manager, the professional support lawyer. This study aims to investigate competency requirements for library‐based information work in UK law firms, including the specialist subject knowledge required, methods of development and the impact on information professionals of professional support lawyers.

The investigation used a pragmatic mixed‐methods approach, including a mainly quantitative questionnaire, administered online to 64 legal information professionals, followed by eight semi‐structured interviews and a focus group with four participants. A literature review informed the questionnaire design and contextualised the findings.

The survey confirmed a broad range of competency requirements and clarified the specific subject knowledge needed. Participants favoured a varied combination of formal, and informal learning. Most participants also wanted specialised professional education for the sector.

The nature of the sample and use of categorised questions were limiting factors, partly compensated by inviting open‐ended comments and follow‐up interviews. A larger study using qualitative methods with professional support lawyers and fee‐earners would provide a fuller more rounded picture.

The findings indicate that the subject knowledge needed for legal information work in law firms is more extensive than for other sectors and suggest that information science departments should strengthen and extend curriculum content to reflect this need.

The study has advanced the understanding of the competency, education and training needs of UK legal information professionals, challenging assumptions about academic/professional qualifications and illuminating the blend of competencies needed.

The job market of library and information professionals has expanded from academic to industrial, special and business libraries. The unique nature of the organizations, their data and clientele demand a different set of competencies. The purpose of this study is to explore the competencies of information professionals from the perspectives of business employers – a comparatively new job place for the library and information management professionals.

Exploratory sequential mixed methods approach was used to meet objectives of this study in two phases. In the first phase, qualitative data was extracted from panel discussion. Themes were extracted from this qualitative data. In the second phase, a questionnaire was designed which was based on qualitative themes. The instrument contained the nine-point Likert type scale and was filled by the business and industry human resource managers. The quantitatively gathered data were analysed while using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques in the Statistical Package for Social Sciences SPSS version 22.

The findings of this study indicate that work coordination, knowledge of intellectual property rights, online searching ability, leadership qualities, trustworthiness and background knowledge of the prospective organizations are the basic competencies required by the business employers.

This study will guide the students on which qualities they are required to obtain to qualify for jobs of information professionals in the current employment sector. Additionally, it will provide guidelines to the continuous education programme designers, prompting them to include in their trainings the vital qualities of candidates required by the current job market.

This is the maiden study that has explored the competencies of library and information management professionals through exploratory sequential mixed methods.

The variable applications of information technology (IT) have brought with it remarkable changes in the total setting of the information professionals' (IPs') preparation programs around the world. In Oman, several considerations have been taken into account as they are related to the information profession and professionals, including the establishment of the Department of Library and Information Science (DLIS), the Omani Librarianship Association (OLA), Learning Recourse Centers, and the Omani e‐Government Project. It is, then, the aim of this paper to investigate such developments and to explore the Omani IPs' perspectives toward a list of competencies that they are effectively participating in and agreed with for managing their information institutions, resources, services, and others related to their attitudes toward the use of technology and their professional personality.

To investigate the Omani IPs' perspectives toward the set of competencies, a questionnaire was developed based on the predefined competencies for IP. The list and definitions of the competencies were prepared by the Special Committee on Competencies for Special Librarians for the Special Libraries Association Board of Directors in 2003.

The results show that Omani IPs are generally carrying positive perspectives toward the list of different groups of competencies for common satisfaction of their users. Yet, their prominence perspectives center on technical skills, general awareness of technology, and current awareness competencies, but are less concentrated on and agreed with competencies related to new tools and techniques of management such as evidence‐based librarianship, negotiation, consultation, association networks, and satisfaction measurement.

The paper provides an inclusive view of the Omani IPs' perspectives toward the predefined list of competences and recommends that the DLIS and the OLA and the parent organizations should cooperate together to develop a kind of “job approach” preparation and training approach so that a new picture of the Omani IPs as being effective partners in their workplace will be achieved.

The purpose of this study is to identify the core competencies for librarians working in special libraries. It also measures the competencies of librarians working in special libraries of the Punjab Province against the checklist developed by the Special Library Association (SLA) Task Force. The study also identifies the training needs of librarians working in special libraries and the problems they face in acquiring SLA competencies.

A peer-reviewed questionnaire based on the list of competencies for special librarians prepared by the SLA Task Force was used to collect quantitative data from a targeted population. An online survey was administered to approach the population working in special libraries of Punjab Province. Collected data was analyzed statistically through SPSS software.

A review of literature highlighted the various competencies for librarians working in special libraries (Figure 1). The findings of the study showed that the competencies identified by SLA Task Force are imperative for librarians working in special libraries of Punjab Province. The results showed that librarians working in special libraries of Punjab possessed an intermediate level of competencies identified by the SLA. However, they had a good level of basic professional and interpersonal skills. The study highlights the training needs of librarians working in special libraries to enable them in acquiring relevant competencies.

The study measures the competencies of librarians in special libraries of the Punjab Province. During the data collection phase, it was observed that there were some libraries where the non-professional/supporting staff was deputed, and due to this, data could not be collected from these libraries.

This study has practical implications for librarians and information professionals working in special libraries to acquire the relevant competencies identified by the SLA. This study has identified various competencies areas that are essential for librarians working in special libraries.

Librarians working in any special library can use the results of this study as a checklist to improve their competencies level and work efficiently.

In contrast to other studies conducted on professional competencies of library professionals working in academic libraries, this study particularly identifies and measures the competencies of librarians working in special libraries.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Special libraries are undergoing some fundamental changes which require redefinition of the competencies of information professionals. The contextual variables necessitate identification of competencies in relation to the peculiarities of a situation. Some methodological improvements were also attempted to arrive at a reliable body of knowledge and skill competencies. Fifty top and middle managers of the ten largest special libraries in Malaysia were interviewed to validate competencies by using a scale indicative of the perceived extent of importance of each competency. The validated competencies have been presented in the following six areas: foundation, cataloguing, circulation, information service, collection development and serial control. Capabilities to relate information facility to the organizational mission and profile, managerial competence, effective exploitation of information technology, subject expertise, and a great deal of emphasis on service aspect figure as the most important arsenal for the future information professionals.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the digital literacy skills possessed by librarians working in university libraries in Nigeria.

An online questionnaire was developed using SurveyMonkey to collect data from 111 librarians working in both public and private universities in Nigeria.

The study revealed the digital literacy skills that the librarians rated as very high and high, and those that they rated as moderate and low. The study also revealed the knowledge and competencies that they rated to be highly competent and competent, as well as also those that they rated to be neutral and not good. The librarians rated their knowledge of network and system security; ability to apply security software firewalls, filtering routers and ability to protect access to digital content by providing password or IP base access as neutral and not good. Overall, the study revealed that almost half of the librarians rated their level of digital literacy skills possessed to be moderate. Only few librarians rated their digital literacy skills to be excellent.

The findings will be helpful to librarians, information professionals, libraries and library schools. The results will inform librarians on the skills and digital competencies that are essential for developing and managing digital resources and protecting digital contents.

Findings will be helpful to explore the skills and competencies needed by information professionals and to act as a guideline for competency development and curriculum update in library schools in developing countries.

Librarians are increasingly involved in projects and teams that require them to exhibit a broad range of knowledge and competencies which extend beyond traditional librarianship to include aspects of records management, information management, and knowledge management. In effect, librarians need to be information specialists, but the task of broadening one’s knowledge and competencies may be daunting, and it is helpful to explore the competencies of these various information disciplines as a guideline for competency development. The purpose of this paper is to provide some insights into the shared competencies and knowledge of these disciplines.

This paper describes an analysis of the competency profiles of librarians, records managers, information managers, archivists, and knowledge managers and provides a competency profile for information specialists that incorporates the knowledge and competencies from all of these areas. The sources used for this analysis were existing competency profiles developed by professional associations and employers of information workers such as government agencies.

The analysis resulted in the development of a competencies list which includes five competencies groups. These competency groups are: collaboration, client service, and communication; organizational understanding and strategic alignment; programme and service delivery and management; records, information, and knowledge management technical competencies; and personal qualities.

This analysis may be useful for librarians or library students who are determining which professional development opportunities to undertake as well as for managers who are seeking to define job profiles for their library staff in today’s complex information environment.

This paper bridges the disciplines of librarianship, information management, records management, archives, and knowledge management by comparing their relative competency profiles in order to create a set of competencies that are common to all disciplines.