Core Technology Competencies for Librarians and Library Staff Details Technology Skills Needed by All Library Staff

New York, NY (November 10, 2008)— Nothing changes faster than technology, and up-to-date technology skills are more in demand than ever for librarians. Core Technology Competencies for Librarians and Library Staff, to be published by Neal-Schuman on January 6, 2009, provides librarians and their staff essential details, tips and explanations of the core technology skills they’ll need to master for career success. The book’s variety of expert authors explain both the need for constant change in libraries as well as the ways for which to effectively develop these vital skills.

Edited by Susan M. Thompson for the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA), a division of the American Library Association, Core Technology Competencies for Librarians and Library Staff is the fifteenth publication in the esteemed LITA Guide series, and is the authoritative source for libraries looking to evaluate their employees’ technical skills and shortcomings. The book includes information to help librarians and technology managers better understand the need for consistent change and assess their staff’s needs. It also provides updated job descriptions and tips to enhance new employee orientation sessions and cultivate more effective training and professional development programs.

Divided into three sections, the first two chapters of Core Technology Competencies for Librarians and Library Staff detail the general competencies crucial to all library staff, and the three subsequent chapters focus on the specific skills needed by library technology managers. LITA’s latest offering concludes with three case studies describing the best practices of academic and public libraries and how they use the concept of core technology competencies to determine job classifications, develop training and professional development programs, establish employee assessment criteria, and improve technology support, among other things. The extensive appendices for these chapters include core competency lists, personnel assessment checklists, job descriptions, and training curricula. Leading libraries whose competencies are featured here are: The UT Southwestern Medical Library, The University of Iowa Libraries, and the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County in North Carolina.

Contending that “the need for basic technology competencies will pervade all twenty-first-century” library jobs, the book details both “hard” skills –identifying computer parts and functions, Internet knowledge, digitizing and scanning print materials, office software, using blogs and wikis, digital cameras, and more – as well as “soft” skills, such as an aptitude for quick and continual learning, flexibility, skepticism, customer service, and more.

As libraries become increasingly dependent on technology, management and staff must be attune to the constantly growing list of skills and abilities. Core Technology Competencies for Librarians and Library Staff teaches librarians how to prepare for and succeed in these rapidly evolving technological times.

Core Technology Competencies for Librarians and Library Staff: A LITA Guide
ISBN: 978-1-55570-660-9
2008. 6 x 9. 220pp. $65.00.

About the Editor
Susan M. Thompson is the Coordinator for Library Systems at the California State University San Marcos (CSUSM). She has presented at a number of national and regional forums on topics ranging from reimagining technologies role in the library building to evaluating technology solutions to plagiarism. She has also published a number of articles including “Riding into Uncharted Territory: The New Systems Librarian” in Computers in Libraries and “Remote Observation Strategies for Usability Testing” in Information Technology and Libraries.

About Neal-Schuman Publishers & LITA
The LITA Guide series from the Library and Information Technology Association, a division of the American Library Association, is published by Neal-Schuman. Founded in 1976, Neal-Schuman Publishers is based in New York City with offices in London, UK. Neal-Schuman is a leading publisher of textbooks in all areas of library and information studies.

For More Information and/or Cover Art
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sarah.eisenberg@neal-schuman.com
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www.neal-schuman.com