Shaping The Future:

ASERL’s Competencies for

Research Librarians

serl
Association of Southeastern Research Libraries
About ASERL
Founded in 1956, the Association of Southeastern Research
Libraries has enjoyed nearly a half century of inter-institutional
cooperation and support. Composed of more than 40 research
and state libraries in the Southeastern United States, ASERL has
successfully fostered a high standard of library excellence
through resource sharing and other collaborative efforts to
provide and maintain quality resources and services for
students, faculty, and citizens.

ASERL formed its Education Committee in 1999 to develop ways

of preparing staff — new and existing — to successfully meet the
opportunities and challenges found in modern research libraries.
Shaping The Future is the first ASERL publication arising from
this effort. The Association offers its sincere thanks to the
Council on Library & Information Resources (CLIR) for their
generous support of this effort, including the publication of this
report. Additional information about CLIR’s ongoing activities
can be found at www.clir.org.

Association of Southeastern Research Libraries

1438 West Peachtree Street, N.W.
Suite 200
Atlanta, Georgia 30309-2955
404.892.0943
800.999.8558
www.aserl.org

© 2001, Association of Southeastern Research Libraries, Inc.

This publication may be reprinted with prior written permission
from ASERL.
Introduction
In 1999, the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries
(ASERL) established an Education Committee to investigate
the educational needs of librarians to support the research
library of the future. ASERL members, like other research
libraries across the nation, have experienced increasing
difficulty in finding professionally qualified, motivated
applicants to staff their libraries. After several discussions,
the Committee determined that one method to help ensure a
pool of qualified staff for research libraries in the future is to
identify the competencies required for research librarians.
The competencies can then be applied within libraries and
serve as a basis for dialogue with regional library and
information science (LIS) schools and other related
programs. Hence, Shaping The Future address several
audiences, including LIS educators, current research
librarians, prospective research librarians, and those
responsible for hiring research librarians.

Competencies have been discussed and developed

by many groups in the LIS profession as a means to identify
credentials, improve education, describe jobs, and evaluate
performance. While existing competencies and related
research informed the Education Committee's discussions,1
the competencies articulated by ASERL incorporate both
skills common to all librarians and those that are unique to
research librarians in institutions of higher education. To
understand the ASERL competencies and apply them
effectively, they must be interpreted within the context of
the academic research library.

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 The Research Library of Tomorrow
The future of the academic research library will be shaped in part
by the changing environments of higher education, the library and
information profession, business and industry, and government. Within
a complex educational culture, the research library and its staff will
anticipate the changing expectations of users (faculty, undergraduate
and graduate students, researchers, scholars), administrators, funding
agencies, and an increasingly diverse array of partners (from the
community, profession, and business). Technological advances will
continue to provide new opportunities for research librarians to create,
manage and disseminate information, serve new and often distant users,
and enhance teaching and learning. Technology also will challenge
research librarians as they seek to equitably and affordably provide and
preserve access to information. The research librarian of the future will
continue to support learning by creating and fostering a learning
environment. The research library will also function increasingly as a
teaching institution, as a key participant in instructional and research
processes.

The research librarian of the future will be challenged by the

need to balance traditional collection and service models with resource
needs for new initiatives. Primary users of the academic research library
in the future will continue to be students, faculty, and staff of the
university. However, characteristics of these groups are changing, as is
the nature of their use of library services. Demographics show that
students are increasingly diverse, often older, more independent and
frequently part-time. More users are from outside the university,
representing students and faculty from other campuses as well as
independent scholars from both within and beyond the community. All
of these users are now able to access the resources of the research library
with greater ease due to technology and community partnerships.
Faculty and students are pursuing more interdisciplinary studies than
ever before, while at the same time some areas are experiencing
increasing specialization and fragmentation. It is critical that students
understand the structure of a family of disciplines. Technology will
continue to expand opportunities and provide new challenges for
research librarians to serve remote users, distant learners and faculty.
Teachers and research librarians will seek new approaches to learning,
including just-in-time learning, life-long learning, and distance learning.

The research library will continue to be defined by the services

provided by the research librarian, not by the physical location of
information and collections. The academic research library seeks to take
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advantage of technology to provide improved or new services, to
increase access to resources beyond those owned, to reach more
users more effectively, to promote learning, and to enhance
teaching throughout the higher education community. At the same
time, research libraries maintain and apply traditional values and
principles of librarianship to ensure high standards of service.
These values and principles are key components of a democratic
society, and include open access to information, respect for
individuality and diversity, freedom from censorship, preservation
of the human record, commitment to learning and to connecting
people to information and ideas. The importance of excellence in
service will also continue to be crucial to the success of research
libraries.

In the future, libraries and librarians

will continue to support the teaching and
research missions of their universities. The research library of
They will also participate more actively in
the service part of the university’s mission.
today and tomorrow is a
Research universities and their libraries dynamic, service-oriented
will continue to work closely with the organization, supporting a
community beyond the “walls” of the diverse clientele, and
campus. Research libraries will form more
partnerships with other libraries to provide
offering many exciting
services to broader communities and to opportunities for research
improve services to their own campuses. librarians.
One example of this is the critical role
research libraries assume as members of
statewide and regional virtual library
consortia. Outreach activities at research libraries include not only
different types of libraries but also businesses and the private sector,
especially as higher education seeks to diversify funding sources.

Within the research library itself, the changing nature of use

has changed the shape of physical facilities. Universities and
librarians will continue to allocate more resources towards
technology. As dependency on technology grows in the research
library, so will the need for flexibility to ensure that the library can
easily move from technology to technology, physically as well as
intellectually. Research libraries will continue to have a crucial role
in not only providing technology for users but also in creating new
information systems for managing, disseminating, and preserving
information regardless of format. At the same time, traditional

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 library collections — books, serials, sound recordings, maps, videos,
films, photographs, archives, manuscripts, etc. — will still need to be
acquired, made accessible, and preserved. The expertise research
librarians bring to the identification, selection, acquisition, organization,
dissemination, use, and preservation of information will remain critical
to users in the future.

As information products and services change within the research

library, and as the nature of the use of the research library changes,
research librarians will develop new tools to measure the effectiveness
of the library. Today's traditional library evaluation tools are often not
effective at assessing such factors as outcomes, service quality, electronic
resource usage, and information quality. The outcomes of library
service in higher education will need to demonstrate their value by
articulating direct links to the quality
of learning, teaching, and research.
For example, future evaluation tools
may allow for new correlations
Attributes of the between library use and other
successful research academic measures (such as grades),
librarian include correlations that would quantify the
importance of library involvement in
intellectual curiosity, instruction.
flexibility, adaptability,
persistence, and the The research library of today and
ability to be enterprising. tomorrow is a dynamic, service-
oriented organization, supporting a
diverse clientele with a wide range
of sophisticated information,
learning, and teaching needs. Many
exciting opportunities exist for research librarians to develop and
apply new approaches to service, to advance the use of technology in
support of learning, and to address critical needs in archiving and
preserving access to information. The competencies listed below
articulate, within the context of formal educational preparation, the
knowledge, skills, and abilities research librarians need to move their
organizations into the future.

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Competencies for Research Librarians
Attributes of the successful research librarian include
intellectual curiosity, flexibility, adaptability, persistence, and the
ability to be enterprising. Research librarians possess excellent
communication skills. They are committed to lifelong learning and
personal career development.

1. The research librarian develops and manages effective

services that meet user needs and support the research
library’s mission.
· Provides excellent service, customized to meet the needs
of individual users
· Is knowledgeable about technology (theoretical and
skills-based) and applies it to improve services
· Anticipates user needs and critically evaluates and
assesses existing and new services and systems to ensure
that user needs are met
· Is innovative, seeking out and acting upon new
opportunities and challenges
· Plans, prioritizes and organizes work in order to focus on
what is critical
· Participates in and applies strategic planning
· Is able to adapt business approaches to library operations
to ensure accountability and the wise use of limited
resources
· Communicates effectively with others outside of the
library.

2. The research librarian supports cooperation and

collaboration to enhance service.
· Is able to work effectively with diverse groups, creating
an environment of mutual respect
· Forms and maintains partnerships both within and
outside of the university community
· Seeks opportunities to share expertise and knowledge
through research and scholarship
· Works effectively as part of a team
· Provides leadership in providing information services.

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 3. The research librarian understands the library within the
context of higher education (its purpose and goals) and the
needs of students, faculty, and researchers.
· Understands teaching, learning, and research, and seeks to
provide services that will enhance these endeavors
· Is able to help users learn
· Is an advocate for the library and the university
· Is able to communicate the importance of library services to
the higher education community
· Serves as an effective member of the university
· Is an expert consultant to the university on information
· Participates in and supports fundraising efforts on behalf of
the university.

4. The research librarian knows the structure, organization,

creation, management, dissemination, use, and preservation
of information resources, new and existing, in all formats.
· Often has specialized subject knowledge to support collection
development within the library and research and teaching
within the university
· Understands how information and the research library
support and enhance scholarly communication
· Understands the implications of information policy, including
laws regarding copyright, licensing, and intellectual property
· Is able to critically evaluate and assess existing and new
information resources in relation to user needs
· Describes and translates intellectual resources in a way that is
useful to others
· Participates in national and international standards processes
as they apply to cataloging, serials, electronic commerce,
intellectual property, and technical systems.

5. The research librarian demonstrates commitment to the

values and principles of librarianship. 2
· Connects people to ideas
· Provides free and open access to information
· Demonstrates commitment to literacy and learning
· Shows respect for individuality and diversity
· Supports freedom for all people to form, hold, and
express their own beliefs
· Preserves the human record
· Provides excellence in service
· Forms partnerships to advance these values.
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 Conclusion
Research libraries and librarians are key partners in higher
education, critical to the ability of universities to succeed in
teaching and research. Research libraries will also continue to be
important sources for the support and promotion of new
developments in librarianship. Changes in the library
environment, such as technological innovations and legal
limitations on the use of information, will continue to offer
opportunities for research librarians to gain and apply new
knowledge. At the same time, the expertise that librarians have
developed in organizing, providing access
to, and preserving information will
become more important than ever. The
research librarian of the future will have
more opportunities to support learning, The research library will
enhance teaching, and improve research,
continue to be defined
providing services to the users of today as
well as anticipating the needs of the users by the services provided
of tomorrow. by the research librarian,
not by the physical location
of information and
collections.

End Notes
1) Reviewed documents include Competencies for Special Librarians of the 21st Century, by the Special
Libraries Association; Competencies for Librarians Serving Young Adults, by the Young Adult Library
Services Association, a division of the American Library Association (ALA); Platform for Change: The
Educational Policy Statement of the Medical Library Association; ALA’s Report on the Congress for
Professional Education (1999); and ALA's current Standards for Accreditation of Master's Programs in
Library and Information Studies.

2) These are adapted from ALA’s “Librarianship and Information Service: A Statement of Core
Values” (5th draft, 28 April 2000), available at <www.ala.org>.
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 Selected Bibliography
Abbott, Andrew. “The Information Profession,” in The System of Professions:
An Essay on the Division of Expert Labor (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1988), pp. 215-246.

“Almanac Issue.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, v. 47, no. 1 (September 1,

2000).

Association for Library and Information Science Education. “Executive

Summary” in Educating Library and Information Science Professionals for a New
Century: The KALIPER Report. Reston, VA: ALISE, July 2000.

American Library Association. “Librarianship and Information Service: A

Statement of Core Values.” 5th draft (April 28, 2000). Available at
www.ala.org/congress/corevalues/draft5.html.

American Library Association. “Report of the Steering Committee on the

Congress for Professional Education, June, 1999.” Available at
www.ala.org/congress/cope_report.html.

American Library Association. “Standards for Accreditation of Master's

Programs in Library and Information Studies.” Adopted by the Council of the
ALA January 28, 1992; effective January 1, 1993. Available at
www.ala.org/alaorg/os/standard.html.

Buttlar, Lois, and Rosemary Du Mont. “Library and Information Science

Competencies Revisited.” Journal of Education for Library and Information
Science, v. 37, no. 1 (Winter 1996), pp. 44-62.

“The Keystone Principles.” From the Association of Research Libraries, the

ARL Office of Leadership and Management Services, and the Online
Computer Library Center, 1999 ARL/OCLC Strategic Issues Forum. Available
at www.arl.org/training/keystone.html.

Marcum, Deanna B. “Transforming the Curriculum; Transforming the

Profession.” American Libraries (January 1997), pp. 35-36, 38.

National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education. Digest

of Education Statistics, 1999. Available at www.nces.ed.gov/pubs2000.

Special Libraries Association. “Competencies for Special Librarians of the 21st

Century: Full Report.” May 1996. Available at
www.sla.org/professional/competency.html.

Young Adult Library Services Association, American Library Association.

“Young Adults Deserve the Best: Competencies for Librarians Serving
Youths.” Available at www.ala.org/yalsa/yalsainfo/competencies.html.

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ASERL Education Committee
Derrie Perez, chair
Interim Dean of Libraries & Professor
University of South Florida
Tampa, Florida
David Ferriero
Vice Provost for Library Affairs
William R. Perkins Library
Duke University
Durham, North Carolina
Charlene Hurt
Dean of Libraries
William Russell Pullen Library
Georgia State University
Atlanta, Georgia
Kate Nevins
Executive Director
Southeastern Library Network
ASERL is particularly
Atlanta, Georgia grateful to the
Lance Query
Council on Library and
Dean of Libraries & Academic Information Resources
Information Resources for their generous support
Howard-Tilton Memorial Library
Tulane University
of this effort.
New Orleans, Louisiana
Hannelore Rader
Director of Libraries
William F. Ekstrom Library
University of Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky
Sharon Sullivan
Director, Personnel Services
William R. Perkins Library
Duke University
Durham, North Carolina

Project Staff
Amy Dykeman, ASERL Program Director
John Burger, ASERL Project Manager
Sandy Nyberg, Development Director
Shaping The Future:
ASERL’s Competencies for
Research Librarians

serl
Association of Southeastern Research Libraries

1438 West Peachtree Street, NW, Suite 200

Atlanta, GA 30309-2955
404.892.0943
www.aserl.org