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Summary
Summary
Reference and user services librarians need to be in charge of their own careers. And when it comes to their own professional development, that means being proactive. This resource will enable professionals at every stage of their careers to honestly assess their skills and knowledge. Utilizing the RUSA (Reference and User Services Association) Professional Competencies as a framework for reflecting on strengths as well as gaps in expertise, it guides readers through developing strategies to enhance their professional standing and potential, thereby leading to a more satisfying career. In this book former RUSA president Whitlatch, who chaired the initial committee establishing the Competencies, teams up with expert trainer Woodard to
introduce the seven categories of the RUSA Professional Competencies, explaining the ways in which each is important to both practitioner and institution; demonstrate how to create a personal development plan that focuses on development priorities; discuss the Association for Talent Development (ATD) Competency Development Model and other action plans; offer guidance for setting goals and measuring progress; share information on a variety of development activities that readers can undertake to maintain and enhance professional competencies, including formal training opportunities, on-the-job experiences, and self-directed initiatives; and provide recommended self-evaluation techniques such as writing up notes from group discussions, exercises, short verbal and written reports, crafting presentations on a topic, and sharing concrete examples of how skills were applied in the workplace.Author Notes
Jo Bell Whitlatch has worked in three academic libraries in many areas, including collection management, acquisitions, cataloging, circulation, reference, interlibrary loan, and library management. She has also taught at San Jose State University's Graduate School of Library and Information Science, and she is a past president of the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA). Her research interests and areas of special competence are information-seeking needs and behavior, user studies in libraries, the evaluation of service organizations, and the management of academic libraries. Her publications include two books, The Role of the Academic Reference Librarian (1990) and Evaluating Reference Services (2000), and articles in Reference & User Services Quarterly , College & Research Libraries , Journal of Academic Librarianship , and The Reference Librarian . She has a Ph.D. in library and information studies and an M.A. in Asian studies from the University of California at Berkeley.
Beth S. Woodard has been an academic reference librarian for her whole career but developed deep interests in staff development and training and teaching when she coordinated a separate information desk staffed by graduate assistants. From training a dozen graduate assistants to coordinating an orientation program for 75 graduate assistants at the University of Illinois Library at Urbana-Champaign, she developed staff training programs, retreats, and wellness activities for the entire library--for librarians, academic professionals, and support staff in addition to graduate and undergraduate students. She is currently teaching reference and library management at the iSchool at UIUC.
Reviews (2)
Booklist Review
Written in order to flesh out RUSA's 2017 Professional Competencies document, this book focuses strongly on traditional and nascent reference skills. Material on interviewing and reader's advisory splits space with advice regarding marketing library services and forming community partnerships. Whitlatch and Woodward are clearly knowledgeable about all facets of reference work and it's hard to imagine how the book could more comprehensively cover that topic. However, 150 pages of paragraphs purely devoted to reference competencies would not make for very lively reading, so it's fortunate that plenty of checklists, quizzes, and other action-based activities are included. There is little here that directly addresses job seeking, so readers would be better served by other works if that's their primary interest. But for librarians looking to bolster every aspect of their reference game (and to become more desirable candidates for career opportunities in the process), this book will be a valuable resource.
Library Journal Review
Staying up-to-date with current standards is important for library professionals. To that end, Whitlatch (The Role of the Academic Reference Librarian) and Woodard (Sch. of Information Sciences, Univ. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) introduce the "Professional Competencies for Reference and User Services Librarians," which were developed by the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA). The competencies are divided into seven main categories: access, sources, collaboration, information literacy, marketing and advocacy, assessment, and planning for the future. Each chapter includes "recommended self-assessment activities, fact-finding, practical exercises, short verbal and written reports and typical behavioral strategies." Comprehensive and thorough, the work is full of information and invaluable strategies. In addition to an extensive bibliography, each chapter contains additional resources. VERDICT This superb work is essential reading for reference and user-service librarians looking to improve their professional capabilities.--Susan E. Ketcham, Long Island Univ. Post Lib., Brookville, NY
