Competency profile for librarians teaching information literacy

Abstract

South African academic libraries are starting to pay attention to the role played by instruction librarians. There is an acknowledgement that librarians as 'educators' need to learn how to teach information literacy skills. Instruction librarians are either not trained educators or do not have a pedagogical background. Many instruction librarians were placed in, or found themselves, assuming a teaching role with regard to information literacy instruction, and subsequently refined their craft while on the job. The motivation for this research was that librarians as 'educators' are faced with challenges that impact on their teaching role. The research was carried out in two parts : a literature survey and an empirical investigation. The investigation was confined to academic libraries that have an instruction librarian who facilitates information literacy skills instruction. The findings of the research were supportive of the objective that there is a serious need to have understanding, knowledge and skills regarding the dynamics involved in the teaching of information literacy skills, in order to make the program a success. The authors propose a competency framework for implementation as a management tool for designing key performance areas for instruction librarians.