Competency-Based Career Planning for Reference and User Services Professionals - Softcover

Jo Bell Whitlatch (author) & Beth S. Woodard (author)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0838917801 ISBN 13: 9780838917800

Publisher: American Library Association, 2019

Synopsis

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.  

This book not only authoritatively tells practitioners, managers, students and educators what is expected of reference and user services librarians, but also points the way towards achieving those competencies.

About this title

About the Author

Jo Bell Whitlatch is reference librarian, history and political science selector, and occasional instructor at San Jose State University Library. She offers general reference and basic library instruction as well as specialized research assistance and collection development in history and political science. A leader in the professional reference discipline, she is past president of the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) and has served as author and/or editor on Reference Assessment Manual, Library Users and Reference Services, and The Role of Academic Reference Librarian. She holds a doctorate in library and information studies from the University of California, 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.

Edition details

• Publisher: American Library Association
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0838917801
• ISBN 13: 9780838917800
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240