Competencies and the branding of librarians

A discussion of standards, benchmarking and competencies ends up being a conversation about performance measurement and branding. Who we are, who we wish to be and how we wish to represent ourselves to our stakeholders, fellow academia and the world are basic questions for academic librarians. This blog entry will talk about competencies and branding.

Articles regarding competencies, competence or competency discuss the failure of the job description to flex in this time of rapid change. The job description tends to be prescriptive and unassailable for a fixed period of time. More flexibility is required to respond to organizational threats and opportunities as these arise, thus a different human resources structure is required to accommodate change.

What was once thought to be irreducible (job descriptions) is now reducible to competencies. Winterton (2005) describes the current status of competencies and competency modelling as one-dimensional but transitioning. Functional/occupational competencies are most common in the UK with behavioural competencies more common in the USA, and more holistic structures found in France, Germany and Austria. The one-dimensional structure, through modelling and implementation, has been found to be limiting by its users. In an effort to create common ground, the author presents a more holistic typology or structure incorporating what has been learnt through implementation: a functional competence, behavioural/social competence and cognitive competence structure with meta-competence (ability to learn how to learn) over-arching these.

But in reducing job descriptions to competencies one correspondingly moves towards the commodification of workers, including librarians. The focus is no longer the job description (and selling yourself as a “collections librarian”) but on the competencies held by you (“flexible, short learning curve, good communication skills, etc.”). Think of it this way, instead of a piece of paper describing what you do and who you are at work, there is now a set of file cards. This set of file cards lists your competencies, one per card. As organizational needs arise, for example the implementation of a new piece of software, the competencies required to get the activity done are compared to the sets of file cards, one set per person at the organization. The best fit of person is decided by comparing your competencies to the competencies associated with that activity, and the best fit is assigned that activity to complete. You are thus not wedded to a job description and maybe even not to a department. Nor are you wedded to a fixed set of competencies but are required to continually learn and grow (meta-competence) and add to or improve on your competencies.

Are we seeing the how the branding dovetails?

I was thinking about competencies and branding and the MEME of 4 as a branding exercise. Think about how you would react if this MEME came across your desktop (see my previous blog entry if curious). What would you say about yourself? What “should” you say about yourself? Am I cool enough or whatever the current terminology may be and how do I express this? How much private information do I wish to release about my self and when might it become too revealing? Or maybe I don’t care and am willing to share just about anything? Even in this context we are considering how we brand ourselves.

To continue the competencies discussion, I believe a move to competencies is necessary because job descriptions no longer work for today’s pace. I find that people hide behind their job descriptions and use them as a shield against the demands of today’s current workplace, leaving the bulk of the work to those who are able to flexibly respond. Thus one can get workload inequity and a deteriorating work environment.

I suspect most Special Librarians moved to competencies years ago because of the need to be more flexible, proactive and responsive to opportunities and threats. But because these librarians work in smaller libraries or as solo librarians and usually within a for-profit context, the transition was not as long or as painful as it will be for academic librarians. I have actively branded myself using their Competencies for Information Professionals of the 21st Century and successfully sold myself using competencies as descriptors. I “commodified” myself. Will it come back to bite me in the butt? I don’t know but I can’t imagine defining myself using job description now, it is too limiting for what I wish to do.

Winterton, J. (2005) What is competence?, Human Resource Development International, 8(1), pp. 27-46.

Special Committee on Competencies for Special Librarians. Competencies for Information Professionals of the 21st Century. Revised edition. S.l.: Special Libraries Association, 2003. Accessed 22 February, 2006: http://www.sla.org/content/learn/comp2003/index.cfm