Managing Professional Competency Enhancement Among Polish Library Staff

In this article the author presents the concept of professional competencies. She describes the development of the notion of competencies in Polish librarians’ jobs in recent years and the possibility of competency management, both by the employer and the library worker. She also discusses recent laws, regulations, and standards related to qualifications for librarians’ jobs.


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M. Wojciechowska experience, allowing him or her to speak about a particular subject, adequately perform tasks, and make decisions. 1 This definition has, however, a static character, and does not fully reflect the significance of competencies, which are the readiness and ability to perform some actions rather than their effect. For this reason it is worth quoting the words of Grzegorz Filipowicz, who describes a competency as "control of a range of knowledge, skills, and attitudes, which allow one to perform professional tasks on an appropriate level." 2 The same author claims that "the basic feature of a competency is its relationship with a particular task or professional action. A competency is a kind of hidden feature, which is manifested in behaviors." 3 Thus for example, serving patrons in a library requires a constellation of competencies, including knowledge, communication skills, a willingness to help, the ability to use the technical means needed for searching, and-at times-patience.
According to a definition by Claude Lévy-Leboyer, competencies are: "a set of knowledge and skills, typical behaviors, standard procedures, and ways of understanding, which can be used without new learning." 4 Competencies are different from aptitudes and character traits, although those are essential for acquiring and developing competencies. Competencies are born as a result of experience, acquired knowledge, skills, personality, and native intelligence. "They are a set of behaviors, gained better by some people, and the result is that in a particular situation those people work more efficiently. The behaviors [. . .] use the aptitudes, personality traits, and acquired knowledge in an integrated way." 5 Competencies cannot be learned in the process of gaining theoretical knowledge, and they are also not inborn skills. They develop as a result of already acquired knowledge and experience.
Competencies can be developed during the process of education, but also afterwards. For that reason they can be divided into four basic categories: • Competencies gained during primary education-thus during primary school, middle school, high school (so-called general education); • Competencies gained during professional education-thus during trade school, technical school, or higher education; • Competencies gained as a result of adult continuing education; • Competencies gained as a result of fulfilling professional duties.
In the Polish context, Joachim Lelewel was one of the first to write about preparing staff to work in a library. He considered the job of a librarian as independent, requiring particular qualifications, competencies, and personality traits. He saw librarians as having a scholarly character and also as people "having education and the ability to use it; knowing languages, historical, and biographical information; having familiarity with the literature of all disciplines; having clear notions about scholarship; possessing encyclopedic knowledge; and having seen many books and become familiar with them." 6 He felt, moreover, that librarians should know paleography, diplomacy, general classification of disciplines, and history of libraries; have bookbinding skills; and also possess such features as self-control, gentleness, serenity, understanding, peacefulness, tact, conscientiousness, and accuracy. It is obvious that the majority of requirements for librarians have not changed. The biggest difference in the range of professional competencies is associated with the appearance and proliferation of new technologies. The essence of working as a librarian has stayed unchanged. Moreover, Lelewel was the first person who wrote of the necessity to divide work in libraries and to create a range of responsibilities for particular workers.
In today's library practice (as well as in other fields) employers increasingly require candidates to have certain precisely described competencies. More emphasis is put on the worker's ability to adapt to the conditions and requirements of the particular library, his/her willingness to engage in continual professional development, and his/her skill in using already acquired experience, knowledge, and ability to achieve new competencies if needed. Having theoretical knowledge becomes only one of many requirements.
Library competencies vary depending on the type of library, the nature of its work, its type of users, its organizational culture, its goals, etc.
In Poland the basic qualifications necessary to be a librarian, to achieve the next career rank, and to become a manager in a particular type of library, are regulated by a set of laws and regulations. However, the rules consider only very general requirements, ones that can be confirmed in a formal way on the basis of diplomas and certificates. They include: • Education, i.e., higher education, qualification courses, and other forms of education; • Periods of employment; • Scholarly, didactic, and professional achievements.
Conspicuously lacking are skills, aptitudes, and competencies-often those most valued by employers due to their practical dimension-that do not involve any sort of certification.
The basic law dealing with library qualifications is Rozporządzenie Ministra Kultury i Sztuki z dnia 9 marca 1999 r. w sprawie wymagań kwalifikacyjnych uprawniających do zajmowania określonych stanowisk w bibliotekach oraz trybu stwierdzania tych kwalifikacji [Regulation of the Minister of Culture and Art of March 9, 1999, on the Requirements to Occupy Certain Positions in Libraries and the Procedures for Establishing these Qualifications], 7 which is intended mostly for employees of public libraries (see Table 1).  Table 2); and Rozporządzenie Ministra Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego   10 The laws and regulations focus on the individual's advance to a particular stage of work and level of theoretical knowledge, as indicated by a professional examination. Thus to become a certified librarian, the candidate must undergo assessment of his/her academic and vocational education and pass a state librarian exam. The exam consists of a general professional part (in the fields of organization of science and culture; general issues of librarianship; bibliology; information science; and archives and museums), and a specialized part based on assessing the candidate's level of knowledge in his/her chosen specialty, i.e., library collection development and acquisitions; storing and sharing files, readership; communication activities of the research library; special collections and preservation; library instruction and activities to promote the library; library organization, management, and employees. To help the candidates in preparation for the exam, a reading list was available on the Web site of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. 11 Before the candidate is allowed to take the examination, he/she must fulfil the prescribed conditions, including: • Have a magister [master's] degree, Master of Science, or its equivalent; • Work at least two years in a research library, science information center, archive or museum, or in a university instructor position; • Have documented achievements in organizational activities and teaching; • Have at least two publications in the field of research libraries, information science, archives, or museums in peer-reviewed journals; • Know at least one foreign language, as evidenced by a committee appointed by the president or a diploma or certificate issued by an authorized institution; • Be recommended for the qualification procedure by the director of a library, scientific information center, archive, or museum, or have the agreement of such a person.
Steps for promotion of a certified librarian and the conditions that must be met are presented in Table 3. As mentioned previously, the competencies that each librarian must possess are not specified, only the period of time in the position; thus time must pass in order for a librarian to be promoted.
Certain qualifications are essential to work with younger readers; thus workers in school and pedagogical libraries are regulated by Rozporządzenie Ministra Edukacji Narodowej i Sportu z dnia 10 września 2002 r. w sprawie  12 and also the so-called Teacher's Charter, an act from January 26, 1982, together with later changes. Conditions for promotion to the next level are much more clearly defined here than they are for library professionals in public and academic libraries. However, one can question the goals of certain requirements that school librarians and others considered equivalent to teachers must fulfil (although the requirements are different in specifics). In order for a teacherlibrarian to be promoted to the next level, he/she must: meet the qualifying requirements, have certain amount of professional experience, and receive a positive evaluation of professional achievements, as well passing an examination or obtaining the approval of a commission. Crucial here is the fact that each teacher-librarian is expected to have and pursue his/her own professional development plan. This important element is missing from many of the promotion files of public librarians and academic and research librarians. In addition, trainees and contract teachers are assigned to supervisors (see Table 4). The procedure for evaluating the professional qualifications of foreigners and others educated outside Poland is regulated by the Rozporządzenie Ministra Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego z dnia 13 listopada 2008 r. w sprawie stażu adaptacyjnego i testu umiejętności w toku postępowania o uznanie kwalifikacji do wykonywania zawodów bibliotekarskich [Regulation of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of November 13, 2008, on the matter of adaptive training and skills tests in the process for determining qualifications for library positions]. 13 It is evident that the eligibility requirements for occupying certain positions in libraries (Table 1) are formal assumptions, which in fact are not a guarantee of actual (specialized) competence. Would an employee who-in accord with the requirements of the regulation-has served a certain length of time and has received a certain amount of higher education in library science really be competent to work on conservation of old books or as a children's librarian, if his or her current position is in the reference department and his/her higher education specialty was also reference? One might have doubts.
The Minister of Science and Higher Education introduced standards for the first (bachelors) and second (master's) degrees in library science in 2007. According to those standards, a graduate holding a bachelor's degree should: • Have general knowledge concerning information sources across the range of library and information science; • Know the methods and techniques used in library and information science work; • Have the skills to search, select, and evaluate information effectively, and to create information; • Know the methods for working with readers and information users, and for educating users; • Know how to promote library work, information, and reading; • Be familiar with the law on copyright, the law on libraries, and the right to information; • Be prepared to work in different institutions in the sphere of public communication, culture, education, business, science, or administration dealing with collecting, processing, and providing access to documents, information about documents, and information systems; • Be prepared to work in all types of libraries, information centers, bibliographical institutions, publishers, records management entities, or bookshops-or education, if graduating with a concentration in teaching; • Be able to use the acquired knowledge and skills in accord with rules of ethics; • Be prepared to solve professional problems, work in a team, and communicate effectively with others; • Exhibit openness to change, innovation, and skill to adapt to changing environments; • Manifest habits of continual learning and ongoing professional development; • Know a foreign language; • Have the prerequisites to undertake studies for the second (master's) degree. 14 It is clear on the basis of the points listed above, that the qualifications specified by the ministry are largely theoretical requirements, such as knowledge of how to work with readers. There are also some practical requirements, such as the skill to lead promotional activities or group work. A different list of standards was compiled for the second (or master's) degree. According to those standards a graduate should: • Have expanded knowledge of information sources across the range of library and information science, familiarity with research methods for solving scientific problems, and skills to deal with professional problems and make decisions in unconventional situations; • Have theoretical and professional knowledge connected with library and information science, adapted to the criteria, needs, and possibilities of the local environment where the school is located; • Be prepared to develop his/her own professional career in the domain of managing libraries and information centers, leading projects in electronic information, planning and implementing information policy in subject and territorial fields, or leading scholarly and research operations in library and information science-or working in education, after completing a block of pedagogical courses; • Show habits of continual learning and ongoing professional development, along with a critical sense and innovative attitude related to developing information and communication technology and progressive tendencies in librarianship, bookselling, publishing, or archives; • Be able to adapt to changes in information and electronic media; • Be prepared to undertake research challenges or doctoral studies. (See note 14.) Standards for the master's degree require a much larger range of practical professional qualifications from graduates. In particular, they emphasize competencies in areas of independent research. The above lists of standards for graduates in library science vary in detail depending on the emphases and the character of the programs at particular schools. Examples of the qualifications expected from graduates can be found on the web pages of universities with programs in library and information science. 15 In comparison, on the American Library Association website one can find standards for the range of competencies for higher education of workers in library and information science, which can be divided into five basic groups: • The skill to determine the type and extent of information needed; • The skill to gain access to information effectively and efficiently; • The skill to evaluate critically the information and its source, and to incorporate it into one's knowledge base; • The skill to use information in order to carry out a particular task, both alone or with a group; • Awareness of the many legal, social, and economic issues connected with using information, in order to access and use it ethically and legally. 16 Summarizing the information-related competencies and librarian qualifications mentioned above, it is worth mentioning a classification scheme proposed for them by Mirosława Majewska. She distinguished five basic groups of competencies that a modern librarian should possess: • Competencies of action: effectiveness in planning, organizing, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating library and information processes; • Competencies of communication: effectiveness in language behavior in librarian-patron interactions; • Competencies of cooperation: effectiveness in social skills and the ability of the librarian to integrate them effectively into the social environment; ability to work in a team; • Competencies of creativity: effectiveness in innovation, capacity of the librarian for original action; • Competencies in information technology: effectiveness in the use of modern information and media technologies. 17 In recent years much attention has been devoted to the need for librarians to acquire competencies related to the proliferating new technologies, including the Internet, graphic programs, computer devices, and automated library systems. These competencies are not only clearly visible in a librarian's job, but are more and more indispensable for meeting the expectations of employers and readers. In order to determine whether librarians have the competencies expected by library users, the author conducted a survey of 450 people in 2009. Those surveyed included three communities: library users, librarians, and library science students. Among the librarians tested, the majority had never during their professional careers undergone any measurement of professional competencies, character traits, personality, aptitudes, skills, or intelligence level. Less than 1% of the librarians had been tested for character traits and personality, attributes that can have key importance during the allocation of professional duties (some character traits are preferred for technical services, while totally different ones are essential for work with children). Among individual people, too, less than 1% reported having had their competencies, intelligence, and aptitudes measured. For the questions about essential character traits, professional competencies, and aptitudes that a good librarian should have, answers were similar in all the tested groups, varying only slightly. Thus one can conclude that the image of a good librarian is consistent among readers, students, and practicing librarians. A detailed breakdown of the answers is presented in Table 5.
From Table 5 it is evident that interpersonal skills and familiarity with new technologies play an essential role in the job of a librarian. The respondents paid particular attention to patience, although it is hard to say whether they meant patience for library work (for example, an item that takes many hours to catalog) or the patience that is essential for serving some readers. It is also interesting that some of the librarians mentioned the necessity to be assertive during contacts with library users; others ranked the ability to defuse disputes and general responsiveness higher. Unfortunately, in readers' opinions the job of a librarian is not viewed as requiring knowledge and intelligence. The librarians mentioned the need for self-improvement and for widening their range of competencies more often. The readers considered knowing only the literature, the publishing market, and a foreign language as essential. Among the less frequently mentioned requirements were: good presentation, physical condition, engagement, serenity, loyalty, self-confidence, punctuality, sensitivity, being well organized and working in an organized way, dynamism, manual dexterity, or the ability to read quickly. It should also be mentioned, unfortunately, that the survey respondents had some difficulty differentiating the features of character traits, aptitudes, and competencies, even though they were explained in detail.
In analyzing the development of professional librarians' competencies, it is worth looking at other research results and making comparisons in order to identify the changes that have taken place in this area. 18 We should also mention the analysis made in 1991 by the National Library's Institute of Book and Reading; relevant parts are summarized in Tables 6,7,and 8. Requirements for workers in the information management sector are always increasing. Such workers are expected to solve ever more difficult problems and deal with changeable, new, and often complicated situations. Very few higher education graduates are able, immediately upon finishing their education, to meet all the employer's expectations. The solution may be not to expect ideal candidates for work in libraries but to assume that every person changes and undergoes transformation and development; his or her traits and skills are not fixed and unchangeable. For that reason it is important to be able to determine which competencies, character traits, and skills will allow an individual to develop and will lead him/her to acquire new competencies, and thus to adapt to the employer's, the library's, the reader's, and the market's needs in the future.