The association between research-support librarians' self-directed learning traits and their competencies

Abstract

Research-support librarians must make themselves visible in the processes surrounding academic research. They have to play their part in supporting learning, enhancing teaching, improving research, providing services and anticipating the needs of academic researchers. By helping to drive research, learning and teaching outcomes, librarians gain greater visibility and respect. In order to capitalise on the opportunity to update their roles, research-support librarians should possess a compendium of competencies. However, previous studies revealed that these research-support librarians lack the competencies to keep abreast of the new resources, services, and technologies. Although there is a large body of literature discussing the comprehensive competencies required of research-support librarians, very few have attempted to investigate the same issue in the Malaysian context. Based on these concrete findings and pressing issues, the present study attempts to investigate the competencies of research-support librarians in Malaysian public universities. This study also aims to identify the association between research-support librarians’ self-directed learning traits and their competencies. In addition, this study explores the issue of library management support in providing a self-directed learning environment to research-support librarians. This study employed the embedded mixed-methods design as its methodology as well. Data for both quantitative and qualitative studies were collected simultaneously. The findings from the quantitative study were collected from the survey instrument. The number of respondents was originally 262. After the final screening, 215 respondents were selected. SPSS was used to analyse the quantitative data. For the qualitative study, nine respondents were involved in the in-depth interviews. The responses were analysed using Miles and Huberman’s (2014) technique, which involves data reduction, data display, conclusion-drawing, and verification. Five emerging themes and 32 sub-themes were identified. The findings revealed that the competencies of research-support librarians in Malaysian academic universities are still weak. The most noticeable lowest competency was information technology skills followed by research and contributions to the profession as the second lowest. The most prevalent competencies were interpersonal skills, followed by information literacy, entrepreneurialism, and foundational knowledge. The self-directed learning traits of research-support librarians in turn were considered average to high. The role of the learner’s experience, readiness to learn, and orientation to learn were the most prevalent traits as compared to motivation to learn and the concept of the learner. Furthermore, the relationship between self-directed learning and competencies was mediocre. Generally, there was consensus among the respondents that their library management does extend its support to providing a self-directed learning environment to research-support librarians. In conclusion, the findings from this study serve as a useful snapshot of the competencies and self-directed learning traits of research-support librarians in Malaysian public universities. Having applied the Core-Competencies for 21st Century CARL Librarians Model and Knowles’ (1970) Andragogy-Adult Learning Theory, this study can be seen as a means of assessment, strategic planning and budget execution, recruiting and hiring, training and development, career development, and succession planning initiatives. It can also be applied in identifying credentials, improving education, describing jobs, evaluating performance of research-support librarians, and aligning research-support librarianship with the library’s mission and strategic goals. Educators can also use the findings of this study when developing, designing or improving curricula and courses.