A study of the skills required by librarians in public libraries in the children and adolescents sector

Considering the importance of individual, professional skills and specialized knowledge in librarians to improve information services for children and adolescents, it is necessary that groups of knowledge and information science for training and practitioners and officials of public libraries for pathology and foresight in the children and adolescents sector, plan and act. Gaining knowledge about the current situation of the skills of librarians in the children and adolescents section of public libraries and identifying their strengths and weaknesses provide the basis for further research. In addition, the librarians of these departments will realize their job sensitivity with a more complete understanding of these skills. Considering the emergence of technologies in libraries and the diverse and growing needs of the society and the importance of evaluating the skills of librarians in the children and adolescents section, the present study aims was to investigate the skills of librarians in the children and adolescents section of the public library of Qom, Markazi, Hamedan and Zanjan provinces.

The present research is an applied study which has been carried out using descriptive-survey research method. The statistical population of the study included 100 librarians working in the children and adolescents section of public libraries under the auspices of the General Directorate of Public Libraries of the five provinces of Zanjan, Hamedan, Arak and Qom and a stratified random sample was used. The collection tool in this research is a researcher-made questionnaire, in which the skills of librarians in the children and adolescents section are categorized based on 9 components in three personal, professional and technical fields. The reliability coefficient of the questionnaire was obtained using Cronbachʼs alpha 0/959. To analyze data, Excel 2016 and SPSS (version 20) were used, and descriptive statistical methods and Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Shapiro-Wilk and Wilcoxon tests were utilized.

The results indicate that the skills of interest and enthusiasm, communication, child psychology, familiarity with childrenʼs literature, collection making, information technology, management and service delivery are at a moderate (intermediate) level in these provinces. The skills of interest and enthusiasm with an average of 3/84, management with an average of 3/89 and service delivery with an average of 3/82 have been ranked first to third, respectively, and Zanjan with an average of 3/93, Arak with an average of 3/91 and Hamedan with an average of 3/61 are ranked first to third, respectively. IT skills have a significant relation with work experience, and the more work experience librarians have, the higher their level of IT skills are rated. The finding that information management and time management have a significant ralation with the education level indicates that librarians with higher education can have a better information and time management.

Originality/value:

 The present study was able to evaluate the skills of child and adolescent librarians in libraries in four provinces of Iran.