Identifying Eployability Skills and Competencies in the Field of Knowledge and Information Science: Systematic Review

In today's era, information and communication technology has changed the views and needs of societies. The emergence of this technology requires acquiring knowledge and learning the appropriate skills to meet the needs. The field of knowledge and information science is not excluded from the current developments and many changes have been made in the perspective and position of this profession in the job market of this field. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify the employability skills and competencies of specialists and alumni in the field of knowledge and information science and to use the results of this research to help develop or modify the focused curricula of courses in this field that meet the needs of the job market.

The current qualitative research is of the type of applied studies and has been carried out with a systematic review method. In this research, the first step was to review the research literature, 11,986 documents were extracted from Scopus and Web of Science databases to determine the strategy related to Knowledge and Information Science jobs. Then, studies were screened using the guidelines of the preferred prisma, and after screening and entering the study, job titles, job skills in the studies, and job duties were examined in terms of the purpose of the research. The statistical population is covered by texts that were published in English from 1923 to 2023. After recovering the documents, they were cleaned. Data cleaning was based on the degree of relevance of the documents to the purpose of the research, so that first all irrelevant documents were removed from the data, and the documents that were most related to the purpose of the study were examined to review the entire text. Finally, 223 degrees related to jobs and job skills were selected.

The findings showed that the profession of knowledge and information science has entered various jobs beyond the library field. It was also found that jobs in the field of knowledge and information science require the acquisition of diverse knowledge and skills. The skills identified for current jobs in the job market were categorized into 7 components: professional skills, management skills, behavioral skills, educational skills, research skills, information literacy skills, and functional skills. These skills can help prepare alumni to enter the job market.

Success in any organization depends on dynamic, qualified, creative, energetic, committed, and skilled employees. In the cycle of any organization, choosing the right people is a sensitive and important process. Revising the subject of knowledge and information science courses and adding new skills that have come into use with the advent of technology can help the interdisciplinary development of the field. Also, with the development of job skills, alumni do not face skill challenges when entering the job market; Even these graduates can be employed in information profession jobs in public and private organizations and companies beyond libraries and in identified job positions. In this regard, there is a need to pay more attention to job duties related to the field. If the position of the field in the country's industry is not taken into account and the necessary infrastructure is not created, compiling the skills in the subject of the courses will only be a waste of time and money and will not be effective.