Job description requirements for systems librarians in Iranian university libraries

Abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The aim of this paper is to prepare and propose a job description for and identify the organizational position of systems librarians in university libraries in Iran. Design/methodology/approach -The required data were collected in two ways: literature review and survey of opinions. The respondents completed a questionnaire designed by the researchers in order to specify the skills, duties, characteristics and other qualifications of the librarians in Iranian university libraries. The material covered by the questionnaire was extracted from the existing cultural and organizational structure systems librarianship texts and their recruitment advertisements. Differences between Iranian university libraries and those of developed nations are noted. The research population included all administrators and supervisors of information sections in university libraries of Iran. Findings -It was found that in Iran information sciences librarians require assistance from computer experts, since the IT training programme on offer does not meet the required standard. This has resulted in a reduced ability to perform their duties adequately, prompting the proposed survey for the purpose of producing a revised job description. Practical implications -Based on the findings of this research, a job description is formulated for systems librarians in Iranian university libraries. The job description thus presented includes: responsibilities, skills, job features, factors, tools of work, condition of work environment, intellectual capabilities required, body posture, and required technologies. Originality/value -The survey is unique in that the focus is on an Iranian systems librarian's job description based on requirements resulting from the opinions expressed by the managers and the librarians of the Iranian university libraries. Its structure therefore corresponds to the occupations widespread in Iran.

Development and validation of core technology competencies for systems librarian

“…However, this section reviewed relatively a small number of studies focusing on technological competencies for information professionals, especially the systems librarian. Systems librarians play an essential role in the advancement of information services by managing integrated systems and computer technologies in the library (Farajpahlou and Danesh, 2009). System librarianship is a mixture of library science, management and information communication technology (ICTs)-related operations.…”

“…The study of Ratledge and Sproles (2017) also analyzed the 70 job advertisements posted on American Library Association's JobList in 2014 for a technology-related librarian for examining the changing role of systems librarians and key areas such as traditional systems, digital initiatives and Web services along with the demand of skills for project management, customer services and problem-solving skills. Farajpahlou and Danesh (2009) surveyed managers and librarians in the university libraries of Iran to propose job descriptions for the systems librarians. The respondents agreed that systems librarians should be experts in all software applications and hardware used in the libraries.…”

“…Of these studies, Lavagnino (1997) explored the effect of networking technologies on the role of academic systems librarians. The study of Farajpahlou and Danesh (2009) prepared job description requirements based on analysis of recruitment advertisement for systems librarian. In the same year, Choi and Rasmussen (2009) examined the qualification and skills required for an academic digital librarian based on the job advertisements analysis.…”

Literature Review of Job Description: Meta-analysis

“…However, the benefits of a job description are not only limited by this. Another benefit of having a job description is as a tool that simplifies the recruitment process (Finkelman, 2010;Jerabek, 2003;Ashraf, 2017;Hawkes & Weathington, 2014;Henson, 2011;Kim & Talbott, 2018;Rohr, 2016;Pavur , 2010;Wolonciej, 2018;Esposito, 1992;Feuer, 2001;Pató, 2017) where applicants' interest can be tested using The Big Five and Love of Learning methods (Hawkes & Weathington, 2014), job advertisements (Hernon & Schwartz, 2015;Qutab & Shafique, 2011), motivating employee performance (Garg & Rastogi, 2006;Goris, 2007), increasing employee satisfaction (Goris, 2007;Ramhit, 2019;Stãnescu, 2014), overcoming interpersonal problems in employees (Jacobson et al, 2012;Kieserman, 2007) and developing the potential ofemployees (Carliner et al, 2015;Buwembo et al, 2014;Hartmann & Jahren, 2015;Kang et al, 2016;Lee et al, 2014;Moskwa, 2016;Mouza & Taousanis, 2018), and identify the organization's position on the system in the community (Farajpahlou and Danesh, 2009).…”

The economic crisis and public libraries in Greece

“…In this sense, many researchers have examined the assigned duties associated with the above categories among those employed in health sciences in academia (Makinen and Speer, 1993), in college libraries (Gates, 2010), and in university libraries (Kreitz and Ogden, 1990). Other researchers have recorded the duties of system librarians (Farajpahlou and Danesh, 2009) and the responsibilities of paraprofessionals who work in electronic resources (Erb and Erb, 2015) and technical services (Zhu, 2012). Many researchers have also presented analytical job descriptions in regard to the importance, difficulty, and frequency of duties in academic (Kim and Lee, 2011;Mouza and Grigoriadou, 2016) and public libraries (Yoon and Kim, 2009), as they contribute to all human resource practices for increased productivity and efficiency.…”