SLA Blog

Task Force to Update SLA’s Competencies for the Information Professional

SLA President Cindy Romaine has appointed a task force of prominent SLA members to update SLA’s Competencies for Information Professionals of the 21^st Century. The task force will refresh and revamp this guide, giving information professionals a consistent grounding on which to base their skill-development and career growth initiatives. Members of the task force include:

Anne Caputo, Chair

Kate Arnold

Kim Dority

Susan Fifer-Canby

Karen King

Thomas Walker

Carolyn Sosnowski

SLA’s Competencies for Information Professionals are currently organized into three categories, each of which have in-depth points of focus, such as managing information organizations and applying information tools and technologies:

1. Professional Competencies relate to the practitioner's knowledge of information resources, access, technology and management, and the ability to use this knowledge as a basis for providing the highest quality information services.
2. Personal Competencies represent a set of attitudes, skills and values that enable practitioners to work effectively and contribute positively to their organizations, clients and profession.
3. Core Competencies anchor the professional and personal competencies. These two core competencies are essential for all information professionals. As educated professionals, information professionals understand the value of developing and sharing their knowledge; this is accomplished through association networks and by conducting and sharing research at conferences, in publications and in collaborative arrangements of all kinds.

SLA Connections will provide you with key developments as the process unfolds.

Vengeful Librarians

Librarians find things better than anyone, people should know this by now. It certainly seems that the United States CIA has caught on.

In a recent Associated Press exclusive, a team known as "vengeful librarians" are described as using Twitter, Facebook, the Web, and their natural sleuthing abilities to provide intelligence that is sought-after by the highest levels in Washington, D.C.

This intelligence machine pores over up to 5 million tweets each day, and cross references them with blog posts, local newspaper articles, and more. And of course, they come fully armed with master's degrees in library and information science.

Check it out!