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ALIA 2001 TAFE libraries conferenceThe implementation and uses of Library Industry Competency Standards in TAFE libraries - the application of a modelAUTHOR/ PRESENTER: Cathy Smith CATHY SMITHCathy is Institute Librarian at East Gippsland Institute of TAFE in Victoria. Cathy is a long standing ALIA member and a member of the Victorian Association of TAFE Libraries. She was inaugural convenor of the VATL Management Interest Group. She was a member of the Learning Technologies for Library /Information Services Staff consortium, headed by RMIT, serving as a consultant and mentor for the project. She is a key contributor to her Institute's Learner Management and Innovation working group known as "Ed Trek" and is currently undertaking a Master of Education at RMIT University. Her interests are flexible delivery, staff development, benchmarking, films and gardening. ABSTRACTThe Library Industry Competency Standards (LICS) began trials in 1995 and the library industry training package based on the Competency Standards was implemented in 2000. The objective of the LICS is to create a library workforce responsive to current and future industry needs (Museum & Library/ Information Services 1999). In practical terms they are an avenue for the recognition of the skills of existing staff empowering them to meet their own skill development needs and providing them with transferable skills. Using the New Apprenticeship Scheme, some libraries have restructured to create trainee positions and established partnerships with training providers. But as well the LICS provide a tool for the identification of training needs and for the development of flexible workplace training programs (Create Australia 2000). There is potential to use the LICS for a range of human resource management and staff development activities (Thurstans 1994). At a time of changing work practices in TAFE libraries, brought about by the introduction of new technologies into libraries and other changes in TAFE, there is a need for an examination of the implementation of the LICS in TAFE libraries and their potential as a framework for the continuous development of skills. PAPERChanges in the Australian workforceClive Chappell spoke last year of a new VET professional, a mix of learning broker, project manager, knowledge manager and human resources manager, who is engaged in educational activities beyond traditional teaching or training roles (Chappell 2000). What I propose to do today is to demonstrate that the TAFE librarian can be part of that new profession to the benefit of all staff. Widespread and far-reaching socio-economic and cultural shifts in Australia have resulted in wide ranging changes in the nature and patterns of work (Waterhouse 1999; Mottram 2001).New technologies, employed by a wide range of industries, and an industry in itself, have been widely adopted in Australia (Waterhouse 1999). In order to survive organisations have had to become learning organisations (Waterhouse 1999). Changes in TAFEAt the same time these changes, socio-political, economic and work, have impacted on the vocational, education and training industry (VET) so that, as Waterhouse, Wilson and Ewer write: 'as a service industry, VET faces the double bind of coping with these changes and simultaneously providing high quality goods and services to help other industries to do so' (Waterhouse 1999, p.31). In terms of VET the most influential response to the changing nature and patterns of work has been the development of the national training reform agenda and more recently the National Training Framework, notably training packages, the development of national qualifications, recognition of prior learning and the implementation of competency-based training (Waterhouse 1999). TAFEs have also been driven by new political and market philosophies to operate in different ways (Waterhouse 1999; Maslen 2000). Waterhouse, Wilson and Ewer (1999) contend: 'Flexible delivery options including the adoption of 'new' technologies such as the Victorian Virtual Campus project, and mixed mode delivery programs are responding to the imperative for cost-effectiveness, customer demands and new markets' (Waterhouse 1999, p. 21). In the mid nineties, East Gippsland Institute of TAFE restructured into a team based organisation in order to better respond to just such changes. It aims to derive an increasing percentage of its income from commercial sources. However, operating as it does in rural Australia, has presented East Gippsland with some extra challenges. The markets in rural Australia are "thin". Country TAFEs find it harder to locate and employ quality trainers and their operating costs are higher (Waterhouse 1999). Changes in librariesNational changes have impacted on libraries in several ways. Angela Bridgland writes that libraries have had to respond to 'the specific needs of their customers in a period in which the structure of the workplace has undergone rapid and massive changes through the development of information technology, revamped industrial awards and national training reforms' (Bridgland 1998). At the same time they, as much as or indeed ahead of other workplaces, have extensively adopted technology so that library workers themselves have had to reskill to master that technology as well as aiding library users to use technology (Cox-Townend 2000; Reid 1998). Such extensive changes in libraries have been identified by John Kupersmith as leading to considerable technostress for library staff (Kupersmith 1998). However it is also worth pointing out, as Bridgland does, that the workforce profile of libraries has been different for a long while and the nature of the work performed there has been progressive: the library and information industry has been ahead of this changing profile in that during the last twenty years it has employed more women than men (80 per cent to 20 per cent), many of whom work part time. The industry has always been knowledge or information-based and has required high skill levels…many workers in the library industry are already multi-skilled (Bridgland 1998, p.13). Changing role of TAFE librariansAnne Lloyd and Marion Bannister (1999) also note the link between national changes and the changing role of TAFE librarians. For instance, the influential Mayer report clearly identified an educational role for TAFE librarians. They point out that the national TAFE library guidelines Focus on Learning articulate the concept of librarians as educators and acknowledge their educational role in flexible delivery programs (Lloyd and Bannister 1999). Certainly by the end of the decade many Victorian TAFE libraries had adapted to changes in TAFE. They have been early to embrace flexible learning (Owen 1994) and new technologies (VATL 2000). Already TAFE libraries are high end users of cutting edge information technology (Lloyd and Bannister 1999; VATL 2000; VISTA 2000). Training needsThe training needs of library workers has come to be defined by the changes engulfing libraries. To quote Angela Bridgland again: Customer needs may be quite diverse and meeting them requires professional knowledge, but above all, high-level skill and competency in the area of thinking, learning and communication, together with sensitivity to such differences as race, gender and age (Bridgland 1998, p. 25). In TAFE libraries a changed working environment, built around new learning technologies, has meant a re-skilling of the TAFE library workforce has been needed. In 2000 the Victorian Association of TAFE Libraries (VATL) Executive wrote in a submission to the Ministerial Review of Post Compulsory Education and Training Pathways in Victoria: For librarians to remain at the forefront of developments in the TAFE environment it is important that they are included in professional development programs. This will assist them in their understanding of new modes of program delivery and enhance their ability to provide appropriate library and information services to support the learning process (VATL 2000). A recent training program in Victoria - Online Technologies for Library and Information Services (OTLIS) - has sought to address some of these needs. The aim of the training program is 'to enable library and information services staff to more effectively support learners, teachers and other staff utilising online learning resources' (Online technologies 2000, p.1). East Gippsland Institute of TAFE Library ServicesEast Gippsland Institute of TAFE Library Services is a small team working across three campuses. Its current staff is a mix of professionals, library technicians and library assistants, all of whom are multi-skilled to some extent. Library Services, while highly regarded by its users, has faced the same pressures as other TAFE libraries and has begun to restructure and to encourage staff to retrain to meet the challenge of flexible delivery, new technologies and a knowledge based environment. The challenge is to ensure that the East Gippsland Institute of TAFE's Library Services team is part of the 'global learning industry' (East Gippsland 2001). Bridgland (1998) writes of the converging influences on library managers: The impact of rapidly changing technology in the workplace poses increasing demands on library resources, not least of which is training. Library managers will seek new ways to encourage, train and develop staff and provide the necessary resources for this to happen - no mean feat in these resource-straitened times! (Bridgland 1998, p. 24). Library Industry Competency StandardsLibrary education has changed with the development and adoption of competency standards and training packages in 1994 and 2000 respectively for library technician courses. Donna Reid (1998) notes: The opportunity to rationalise our current programs and modes of education and training exist with the new directions of the Training Reforms. We need to ensure that new members of the industry can work and grow successfully within the industry, sure that their contributions are valued and that they have opportunities for training and retraining as the nature of work changes and new technologies appear (Reid 1998, p.31). Library technicians are one of three categories of library workers - nearly 60% of the TAFE workforce in Victoria is paraprofessional or hold no or other than library qualifications; 40 % are librarians. The competency standards have implications for all sectors of the industry (Cuthbert 1997; Create Australia 2000). The objectives of the Library Industry Competency Standards (LICS) are, to draw on Susan Mouer: 'to create an efficient, flexible, multi-skilled workforce' (Mouer 1997, p.138). The 'qualifications are designed to respond to and anticipate present and future education and training needs' (Museum & Library/ Information Services 1999, p.5). Using the New Apprenticeship Scheme some libraries have restructured to create trainee positions and have established partnerships with training providers. (Nagle 2000) It is claimed the LICS provide a tool for the identification of training needs and for the development of flexible workplace training programs (Create Australia 2000). There is potential to use them for a range of human resource management and staff development activities (Thurstans 1994, p.138). Mouer writes: The LICS can be used to better manage human resources by providing objective guidelines (i) that assist with job descriptions, recruitment, promotion, training, and performance appraisal, and (ii) that may play a role in addressing equal employment opportunity issues. By pinpointing gaps in ones competencies, the standards may also encourage a focus on continuous self-education and professional development (Mouer 1997, p.138). Sheena Cuthbert (1997) contends: 'By using the standards as a framework, the standards have the potential to assist in formulating library benchmarks, processes can be examined in light of required competencies and training needs identified' (Cuthbert 1997, p.327). Vicki Williamson and Sue White have extensively documented a project at Curtin University where local competencies and the Library Industry Competency Standards were applied to the workplace to 'assist with the development of competency-based position descriptions and selection criteria' (Williamson 1996). Extensive reviews of the literature by Josie Misko (1999) and Janelle Moy (1999) on research into Competency-based training finds support for the claims of the library industry for the application of competency-based training in the workplace. A survey carried out in 1996 in Victoria suggested that at that time the competencies had hardly been adopted at all in Victorian libraries (Cuthbert 1997, p.323). However recent reports in the literature suggest that at least nationally this is changing (Create Australia 2000). Certainly the Library Industry Training Package was launched in 2000. The VATL Management Interest Group had Traineeships as the key topic at its second meeting for the year 2001. Already one if not two Victorian TAFE libraries have put trainees on. Skill developmentLast year, casting around for a means of skill development for all our staff, all of whom had been with us for several years, I looked at the model provided by training packages in other areas and the example provided by other staff at East Gippsland TAFE who had had trainee positions created for them. Their existing skills had been recognised and they had gained qualifications on the job. I was also aware that our TAFE was a state leader in the provision of on-the-job assessment and in the incorporation of training packages into our programs - this gave me confidence that the Museum & Library/Information Services Industry Training Package could work for us, especially for our library assistants. In looking at the literature I was excited to come across two recent examples of the implementation of the Training Package in libraries - one was in the Mackay City Council Library Service and the other in the ACT Library and Information Service. What I read reinforced other reading and my own training experience with the Frontline Management qualification. The Library Training Package had potential to be a major part of our response to the direction our TAFE was taking. Training packagesWorkplaces who have had experience of the Training Package claim that it:
(Nagle 2000, Create Australia 2000, VATL 2001). Create Australia writes: 'The training package encourages people with library and information services experience to undertake assessment, for which they can receive a national qualification'(New Apprenticeships 1999). Merrilee Pigram from the ACT described recognition of prior learning as one of the most 'potent and exciting tools' in the Training Package (Create Australia 2000). Flexibility is one of the key features of competency based training and training packages. The Training Packages can be:
They are a national qualification and they share competencies with other qualifications. They are underpinned by national quality standards. Training Packages consist of an endorsed component:
and a non endorsed component:
(Reid 1998) New ApprenticeshipsNew Apprenticeships are built around the flexibility of the training packages. They provide for:
I don't propose in this paper to join the national debate about the training reform agenda, the competency standard movement or new apprenticeships. There is a wealth of literature on these subjects and there have been at least, is it three, Government inquiries into New Apprenticeships and resulting adjustments to the system. There has been a paper published recently by Ross Harvey concerned with university-based library education for professional librarians and I also won't enter into the library technician/ professional debate today. (Harvey 2001) However I did want to alert you to the transformation in the ways in which a library assistant/technician can become qualified and the opportunities that arise from the Library Training Package. Marion Wilson wrote recently: The library as employer gains from well trained, confident staff; staff gain through recognised accreditation; and clients gain from the training delivered by staff who are expert and confident in their abilities and professional knowledge (Wilson 2000). It is imperative in the new TAFE environment that all our staff are empowered to meet the challenges this era is presenting to us. The training reform agenda is a challenge for the new VET professional but it also, through the competencies and the Training Package, offers a pathway for TAFE libraries to take. As Cheryl LaGuardia predicts the 'survivors of the infotech battles of this century will emerge into the new millennium as New renaissance Librarians: well-educated professionals with a facility for creating and learning new systems rapidly, always open to new possibilities' (LaGuardia 1998, p.269). Reference ListBridgland, A., 1998, 'The linking of knowledge and skills to changing workplace practices', Education for library and information services: Australia, Volume 15, No.1, May 1998, pp. 11-27 Chappell, C., 2000, 'Who is the new VET professional' RCVET (23rd August 2000) Cox-Townsend, S., 2000, 'Effects of information technology on school library personnel: preliminary findings', Access, August 2000 Create Australia National Workshop, 2000, 'Implementing the library industry training package', Canberra: 27th October 2000 Cuthbert, S., 1997, 'Library industry competency standards: state of the art - State Library of Victoria', The Australian Library Journal, August 1997, pp. 322-329 East Gippsland Institute of TAFE, 2001, Strategic direction statement, EGIT, Bairnsdale, Vic. Harvey, R., 2001, 'Losing the quality battle in Australian education for librarianship' The Australian Library Journal, February 2001 Kupersmith, J., 1998, 'Technostress in the bionic library', in Recreating the academic library: breaking virtual ground, ed. Cheryl LaGuardia, Neal-Schumann, New York LaGuardia, C., 1998, 'Human resource management for the new personnel', in Recreating the academic library: breaking virtual ground, ed. Cheryl LaGuardia, Neal-Schumann, New York Lloyd, A. and Bannister, M., 1999, 'Things Are Not Always as They Seem: Perceptions of the Role of Librarians in TAFE. Australian Academic & Research Libraries, Dec 1999, v30 i4 p251[ff] (taken from Tapestry) Maslen, G., 2000, 'How Kennett changed Vic TAFE: report', Campus review, October 25-31, 2000 Misko, J., 1999, Competency-based training, NCVER, Leabrook, SA Mottram, M., 2001, 'Meet the ordinary Australian worker', The Age, January 13, 2001 News Extra, p.3 Mouer, S.1997, 'The Australian Library Industry Competency Standards: present perspectives and future prospects', The Australian Library Journal, May 1997, pp. 136-146 Moy, J., 1999, The impact of generic competencies on workplace performance, NCVER, Leabrook, SA Museum & Library/ Information Services Industry Training Package, 1999, Library and information services: general resource implementation guidelines: training and assessment resource guidance, CREATE Australia, Surry Hills, NSW Nagle, E., 2000, 'Implementing the library and information services training package: the Mackay experience: presentation at a national Culture Research Education and Training Enterprise Australia workshop, Canberra', Australasian Public Libraries and Information Services, Dec 2000, v13 p170ff (taken from Tapestry) New apprenticeships can work for you: a guide for employers in the museums and libraries information services industries, 1999, CREATE Australia, Surry Hills, NSW Online technologies for library and information services: project bulletin, 2000, PETE, 31- Oct-00 Owen, R., 1994, 'TAFE libraries: where to from here?' in Kangan: 20 years on, eds Peter Kearns and William Hall, NCVER, Leabrook, SA Reid, D., 1998, 'Government education, training, employment and information policy directions and library and information studies education' Education for Library and Information Services: Australia (ELID:A) May 1998, pp29-31 Thurstans, M., 1994, 'Library competency standards', National Public Libraries Conference (1st:1994:Melbourne) Public libraries: trading in futures: proceedings, pp.131-139 VATL Executive, 2000, Ministerial review of post compulsory education and training pathways in Victoria: VATL response VATL, Melbourne, VATL, 2001, Management Interest Group Meeting (25th May 2001:Geelong) VISTA, 2000, The Information Commons, elearning and management (Melbourne: 8 September, 2000) Waterhouse, P., Wilson, B. & Ewer, P., 1999, The changing nature and patterns of work and implications for VET, NCVER , Leabrook, SA Williamson, V. and White, S., 1996, Competency standards in the library workplace, Auslib, Blackwood, SA Wilson, M., 2000, Understanding the needs of tomorrow's library user: rethinking library services for the new age Australasian Public Libraries and Information Services, June 2000, v13 i2 p81ff (taken from Tapestry) AcknowledgmentsI would like to thank Rose Humphries, Guusta van der Graaff, Diana Harrison and my VATL and EGIT colleagues for their help and support.
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