In August 2019, the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) partnered with the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) to extend the investigation of the digital dexterity of library staff across Australia beyond universities. This exploration took the form of a survey which revealed a snapshot of the current digital dexterity of the survey respondents.
Digital skills are necessary in 100% of library roles, according to a recent survey of staff across school, public, academic and special libraries. There is a constant need to update skills and build confidence, with 91% saying they would be looking for further opportunities to strengthen their digital dexterity in the next 12 months.
The survey revealed that 93% of respondents said digital skills were highly relevant in the library workplace and 7% said ‘somewhat relevant’. Most respondents (75%) said their digital confidence had increased over the last 12 months and 90% had had opportunities to build their digital dexterity through work-based professional development (65%), the ALIA PD Scheme (4%), ALIA Training (2%), CAUL digital dexterity program (2%) and other activities (17%).
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area.
He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit.
Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.
