New From IFLA: A Skills Agenda for the Trend Report

From the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA): 

Skills are key to resilience in the face of change. They empower us to approach new situations, find how to make the best of them, and so offer the best possible service to our communities.

IFLA’s Trend Report already offers a key tool for thinking in a more structured, effective way about an uncertain future, both through the trends it identifies and the means it offers of working with them.

A constant in terms of how we can increase or readiness is through developing skills throughout the library and information sector.

These are not just about those skills traditionally at the heart of the profession, but also broader (and often softer) abilities which allow us to go further.

In order to identify which skills in particular will matter, the emerging leaders who participated at the IFLA Information Futures Summit in Brisbane, Australia on 30 September – 2 October took part in a dedicated workshop on 4 October.

At this, they drew on the Trend Report itself, as well as the discussions over the previous days, in order to explore a potential skills agenda for the future of libraries. Following the workshop, they then collaborated online to turn these reflections into a full skills agenda for the field, as a guide and conversation starter for others.

The chosen skills fall into three main categories:

• Practical skills refer to technical abilities that can help us make better – and safer – use of technology and other opportunities to achieve greater impact.
• Partnership skills are those which allow us to collaborate more effectively, as well as to engage with our colleagues, communities and partners.
• Personal development skills are those which help us to think further and more broadly, helping us to become leaders ourselves, and to bring out the best in others.

Direct to Full Text Report: A Skills Agenda For the Trend Report
44 pages; PDF.

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