Psychometric properties of instruments measuring competencies of research support librarian and self-directed learning traits

Librarians who work professionally in libraries must make themselves visible in the processes surrounding academic research. These research support librarians need to equip themselves with relevant competencies to play their share in supporting learning, enhancing teaching, improving research, providing services as well as anticipating the needs of academic researchers. In order to investigate these competencies, it is imperative to scrutinise the self-directed learning among the librarians because many studies have agreed that self-directed learning has an influence on competencies. In this study, the researcher analysed the validity and reliability of Competencies of Research Support Librarian instrument and Self-Directed Learning Traits instrument. The bank of items was developed from the Core-Competencies for Twenty-First Century CARL Librarians Model and Knowles' Andragogy-Adult Learning Theory as well as from an exhaustive literaturere view. Experts from librarianship and test and measurement areas reviewed the instruments in order to establish face and content validity. Internal consistency and reliability were measured using Cronbach's alpha and Rasch model. Thirty research support librarians of a local comprehensive university and a research university scores were used. The reliability test resulted in an overall value of.94. The results of the study yielded how trustworthy and dependable the instruments are and the effectiveness of the instruments in investigating the influence of self-directed learning on the competencies of research support librarian. © Serials Publications

Exploring library management support for enhancing self-directed learning: narratives from research-support librarians

Purpose: This qualitative study explores the issue of library management support in providing a self-directed learning environment for research-support librarians which is an under-explored feature of librarianship in Malaysian public university libraries. Design/methodology/approach: A total of nine research-support librarians purposely selected from these libraries took part in in-depth interview sessions. The responses were analysed using Miles and Huberman's technique, which involves data reduction, data display, conclusion-drawing and verification. Findings: Five emerging themes and 31 sub-themes were identified. There was a general consensus among the respondents that their library management does provide research-support librarians with a self-directed learning environment to enhance their competencies as academic librarians. Nevertheless, these librarians also highlighted some challenges, issues and barriers related to the initiative and support received. Some suggestions are advanced for improvements to support self-directed learning by research-support librarians working in public university libraries. Originality/value: Empirically, this study attempts to fill the gap in the knowledge that needs to be addressed from the perspective of Malaysian librarians, especially the research-support librarians, who serve in public universities in Malaysia, who have received little attention from local librarianship researchers

Malaysian research-support librarians’ self-directed learning traits: examining demographic differences and their relationship with competencies

Research-support librarians have to play an effective role in supporting learning, providing services and anticipating the requirements of academic researchers. However, previous studies revealed that these librarians lacked the competencies to keep abreast of new resources, services and technologies. Although there is a large body of literature discussing the comprehensive competencies required of research-support librarians, very few have attempted to investigate this issue in the Malaysian context. Based on this situation, this study attempts to investigate the self-directed learning traits and competencies of research-support librarians in Malaysian public universities. This study also aims to identify the influence of self-directed learning on competencies. A total of 215 research-support librarians from Malaysian public universities were selected. The findings revealed that the competencies of these librarians are still at medium level. The most noticeable and lowest competency was in information technology skills, followed by research and contributions to the profession and library management. The most prevalent competencies were interpersonal skills, followed by information literacy, entrepreneurialism, foundational knowledge and collections development