new MA programme in Library and Information Studies in October 2013, the first such
postgraduate programme to be delivered in the country.
Qatar’s current workforce is made up of a number of people from different
expatriate populations and is reliant on imported knowledge and skills from an
international workforce, especially due to its current rapid growth and lack of a local
workforce that can fill skilled positions. This is also true in the LIS sector where
currently the majority of the workforce is from Western countries, such as the USA and
UK, along with LIS professionals from other Arab countries such as Egypt. This
survey indicated that only around 10 per cent of respondents were Qatari, which is not
surprising as the library profession in Qatar is still emerging and as such there are still
comparatively few qualified and experienced Qatari librarians. This situation provides
some distinct challenges when it comes to developing appropriate LIS curriculum and
professional development courses for an international diverse and often transient
workforce. In order to successfully meet the specific local needs of library professionals
and libraries both now and in the future, it was important to first investigate
the background and needs of the library professionals in Qatar, especially in terms of
specialized or local requirements.
The LIS profession in Qatar offers distinct perspectives on the needs of an emerging
library sector that is a blend of different cultures, workplace practices and differing
expectations and understandings of the role and skills needed to be a LIS professional.
Therefore, this paper provides a significant contribution to research conducted on
future roles, skills and knowledge needed by library professionals both now and in the
future. This is especially relevant as there is a growing interest in internationalization,
both in LIS curriculums and in the profession more widely, in order to improve
curriculums and to understand the nature of the LIS profession (Gerolimos, 2009).
Literature review
Recent discussions regarding the skills needed by library professionals have focused
on a number of factors including employer needs, generic skills vs specific skills and
the competencies needed by librarians working in more information technology or
digital environments. Buarki et al. (2011), note that the trend of LIS programmes has
been to shift the emphasis from “library” to “information”. However, despite this trend
of integrating more information technology or digital courses into LIS programmes,
research suggests that although there is an emphasis on technical skills and knowledge
in today’s digital environment, traditional LIS skills are still sought and needed in the
library and information profession (Chow et al., 2011; Stephens and Hamblin, 2006).
There is also some research that suggests that employers may be more concerned with
soft or generic skills such as analytical ability and communications skills, customer
service skills, business and marketing skills, flexibility, and adaptability rather than on
traditional technical skills, some of which employers feel can be learnt on the job, and
that employers place great importance on experience, which in turn means that LIS
programmes may need to emphasis internships, networking, mentoring and leadership
skills (Choi and Rasmussen, 2009; Chow et al., 2011; Nonthacumjane, 2011).
Several articles in the literature focus on what skills and qualifications are important
for the profession based on job advertisements. Choi and Rasmussen (2009) analysed
job advertisements for digital library positions over an eight-year period and found
that there was a need for professionals to have current awareness of appropriate
technological skills, knowledge of metadata and management skills. Their analysis of
the job advertisements also confirmed that there is a demand for generic skills such as