This data confirms that there is much demand and a continuing need for both core
library skills development training as well as specialist technical training. Furthermore,
it points towards a need for national/regional specific training, as is the case with
Arabic cataloguing and also copyright, which for the purposes of this survey relates to
Qatari copyright legislation. Most importantly of all though it is clear that these results,
point towards an insufficient supply of professional development training across a
wide spectrum of activity areas in Qatar.
Satisfaction with current professional development provision. The results of this
question reflected and reinforced the above conclusion that insufficient professional
development training is readily available at present, as 58 per cent of respondents
stated that they were not satisfied with the level of professional development
opportunities that were available to them in Qatar, as opposed to 18 per cent who were
satisfied. In total, 24 per cent stated that they were not sure.
For those respondents not satisfied, the most frequently cited reason for this group was
the sheer lack of available professional development support in Qatar, with a number of
respondents stating that they had to travel to other countries to receive training.
Comments on this subject included the following: “There are none! The conferences
are more about showing research output from academics rather than practical skills
development”, whilst another stated “because there are so few, I attend everything,
even if it isn’t relevant. Some PD events aren’t relevant”. Similarly, another respondent
noted “we have to travel outside for professional development or study on our own”.
Three respondents noted that the Arabian Gulf Chapter of the Special Libraries
Association and also the Information Literacy Network offered some professional
development opportunities, although these were mainly conferences of the type noted
in the comment above, and as such training frequently had to be sought elsewhere.
One respondent noted “I rely on web-based training/PD and international travel as
there is not much professional development in Qatar itself”.
The relatively small size of the library workforce in Qatar was noted as a
contributory factor in the lack of professional development training opportunities with
one person observing that “The professional community is fairly small and while
experts are brought into the region on occasion, it is still necessary to go abroad in
order to participate with a larger group of professionals in each library category”.
As well as noting the lack of professional development training opportunities for the
library workforce as a whole, a number of respondents also pinpointed the lack of
opportunities for specific library sectors, with school libraries featuring prominently in
this respect. One respondent stated that “Schools, I have found, appear to be left out in
the cold laying preference to university libraries, making us all feel excluded and less
valued as a learning provider” whilst another respondent observed that “There are
professional development opportunities, but I often feel as if they do not cater to the
K-12 school librarian. Often they are geared towards university librarians”. Three other
very similar comments were also received, pointing to the fact that school librarians in
Qatar believe that their professional development needs are currently not beingmet at all.