Tuesday. 17 May 2016

My first day at Butler University began with, appropriately, a library faculty meeting. I found the primary business of the meeting particularly relevant (and useful!) to my interests and future career.

The Butler Library faculty convened to discuss the language to be included in the Librarian position description competencies. The assistant dean of the libraries distributed and asked for comment from library faculty on the language to be used when describing required competencies for future library positions. The competencies were based on examples provided in The Expert Librarian, Chapter 6: “Preparing Librarians for the Future, Identifying and Assessing Core Competencies at the University of Minnesota Libraries,” pages 139-149.

I found the discussion of the core competencies particularly useful and enlightening. As the assistant dean made clear, this description of competencies truly reflects who the Butler librarians are and what they value as librarians. Much of the discussion centered on the “philosophical” nature of the competencies and how these competencies could best be assessed in potential job candidates.

Having no role in the meeting allowed me to listen and get a sense of the “worldview” of the Butler library faculty. I also had the opportunity to get a sense of the how the various individuals at the meeting interacted with one another–as a way to better understand the political and power dynamics of the organization.