The talk I gave to Jean-François Blanchette’s class this month has turned out to be a twofer. I wrote earlier about the framework I have been toying with for thinking about preservation, but I was actually invited that day as a “guy who hires people”, and asked to talk about what I look for and how libraries are thinking about assembling their workforce.
Dr. Blanchette’s class had been talking about the skillset required of MLIS graduates and had read the SAA report “New Skills for a Digital Era.” I commend that report to your attention, along with AOTUS David Ferriero’s keynote and post about the competencies required in current librarians and archivists. With that sort of company, my own thoughts won’t add much except emphasis. I’ll turn the tables, instead, because I have some thought about what employers should be looking for in the new talent.