Planning for the acquisition of information resources management core competencies

This paper aims to discuss the development of a core set of information resources management (IRM) competencies and to detail a plan for their acquisition by IRM librarians of a large academic university library.

The paper examines the work of librarians who manage information resources at the University of Arizona Libraries to inform the development of a set of core competencies. The planned implementation and assessment of a series of training sessions for developing these competencies is also discussed, as is the role of individual librarians who have been assigned specific tasks related to broader issues not easily addressed by a training session. Finally, a prioritized list of mastery‐level competencies for future development is defined.

By defining in detail the information resource‐related tasks for which IRM members are responsible, the authors were able to develop a plan for training modules that are designed to ensure core competencies for all team members.

This paper is a detailed plan for developing competencies needed to manage information resources at an academic library.