A Comparison of Health Sciences Librarianship Job Qualifications and MLA’s Competencies for Lifelong Learning and Professional Success

Objectives: 1. What are the required and preferred qualifications listed in job announcements posted on MEDLIBS-L from July 2, 2018 to July 2, 2019? and 2. How do the required and preferred qualifications compare to the MLA's Competencies for Lifelong Learning and Professional Success?

Methods
201 job announcements were collected from July 2, 2018 to July 2, 2019 from MEDLIBS-L and entered in to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Twelve job announcements were excluded from analysis due to incomplete information, leaving 189 complete job announcements. The posting date, position title, type of institution, required qualifications, preferred qualifications, geographical location, and salary (if available) were entered into the spreadsheet from each job announcement. Content analysis of the required and preferred job qualifications was performed using a codebook developed by the authors. Descriptive statistics, including frequencies and bivariate analysis, were completed. The most frequent required and preferred job qualifications were compared with the competency areas in MLA's Competencies for Lifelong Learning and Professional Success to determine to see if what employers want are in alignment with the association's skills and abilities recommendations.


Results: Over two-thirds of the job announcements were for positions in academic libraries, and the rest were for positions in hospital, government, or corporate/organization libraries. The top ten required qualifications were (1) education; (2) having a degree from an accredited program, (3) communication skills; (4) collaboration and teamwork skills; (5) having prior experience; (6) interpersonal skills; (7) technology competency; (8) instructional skills; (9) knowledge of information resources; and (10) management skills. The top ten preferred qualifications were (1) education; (2) technology competency; (3) having prior experience; (4) instructional skills; (5) knowledge of the health environment; (6) professional development; (7) collaboration and teamwork skills; (8) data management; (9) communication skills; and (10 – tied) computer applications and scholarly communication.
The top ten required and preferred qualifications aligned with all but one MLA’s Competencies for Lifelong Learning and Professional Success – Competency 5: Evidence-based Practice & Research.


Conclusions: The analysis of 189 job announcements identified that employers want individuals with education (ranging from bachelors to doctoral degrees); prior experience; communication skills, collaboration and teamwork skills; technology competency; and instructional skills. Education was the number one required and preferred qualification. Competency 5: Evidence-based Practice & Research of MLA’s Competencies for Lifelong Learning and Professional Success did not align with any of the top ten required and preferred job qualifications.