Technology has permeated 21st century libraries, impacting the environment for both patrons and staff. At all levels of library service, a host of new skills and knowledge are now required as an integral part of working in a library. This is particularly true of public access computing, a service that is now in high demand by patrons and replete with expectations for keeping current with emerging trends and technologies.
Defining competencies for sustaining public access computing programs is the first step toward providing a roadmap for library staff to identify skills gaps through assessments and to connect to learning opportunities to achieve each competency. The general orientation is toward all public libraries across the spectrum with an emphasis on smaller and more rural libraries. Given the variety of organizational structures, it is beyond the scope of this project to delineate roles and classifications that apply within every system. Instead, we offer a menu of categories and competencies from which to pick and remix those that make sense to any individual library or library system.
