Core Competencies for Cataloging and Metadata Librarians

The CaMMS Competencies and Education for a Career in Cataloging Interest Group presented Core Competencies for Cataloging and Metadata Professional Librarians at ALA Midwinter in Atlanta. The document supplements the American Library Association's Core Competencies in Librarianship. The document outlines Knowledge, Skill & Ability, and Behavioral Competencies and is meant to define a "baseline of core competencies for LIS professionals in the cataloging and metadata field."

Knowledge competencies are those providing understanding of conceptual models upon which cataloging standards are based. Skill & ability competencies include not just the application of particular skills and frameworks, but the also the ability to "synthesize these principles and skills to create cohesive, compliant bibliographic data that function within local and international metadata ecosystems. Behavioral competencies are those "personal attributes that contribute to success in the profession and ways of thinking that can be developed through coursework and employment experience."

Of particular note is emphasis on cultural awareness in the introductory section.  "Metadata creators must possess awareness of their own historical, cultural, racial, gendered, and religious worldviews ... Understanding inherent bias in metadata standards is considered a core competency for all metadata work."

Full text of the competencies document is available via ALA's institutional repository. Slides from the presentation at ALA Midwinter are also available.