job descriptions of govt librarians in pakistan

Job Descriptions of Government Librarians in Pakistan: A Review

Miss. Saima QutabMphil Student, DLIS, The Islamia University of BahawalpurLibrarian, Directorate General of Mines & Minerals, Lahore Mrs. Farzana ShafiqueLecturer, DLIS, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur

Contents• Job description • Importance and need of study • Methodology• Objectives of study• Limitations• Quantitative analysis • Basic information • Job duration and age limits• Job titles and scale• Other job requirements

• Qualitative analysis • Findings and conclusion • Recommendation • Stakeholders

Job description

Statement of requirements for any vacant position is job description.

Importance of the study…

Analysis of job advertisement and changing nature of work have been an area of interest for researchers, practitioners, educators and students since 1980’s.

… to find demands of changing information world, a good way is to start from the investigation of job advertisements. Recruitment advertising is how the employment market communicates its needs to individuals (Cullen, 2004) .

Importance of the study…Some important reasons and benefits of job ad analysis are:

•growth of the librarians positions over time, •the nature of the job market, and predictions of employment trends•changes in a profession & employment conditions•useful guide for library student to pursue in specific careers within librarianship •library school faculty for curriculum up gradation•attracting students to library profession •to determine the jurisdiction of required expertise•the nature of library job relationships with certain outside bodies (parent organization etc.)

Objectives of study1. What type of requirements i.e. qualification,

experience, skills are mentioned in job advertisements? Are these specifications made clear to identify nature of the job?

2. Which type of knowledge (LIS and other), interpersonal, behavioral and other competencies/traits are listed in Govt. sector job advertisements?

3. Are institutional types shaping the nature of the library positions and statues?

4. To assess the present situation of job market i.e. academic, special, public sector librarianship.

Methodology• Manipulation is used; Quantitative and qualitative

research methods.

• Job ads advertised within the period of three years (from 1st August 2007 to 31th August 2010)

• Types of Govt. libraries (academic, public & special) • Total 212 Job advertisements qualified on the

criteria set for the study. Data were collected in the first three weeks of September, 2010.

•8 interviews conducted

Limitations

• Geographically job posted in entire Pakistan were added yet only newspapers published from Lahore were scanned.

• Job ads with title of assistant librarian and above are added in study.

• Interviews are conducted in Lahore and Bahawaplur.

Data collection The sources of data collection were

LIS list-serves •PAKLAG •Lisjobs

Blogs: •Jobs library and information science•LIS jobs blog

News papers: •The Dawn and The Nations (English) •The Jang and the Nawa-i-waqat (Urdu)

Basic informationSource of information

100 (47%) = Newspapers (Urdu)27 (13%) = Newspapers (English)85(40%) = Listserve/ Blogs

Durations of job ads appearance 1st August-2007 to 31st July 2008 = 51 (24%)1st August-2008 to 31st July 2009 = 64 (30%) 1st August-2009 to 31st August 2010 = 97 (46%)

Library typeAcademic = 138(65%)Special = 72 (34%)Public = 1 (0.5)

Cities and number of ads during 3 years’ time spanCities and number of ads during 3 years’ time span

Islamabad 57 Lahore 45

Karachi 21 Peshawar 9

Rawalpindi & Sargodha 7 each Faisalabad & Gujrat 5 each

Khairpur & Bahawalpur 4 each Sahiwal, Mardan & Hyderabad 3 each

Sukkar, Gujranawala, Taxila, DI Khan and AJK 2 each

Jhelum, Jamshoro, Hafizabad, Gilgat, Dera Ghazi Khan, Darya Khan, Chichawatni, Chakwal, Bannu, Bakhar, Bahawalnagar, Attock, Kamalia, Kohat, Kotali, Larkana, Malakand, Multan, Nawabshah, Pano Aqil, Quetta, Rahim Yar Khan, Sheikhpura, Swabi ,Tando Muhamma Khan and Tarbela

1 each

Job duration and age limitsJob duration

•16 (8%) ads mentioned the statues as permanent; •25(12%) as contract; •171(81%) did not mention.

Information about pay package •27(13%) ads provide information about package; •185(87%) did not mention.

Age limit •mentioned in 146(69%) jobs ads

Job TitlesThe job titles appearing in job ads varies over span of time from traditional to emerging titles also define the nature of the job responsibilities required against them and illustrates there complexity (Khurshid 2003; Croneis and Henderson, 2002)

Librarian = (89, 42%) ads;

Assistant librarian = (66, 31%) ads;

Cataloger/classifier = (10, 5%) ads;

Deputy librarian = (8, 4%) ads;

Senior librarian = (8, 4%) ads and

Chief librarian = (6, 3%) ads.

Job Title

Job ScaleBasic pay scale (BPS) is used in all provinces of Pakistan yet some different scales are used in federal area of Islamabad.

BPS-17 = 48(23%) ads;

BPS-16 = 39(18%) ads;

BPS-11 = 15(7%) ads;

BPS-18 = 14(7%) ads;

BPS-19 = 13(6%) ads and

BPS-20 = 1(0.5%) ads.

Other Job Requirements

•Qualification•Experience•Skills•Behavioral traits•Communication skills

QualificationEducational requirement description is the primary information in any job ad.

Diploma & B.A= 52 (25%)MLIS = 148 (70%)PhD = 6 (3%)Other degrees = 1(0.5%)Not mentioned= 2(1%)

Experience Experience statement in job description is second important thing. Its is customary to state only the duration of the experience instead of nature of the experience.

1-3 years = 85 (40%) ads4-6 years = 46 (22%) ads7-9 years = 14 (7%) ads10 and above = 9 (4%) adsNot mentioned = 58 (27) ads

Skills Computer skills

Mentioned = 67 (32%)Not mentioned = 145 (68%)

Library related skills Mentioned = 57 (27%)Not mentioned = 155 (73%)

Personality & communication skills

Behavioral traits Mentioned = 4 (2%)Not mentioned = 208(98%)

Communication skillsMentioned = 19(9 %)Not mentioned = 193 (91%)

Job responsibilities

Mentioned = 11 (5%)Not mentioned = 201 (95%)

Interview Survey

•Satisfaction with the contents of the job ads;

•Importance of effective job ad;

•Responsible agencies for job ad and involvement of library staff

•Reasons of lack of uniformity in Govt. sector job scales and titles

•Recommended contents for more reflective job ads

Findings• There is no job description provided for/by Govt. sector

library jobs.

• Basic qualification requirement is MLIS with experience of 2/3 years or sometimes without experience.

• Qualification remains the same in most cases, while only experience requirement increases for top management jobs.

• Both job titles and scales are the only source to identify the statues and nature of job responsibilities as these are rarely mentioned in job ads.

Findings…• There is high dissimilarities in job titles and scales

against them.

• It is also discovered that dissimilarities in position titles and statues are somehow subjective to institution type or size and because of head of that institution.

• The academic libraries (College and University libraries) offer better job scales and packages.

Findings…

• The results show weaknesses in govt. ads i.e.

• lack of uniformity in job titles; • statues and requirements details; • qualification regulation regarding the job title; • skill requirements and nature of experience

statements.

Conclusions

General job requirements neither motivate existing librarians for skill enhancement through continuing professional education nor provide assistance to LIS schools for curriculum improvement nor attract bright students to LIS education.

There is intensive need of revising the job ad descriptions to improve the quality of selection.

Recommendation • Government hiring agencies such as head of

departments and librarians needed to collaborate more to play their active role in revising the job descriptions before advertising any job in LIS sector;

• A uniform pattern in LIS should also be adopted in terms of needed competencies and scales or other benefits offered;

Recommendation• Standard descriptions for library job requirements

should be developed with the help of national and international experts. These descriptions should also be made publicly available for the guidance of library schools and young professionals;

• The standard job descriptions devised by the panel of experts should be strictly observed at the time of selection. This will not only standardize the govt. jobs in terms of scales and competencies required but will also improve the quality of library services in Government sector institutes.

Stakeholders

• National Library of Pakistan• Pakistan Library Association • HQ and Provincial branches • Directorate of libraries• LIS schools• Individual librarians

Thanks for attention!

Mrs. Farzana Shafique:alakhdarem2001@yahoo.com

Saima Qutab: saima_qutab@yahoo.com