Changing roles, changing goals: transferring library technician skills beyond the library

What we are trained to do and what we do are often very different choices. They reflect the range of opportunities available to us at various times throughout our careers and our changing expectations towards job satisfaction. The skills gained through formal and informal education can be applied in many different settings. The challenge is to perceive them in alternative ways. What opportunities are there for library technicians to utilise the library specific and general skills gained through formal training and on-the-job experiences? How do you identify the career opportunities that offer an alternative to the traditional library environment? This study, supported by the Dunn and Wilson Scholarship and ALIA, aimed to: Examine the impact of technology on the workplace employment of library technicians. Assess and clarify the range of skills of library technicians. Identify alternate opportunities for employment to be used as a framework for individual assessment. To meet these aims the study consisted of four elements: Literature review ; Skills analysis to identify broad categories of skills and knowledge ; Survey of job advertisements from key national newspapers to identify possible roles ; Survey of library technicians who had experienced a role change ; Based on the study a framework for skills analysis, adaptable to a broader market was developed. Job advertisements and library technician survey responses are used to provide evidence of the alternative career paths.