How public librarians are developing competencies in local history and genealogy librarianship

Abstract

With increasing popularity of genealogical research and local history interest librarians in public libraries are developing resources and services for public use. The resources that are needed for family history and genealogy research are unique to that field and often the patrons using the resources are conducting research for the first time, hence the need for librarians to have well developed competencies in knowing the resources and in teaching. An exploratory study ascertained the competencies needed for the public librarian, working with a local history collection. This study investigated the training needs and competencies of local history librarians working in Auckland and compared the results to 'experts' in the field in the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Australia