Information professionals' soft skills status and barriers in its development: a mixed method study

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the self-perceptions of university information professionals about the current state of their soft skills and to highlight the barriers faced in the development of such skills.Design/methodology/approachA sequential mixed method research design using a questionnaire followed by in-depth interviews as data collection tools were used to achieve the objectives of the study. Self-completion questionnaires were used to collect the data from 560 respondents spread over 33 universities of Pakistan. Then, 21 interviews were conducted with purposely selected library and information professionals at the qualitative phase.FindingsThe findings of the survey revealed that the majority of the information professionals perceived themselves “moderately competent” in soft skills. Only 14.8% information professionals considered themselves “competent”. The qualitative findings revealed that university library and information professionals generally faced several barriers in the development of their soft skills that included “lack of administrative support”, “lack of personal commitment”, “lack of financial support by the parent organizations”, and so many others, which might have affected their current levels of soft skills.Research limitations/implicationsThe possible limitation of this study may be the bias of the respondents, toward their self-judgment. During interviews, most of the assistant librarians were not comfortable and expressive. This might be due to lack of soft skills knowledge, interview anxiety and poor communication skills.Originality/valueThis research is the first study in Pakistan that dealt with the state of soft skills and barriers in its development among university library and information professionals having a large number (N = 372) of respondents.