COMPETENCY REQUIREMENTS AND GAPS FOR DIGITAL INFORMATION SERVICE DELIVERY: A CASE STUDY OF THE KENYA NATIONAL LIBRARY SERVICE
Abstract
The Kenya National Library Service (KNLS) has made substantial investments in digital infrastructure and service platforms, but there is still little empirical data on whether personnel competencies meet the requirements of providing digital information services. The competency needs and gaps for providing digital information services at KNLS, Nairobi, were investigated in this study. An embedded mixed-methods case study design with a qualitative predominance was used. 65 KNLS headquarters employees made up the target population: 50 librarians, 6 department heads, and 9 executive leaders. Executives and department heads were chosen using census sampling, whereas librarians were chosen through systematic sampling. Structured questionnaires with open-ended and ordinal items were used to gather the data, and descriptive statistics and structured thematic content analysis were used for analysis. The results indicated that employees gave priority to information retrieval (M = 4.48), digital content management (M = 4.56), and database searching (M = 4.72). However, significant gaps were found in advanced domains, particularly in digital content management (M = 3.36), digital preservation and archiving (M = 2.88), and data analysis and visualization (M = 2.64). Librarians exhibited more deficiencies in advanced technical areas than executive and administrative professionals when gaps were broken down by staff level. With established basic operational competence but inconsistent advanced digital transformation capabilities, KNLS is situated at an intermediate stage of digital maturity. The study comes to the conclusion that providing digital information services effectively necessitates a contextualized combination of advanced and fundamental skills backed by role-aligned development. It recommends that KNLS and similar public library institutions implement differentiated digital competency programs, give data analytics, digital preservation, and content management top priority, and implement ongoing competency evaluation systems.
Keywords: Kenya National Library Service; Professional Knowledge Skill Base; Digital Competencies; Delivery of Digital Information Services; Competency Gaps
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