CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION      BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

The advent of computers and its associated technologies in the 21st century have gone a long way to affect all aspects of the existence of man. The pace at which technology has been deployed has led to massive changes in the traditional ways of doing things.

In academia and other fields as well, the nature of conducting research have also changed drastically as the use of technology has been employed. Auckland (2012) opines that, not only has research environments become very competitive, but much higher quantities of data are being generated than previously. Auckland (2012) further stipulates that as research evolves, so must research support. This according to Sanjeeva and Powdwal (2018:1) is due to the fact that digital technologies have thrown up a “plethora of novel options for communicating and establishing scholarship”. Sanjeeva and Powdwal (2018) further stated that, along the enormous options that technology provide comes the challenge of researchers to cope with the rapid pace  of these changes.

The term ‘scholarly communication’ has been defined in various ways. A single definition of the term has therefore become very difficult (Mukherjee, 2009). According to Rowland, Nichols and Huntington (2004), the term is most often than not, explained to include only literature which have been peer-reviewed and published upon completion of a research. Borgman (2000) offers a very simple definition of the term. He states that scholarly communication refers to “the study of how scholars in any field use and disseminate information through formal and informal channels”. According to the Association of Research Libraries (2014), scholarly communication

“is the system through which research and other scholarly writings are created, evaluated for quality, disseminated to the scholarly community and preserved for future use”. UNESCO (2015:6), also defines scholarly communication as “the process of sharing, disseminating and publishing research findings of academics and researchers so that the generated academic contents are made available to the global academic communities”.

Libraries play a very important role in the research process and as a result, provide proactive solutions to changing trends in the field. In the case of academic and research libraries it has even become imperative for developing trends to be given optimum priority so that appropriate responses can be given to them (Sanjeeva and Powdwal, 2018). These developments have become very important as user needs and expectations continue to grow.

According to Christensen – Dalsgaard, Grim, Berg, Hortsmann, Jansen, Pollard, Roos (2012), for academic libraries to ensure that they continue to stay relevant, rigorous attempts must be made at diversifying into what they term as ‘dedicated research support’. Schmidt, Kutchma, Calarco, Shearer (2016) subsequently opine that there is an urgent need for a new type of workforce. They continue to add that competencies and skills of emerging staff must therefore be put under intense scrutiny in order to ensure that they measure up to the standards required to adequately serve the information needs of various academic libraries.

The term competency has been defined by various authorities in different ways. The European e- Competence Framework (2014), defines competence as a “demonstrated ability to apply knowledge, skills, and attitudes to achieve observable results”. Per this definition, it will suffice to say that skills are embedded in competencies. Whiles skills are precise abilities, competencies are rather holistic. According to Okoye (2013), the skills, understanding, knowledge and

attitudes which enable a person to effectively perform a task are considered competencies. UNICEF (2018), define competencies “as a package of behaviors that is necessary to deliver the benchmark outcomes”. Simply put, competency is the ability to proficiently and effectively accomplish a task

Acquisition of digital skills by librarians have therefore become imperative in the quest for development of scholarly communication. Digital skills have been defined differently by different authors. Trepanier (2012), defined it as a person’s ability to use computer hardware and software as well as other digital information systems to appropriately apply security measures and safeguard digital information. Chinien and Boutin (2011), also associate digital skills with a person’s ability to employ digital tools and also work in a computerized environment.

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