Why Certification?
- You're good at your job - prove it. Certification offers recognition and documentation of your library knowledge and skills. You know that you have personal commitment to library work, becoming certified will let others know about your commitment.
- Get ahead in your current job. Certification can help differentiate you from others through your demonstrated competency and can give you evidence of your worth when you seek promotion or increased compensation.
- Credentials you take from job to job. With lifetime employment a thing of the past, your record of accomplishments must travel with you. Certification is an objective validation of your achievements and will prove your qualifications to potential employers. Some state libraries will recognize the Western Council Certification in lieu of their own certification.
About the Program
The certificate is for library practitioners, defined as library directors or managers without a masters of library and information science (MLS). The certificate requires that the practitioner has completed 162 contact hours in different competency areas and has library experience.
The certificate does not take the place of certificates from individual states or certificates or degrees from colleges or universities. Some state libraries will recognize the Western Council certificate. You can find information about individual state certificates at state libraries websites and more information about the educational requirements for professional librarians at ALA's Education & Careers page.
The program also approves education providers who must meet standards set by Western Council. This approval process assures certificate applicants of high quality educational experiences.
To learn more about the Western Council Library Practitioner Certificate, please look at the power point presentations from the Association of Small and Rural Libraries Conference on September 27, 2007 and the WALE conference on October 6, 2007.
The California Rural Library Initiative recently archived a 40 minute webcast about the The Library Practitioner Certification Program. The Rural Initiative Webcast: The Library Practitioner Certification Program session will be of interest to library workers without a professional degree, who manage a public library or areas within a public library. Librarians who supervise non-MLS library workers with management responsibilities will also be interested in learning more about the certificate program.
Program History
The Western Council of State Libraries (Council) received an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant in 2003 to improve library services by defining the essential skills of library practitioners and increasing and improving training opportunities.
One of grant’s activities was to define competencies for library practitioners and build a certification program on these competencies. The competencies represent a consensus opinion about what is the essential knowledge, skills and ability for public library practitioners. For an up to date list of certificate competencies, please see the certificate application. The certification program began in January 2007. BCR administrates the program with oversight by Council’s Executive Committee.
