Competencies Required for Digital Curation: An Analysis of Job Advertisements

With digital curation’s increasingly important role in the fast-paced and data-intensive information environment, there is a need to identify a set of competencies for professionals in this growing field. As part of a curriculum development project funded by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, a total of 173 job advertisements posted between October 2011 and April 2012 were collected from various sources to take into account varying types of professionals in the field of digital curation across North America. Position title, institution types and location, educational background, experience, knowledge and skills, and duties were examined and analyzed. The results of the analysis show that digital curation jobs are characterized by a complex interplay of various skills and knowledge. The findings of this study present emerging requirements for a qualified workforce in the field of digital curation. International Journal of Digital Curation (2013), 8(1), 66–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.2218/ijdc.v8i1.242 The International Journal of Digital Curation is an international journal committed to scholarly excellence and dedicated to the advancement of digital curation across a wide range of sectors. The IJDC is published by UKOLN at the University of Bath and is a publication of the Digital Curation Centre. ISSN: 1746-8256. URL: http://www.ijdc.net/ doi:10.2218/ijdc.v8i1.242 Kim, Warga and Moen 67