Agnese Pašāne

Head of Competence Development Center, National Library of Latvia

Agnese Pašāne, for the past 5 years, has been the Head of the Competence Development Center of the National Library of Latvia. NLL is an accredited education institution that carries out adult education, both vocational and non-formal, for library specialists. Thus, the work includes both coordinating the learning process and organizing professional development opportunities for their teachers, but also developing new educational programs and materials, administering projects, and teaching others. Previous work experience has been in lecturing and research at the Latvian Academy of Culture.

“Professional” librarian in Latvia: Qualification, Education and Competence Development

In 2024, in Latvia, there were around 3000 library workers. For this relatively small number of people, the education system in library science is quite advanced and multi-layered, including higher education level as well as the opportunity to gain two professions. The latter pertains to the National Library of Latvia (NLL), which is not only a methodological center for libraries in Latvia, but also an accredited educational institution. Thus, NLL provides a vast range of professional development opportunities, including formal education. NLL carries out a continuing vocational education program for the profession of “librarian”. This education program is consequently based on professional standards. NLL also provides professional development education programs and numerous non-formal educational programs (courses), both regarding professional and basic universal competences. Additionally, NLL has done a library worker survey in 2021 and 2024, asking librarians to rate their competencies and skillfulness regarding tasks mentioned in the professional standard. This can help us answer the question: What is a professional librarian in today’s world? This presentation will talk about the work of NLL regarding the improvement of the competencies of standing and becoming librarians in Latvia, as well as give an insight into how regional libraries train librarians themselves.

Date and time: 2025-12-03, 10:10-10:30 (20 min)

Hall: GAMMA