Tzoc & Millard (2011) analyzed which skills prospective employers of digital librarians seek and how well those skills correspond with those taught in LIS programs. Asher, Duke, & Wilson (2013) analyzed how--and how successfully--undergraduate students at two schools find information resources using any of several platforms. While neither article is a comprehensive overview of librarianship in the digital age, both reveal a lot.
Tzoc & Millard (2011) found that the job descriptions they examined called for what I would call a reasonable degree of technological competence. Just 3 of the 12 categories represented skills that a majority of employers called for, and those 3 are elementary. The categories that require more abstruse or specific knowledge, such as Digital Conversion and Programming - Java, C++, represent skills called on by a notable minority of employers. The implication is clear, and refreshing: successful digital librarians need not be good at everything--not even as much as LIS programs require competence in (p. 13)--just the basics of their field.
Asher, Duke, & Wilson (2013) analyzed an interesting development in library technology: such "discovery tools" as Summon and Google Scholar are "help[ing] to diminish the 'cognitive load' on students" (p. 476) who are called on to research academic topics in an appropriately rigorous way. "Cognitive load" is no overstatement, judging from the remarks of the authors' interviewees: by and large they don't seem to know what a scholarly source is, or why using them instead of nonscholarly sources is appropriate, nor does curiosity drive them to look beyond the first page of the first database they try. They can find the required number of articles: the most basic of basics of writing a scholarly paper.
The upshot from both articles, then, is that working with information is difficult. Mastery of any given set of skills in this arena is, on the evidence, a lot to expect.
References
Asher, A. D., Duke, L. M., & Wilson, S. (2013). Paths of discovery: Comparing the search effectiveness of EBSCO Discovery Service, Summon, Google Scholar, and conventional library resources. College & Research Libraries, 74, 464-488.
Tzoc, E., & Millard, J. (2011). Technical skills for new digital librarians. Library Hi Tech News, 28(8), 11-15.
