In 2020, IFLA published The Competency Guidelines for Rare Books and Special Collections Professionals.  The RBSC Committee created this set of guidelines to describe the education, experience, and skill sets needed or expected of those professionals involved with the acquisition, preservation, research and instruction of rare and unique materials in special collections and archives in libraries or other organizations.  Since its publication, the guidelines have been translated into five languages including Arabic, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, and Mandarin and all are available in PDF format on IFLA’s Resource webpage.  Translations in French, German, Italian, and Russian are in progress.

For additional information, another valuable reference source is: Ambassadors of the book: competences and training for heritage librarians by Raphaële Mouren (Ed.). Series: IFLA Publications Series 160. Publisher: Berlin/Munich: De Gruyter Saur, 2012.