Competency statements for librarians are one way of measuring performance against a set standard. The Iowa State University Library established a task force to develop a collection development competencies document for its subject bibliographers. The literature review revealed that while there were many examples of competency documents, little had been written about the process of developing a competencies document. This article details the process used to write the competencies document at Iowa State University. The completed document is a blend of existing standards and local practice that can be adapted to any library.