Evolving practices and professional identity: How the new ways we work can reshape us as professionals and a profession

Abstract

Professional identities provide a lens through which to understand ourselves and our professional community. Individual practitioners may find that shifts in their own professional identities lead them to redefine their profession and those moving into new types of roles or engaging in new tasks may strive to alter the direction of the profession at large. This paper’s first objective is to provide insights into how professional identity development occurs and how the emergence of a new or unusual take on the library and information science profession based on professional experiences working in non-traditional roles can be seen as both an opportunity and a threat to the library and information science profession, using the experience of library and information science graduates working in non-library roles as a lens. The second objective is to translate the experiences of library and information science graduates working in non-traditional roles into recommendations for promoting diversity in the definition of the profession.

An integrated understanding of librarian professional identity

“…Thus, the more time spent within the experience of practice provides depth to professional identity and acting to solidify aspects perceived to be fundamental (Bossaller et al , 2017; Croxton, 2015; Sare and Bales, 2014). An individual develops an increasingly personalized professional identity over the course of their career (Fraser-Arnott, 2017b; Fraser-Arnott, 2018). This is further complicated when considering change of social climate over time and its impact on the expression of identity from early to late career (Schneider, 2017).…”

“…Furthermore, the more time spent within a profession implies a greater potential for encountering changes in tools used (Hicks, 2014c) and professional expectation (Austin and Bhandol, 2013). As professional identity becomes increasingly personalized over time, tension can result if the identity is no longer perceived to align well with the profession (Fraser-Arnott, 2017b; Fraser-Arnott, 2018). However, prolonged exposure to persistent professional change can also condition practitioners to become accustomed to and participate in it (Sare and Bales, 2014).…”

“…This duality is juxtaposed against a tendency to link professional identity to the library-as-place. This tendency is a phenomenon within librarianship (Fraser-Arnott, 2017a; Fraser-Arnott, 2018; Hicks, 2016b), though it is not universal (Greyson et al , 2013; Mon, 2012). Library school graduates working outside library roles have been known to adjust their outward identification according to how they would be perceived, indicating the profession is largely still perceived as being practiced within the physical library (Fraser-Arnott, 2017a).…”

“…Those who leave librarianship do not necessarily cease identifying as a librarian, suggesting that the developed identity is transferable to some extent (Fraser-Arnott, 2016; Fraser-Arnott, 2017a; Fraser-Arnott, 2018; Marshall et al , 2009; Mon, 2012). There are a variety of manifestations of this transferability, however.…”

Information science identity: Students' perspective

“…First, identity can be understood as either an individual or collective-level consideration, for the development and establishment of an identity not only depends on shared understanding among the community, but also depends on individuals' experience and interpretation (Browne, Wall, Batt, & Bennett, 2018;Hackney et al, 2018;Matthews, Banerjee, & Lauermann, 2014). Many existing identity discussions in the field of library science look at how librarians achieve individual development, including specific skills (Fraser-Arnott, 2019;Hussey & Campbell-Meier, 2016). In comparison, discussions focused on information science refer to the field as a general community rather than specifying any individual discussions (Buckland, 2012;Burnett & Bonnici, 2013;Dillon, 2012;Marchionini, 2008).…”