Identifying as a Librarian: When and If LIS Graduates in Non - Library Roles Use the Title “Librarian”

Abstract

This poster addresses how library andinformation science (LIS) graduates who work in non-library roles label themselves. The LIS community as the profession is undergoing a time of transition. Given the changing nature of the work that is being performed by LIS graduates both inside and outside of libraries, the timing is appropriate to explore how practitioners choose to label themselves as professionals. LIS graduates working in non-library roles where selected as the target population of this study because their work provides them with myriad possibilities for self-labelling. Participants exhibited four response patterns which are described and discussed.

Metaphors and critical incidents: introduction to a methodological approach derived from expressions of librarian professional identity

“…Turning to the analysis of data, previous studies have coded inductively or deductively as an analytical method (e.g., Ahmed, 2012). Some form of content analysis, however, is heavily used to analyse qualitative data (Fraser-Arnott, 2016, 2017a, 2017b, with thematic coding also a feature of such analysis (Hicks, 2014b(Hicks, , 2016Hoffman, 2014).…”

An integrated understanding of librarian professional identity

“…Therefore, a portion of it must be self-claimed (Bak, 2002; Cravey, 1991; Croxton, 2015; Fraser-Arnott, 2016). To do so, however, there must be sufficient impetus which prompts personal belief in and acceptance of the profession, its values, missions, goals, responsibilities, culture, and so on (Bak, 2002; Bossaller et al , 2017; Fraser-Arnott, 2016; Fraser-Arnott, 2017a; Kaatrakoski and Lahikainen, 2016; Marshall et al , 2009; Sare et al , 2012).…”

“…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).…”

“…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). This dynamic indicates that perception influences behaviour and suggests that perception of the position the physical place holds for an identity is key to the role the physical place will have in the expression and understanding of that identity (Greyson et al , 2013; Hicks, 2016b).…”

“…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.…”