Locating librarianship’s identity in its historical roots of professional philosophies: towards a radical new identity for librarians of today (and tomorrow):
TL;DR: The authors argued that librarian identity is a contested arena, seemingly caught up in a values-war between traditional principles of "citizenship" and late 20th century's shift to a democracy of consumerists.
Abstract: ‘Librarian identity’ is a contested arena, seemingly caught up in a values-war between traditional principles of ‘citizenship’ and late 20th century’s shift to a democracy of consumerists. New prof...
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80 citations
Journal Article•
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20 citations
Dissertation•
25 Oct 2018
15 citations
01 Mar 2014
TL;DR: This study focuses on the earliest formal LIS program in the U.S. dedicated to curating research data, providing important evidence of data curation responsibilities in the workforce and perceived educational gaps that can guide planning, design, and improvement of dataCuration programs.
Abstract: iSchools have been steadily advancing data curation education and practice in response to workforce demands. This paper reports on a formative evaluation of the Specialization in Data Curation at the University of Illinois, aimed at understanding job preparedness and work experiences of graduates and areas for improvement in data curation education. Survey results are complemented by additional graduate placement analysis. Employment and career satisfaction were high. Internships, practicum, and assistantships were considered key employability factors. Duties emphasize liaison and consulting, user instruction, data management, metadata, and policy development. About half of all placements were in academic libraries, with the second largest group in the corporate sector. This study, focused on the earliest formal LIS program in the U.S. dedicated to curating research data, provides important evidence of data curation responsibilities in the workforce and perceived educational gaps that can guide planning, design, and improvement of data curation programs.
15 citations
Dissertation•
01 Dec 2015
TL;DR: This study suggested ways forward for the future development of the LIS profession by developing a conceptual framework which presents how the multi-faceted professional identities are being shaped by the contextual spheres of influence of: core professional values, organisational culture and wider environments.
Abstract: This study focused on the research question: how do higher education academic librarians in the UK respond to changing environments and expectations whilst maintaining their professional identities within the core philosophical framework and value system? Placing the experiences and conceptions of academic librarians at the heart of the investigation, it aimed to develop a deeper understanding of the changes and challenges identified by practitioners from their perspectives. Following a traditional literature review and a purposeful literature mapping, the multi-layered contexts surrounding academic librarians were established respectively through the presentation of the major themes discussed in existing research on professionalism and the topics including their patterns researched by Library and Information Science (LIS) researchers from a purposive sample of journals. With the data from the literature mapping review being validated through a community consultation with LIS practitioners and compared against the identified trends reviewed by professional body, the triangulation of the themes provided further understanding of the professional landscape. Adopting a qualitative methodology of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), semi-structured interviews were carried out with a purposively selected homogenous sample of three individual academic librarians, for whom the research question was directed at, to acquire their unique experiential accounts. The philosophical underpinnings of phenomenology, hermeneutics and idiography of the IPA approach have illuminated the rich microscopic detail of the narratives. Findings from the single and cross case analysis led to the development of a conceptual framework which presents how the multi-faceted professional identities are being shaped by the contextual spheres of influence of: core professional values, organisational culture and wider environments. Drawing on the knowledge of this understanding and the insight developed from the detailed examination of the wider contexts and the experiences and perspectives of practitioners, this study suggested ways forward for the future development of the LIS profession.
15 citations
References
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Book•
01 Jan 1948
TL;DR: The works of the renowned Dr. Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan - considered the father of library science in India - cover certain facets of library and information science.
Abstract: The works of the renowned Dr. Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan - considered the father of library science in India - cover certain facets of library and information science. These library science classics - reprinted by Ess Ess Publications - make Dr. S.R. Ranganathan's work available to the current generation of librarians. S. R. Ranganathan, considered by librarians all over the world to be the father of modern library science, proposed five laws of library science in the early 1930s. Most librarians worldwide accept them as the foundations of the philosophy of their work and service in the library. These laws are: Books are for use, Every reader his or her book, Every book its reader, Save the time of the reader, and The library is a growing organism. The Five Laws of Library Science are some of the most influential concepts in the field. Since they were published in 1931, these five laws "have remained a centerpiece of professional values..." (Rubin 2004). These basic theories of Library Science continue to directly impact the development of this discipline and the service of all libraries. [From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia]. The book has been reprinted over twenty-five times to meet the demand from libraries, students of library and information science and information professionals. In 2006 when DLIST (University of Arizona) placed a test version of the contents page and first chapter of the first edition of the book on the Internet, there were some 640 downloads in twenty-four hours. The 'five laws' are equally valid in the present digital / information age as they have been in the conventional library environment.
515 citations
"Locating librarianship’s identity i..." refers background in this paper
...Moving into the later period of monasticism (and the following Dissolution), and the founding of the first universities with libraries, a greater tension arises between servicing users and preserving books which revives the (Middle Ages) practice of the chained book, with Streeter dating the ‘Chained Library’ in England to about 1320 (Streeter 2011: 6)....
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...Two such recent examples are the work of Mile High Reference Desk (MHRD) and The Itinerant Poetry Library (TIPL), both self-appointed entities in the library world, set up to fulfill gaps in current services, having identified how to bridge certain gaps relating to the needs of members of the public and information provision in today’s 21st century always-on-the-move, and always digitally advancing, global landscape....
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...This stress on ‘use’ and the ‘utility’ of the book as a form which enables and facilitates communication gains a particular emphasis in librarianship of (relatively) ‘modern’ times, highlighted by librarian scholar, and ‘‘father of library science’’ (Jeevan 2005: 179)2 S. R. Ranganathan, in his seminal work The Five Laws of Library Science (Ranganathan 1957)....
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...‘‘In terms of nomenclature there are mixed opinions regarding the term ‘librarian’’’, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) ‘Defining Our Professional Future’ 2010 report (CILIP 2010)1 found, wherein respondents claimed the term had ‘‘negative or misleading associations amongst the public, and often amongst nonprofessional librarians within the profession’’, the report going on to add, however, that ‘‘most librarians are happy to be called ‘librarians’....
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...Management of Library Associations with the New Professionals Special Interest Group....
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Book•
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01 Jan 1996
TL;DR: The authors argues that it is the demands and expectations of the reader, acting alongside the creative will of the writer, that is the evolutionary motor of literary forms and genres, from man's first use of the written word simply as a form of reference, to the emergence of the first holy or devotional texts, and onto the development of fictions, both poetic and novelistic, aiming to both challenge and enlighten.
Abstract: This study of the history of reading goes from the earliest examples of the clay tablets and cuneiform of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt via the invention of printing in the 15th century to the birth of a mass reading public and today's digital revolution. It argues that it is the demands and expectations of the reader, acting alongside the creative will of the writer, that is the evolutionary motor of literary forms and genres. From man's first use of the written word simply as a form of reference, to the emergence of the first holy or devotional texts, and onto the development of fictions, both poetic and novelistic, this work aims to both challenge and enlighten.
480 citations
Book•
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03 Apr 2004
TL;DR: The author assesses the future, in which it is likely that read communication will soon exceed oral communication through the use of the personal computer and the internet, and looks at 'visual language' and modern theories of how reading is processed in the human brain.
Abstract: Steven Roger Fischer's fascinating book traces the complete story of reading from the time when symbol first became sign through to the electronic texts of the present day. Describing ancient forms of reading and the various modes that were necessary to read different writing systems and scripts, Fischer turns to Asia and the Americas and discusses the forms and developments of completely divergent dimensions of reading. With the Middle Ages in Europe and the Middle East, innovative re-inventions of reading emerged - silent and liturgical reading; the custom of lectors; reading's focus in general education - whereupon printing transformed society's entire attitude to reading. Fischer charts the explosion of the book trade in this era, its increased audience and radically changed subject-matter; describes the emergence of broadsheets, newspapers and public readings; and traces the effect of new font designs on general legibility. Fischer discusses society's dedication to public literacy in the sweeping educational reforms of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and notes the appearance of free libraries, gender differences in reading matter, public advertising and the 'forbidden' lists of Church, State and the unemancipated. Finally, he assesses the future, in which it is likely that read communication will soon exceed oral communication through the use of the personal computer and the internet, and looks at 'visual language' and modern theories of how reading is processed in the human brain. Asking how the New Reader can reshape reading's future, he suggests a radical new definition of what reading could be.
203 citations
"Locating librarianship’s identity i..." refers background in this paper
...…that ‘‘[p]erhaps the earliest example of subject cataloguing in medieval Europe is that of the library of Le Puy Cathedral in the eleventh century’’ (Manguel 1996: 193), while Hessel points to the ‘‘wandering and spread of manuscripts from monastery to monastery, first from South to North, then…...
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Book•
04 Apr 2011
TL;DR: The Atlas of New Librarianship recasts librarianhip and library practice using the fundamental concept that knowledge is created though conversation, and suggests a new mission for librarians: to improve society through facilitating knowledge creation in their communities.
Abstract: Libraries have existed for millennia, but today the library field is searching for solid footing in an increasingly fragmented (and increasingly digital) information environment. What is librarianship when it is unmoored from cataloging, books, buildings, and committees? In The Atlas of New Librarianship, R. David Lankes offers a guide to this new landscape for practitioners. He describes a new librarianship based not on books and artifacts but on knowledge and learning; and he suggests a new mission for librarians: to improve society through facilitating knowledge creation in their communities.
The vision for a new librarianship must go beyond finding library-related uses for information technology and the Internet; it must provide a durable foundation for the field. Lankes recasts librarianship and library practice using the fundamental concept that knowledge is created though conversation. New librarians approach their work as facilitators of conversation; they seek to enrich, capture, store, and disseminate the conversations of their communities.
To help librarians navigate this new terrain, Lankes offers a map, a visual representation of the field that can guide explorations of it; more than 140 Agreements, statements about librarianship that range from relevant theories to examples of practice; and Threads, arrangements of Agreements to explain key ideas, covering such topics as conceptual foundations and skills and . Agreement Supplements at the end of the book offer expanded discussions. Although it touches on theory as well as practice, theAtlas is meant to be a tool: textbook, conversation guide, platform for social networking, and call to action.
153 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1972
129 citations
"Locating librarianship’s identity i..." refers background in this paper
...Shera has also described, akin to Broadfield, the primary role of the librarian as being ‘‘a missionary of the human mind’’ (Shera 1972: 247) and it is worth looking to the definition of Curtis Wright, which maps here to Shera’s theory-of-human-mind description, as Curtis Wright states that…...
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...…to serve, must be well educated, professionally competent, and highly qualified to play an important part in the communication process of today’s world’’ (Shera 1972: 108), can be seen to similarly place an emphasis on the documentalist’s approach to the field – an approach which he and Otlet…...
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