Librarians as Teachers: A Qualitative Inquiry into Professional Identity

This study explores the development of ???teacher identity??? among academic librarians through a series of semi-structured interviews. Drawing both on the idea of teacher identity from the literature of teacher education and on existing studies of professional stereotypes and professional identity development among academic librarians, this study explores the degree to which academic librarians think of themselves as teachers, the ways in which teaching has become a feature of their professional identity, and the factors that may influence academic librarians to adopt a ???teacher identity??? as part of their personal understandings of their role on campus.published or submitted for publicationis peer reviewe

Basic Research Methods for Librarians – 4th Edition

Research conducted in the LIS domain has historically received bad press and can often make for some pretty grim reading. Research has been described as “non-cumulative, fragmentary, generally weak and relentlessly oriented to immediate practice” (p.1). Quite simply, research within the LIS discipline is still – relative to other disciplines - quite infantile and has yet to develop the goals, objectives and distinctive methodologies that could be said to characterise sociology, economics or linguistics, for example. Much of this retarded development could be said to lie squarely at the doorstep of academic institutions. As the authors of Basic research methods for librarians note, LIS education at undergraduate and postgraduate levels instils in students the sure foundation of professional training, but often entirely evades the relevance of academic techniques. Few students therefore leave university or college LIS courses having acquired the skills or knowledge necessary to rigorously pursue investigative research or to interpret results within a practitioner environment. Whilst Powell and Connaway are keen to remind us that the quality of recent library research shows improvements with regard to its methodological rigor, sophistication and analysis, there still exists a much needed requirement to raise the bar and to further develop the benchmark against which LIS research is currently measured

Special Libraries, May-June 1930

Volume 21, Issue 5https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_sl_1930/1004/thumbnail.jp

An exploratory survey of reference source instruction in LIS courses

We surveyed 40 reference instructors at 28 North American ALA-accredited programs of library and information studies about instructional methods they used in teaching about reference sources in print and electronic formats. Results indicated that instructors spent more time teaching students about electronic than about print sources. General reference courses included a larger variety of instructional methods for teaching print sources than did subject-specific courses. Commonly-used instructional methods for print sources included instructor-led discussion of the sources and hands-on assignments completed outside of class time. For electronic reference sources, commonly-used instructional methods were instructor-led discussions and modeling searches. The study identified an apparent conflict between instructors’ desires to develop a deeper knowledge of print and electronic sources, and their ability to ensure access to sources, work with technology, and manage changing interfaces. We conclude with three options that LIS practitioners and educators might take to address this conflict.Post-printIncludes bibliographical references

Academic Librarian Research: A Survey of Attitudes, Involvement, and Perceived Capabilities

This article reports on the development and results of a recent survey of academic librarians about their attitudes, involvement, and perceived capabilities using and engaging in primary research. The purpose of the survey was to inform the development of a continuing education program in research design. It updates earlier studies of academic librarian research; with the introduction of a confidence scale, it also contributes new insights regarding how prepared librarians believe themselves to be with regard to conducting research. The authors found that confidence in one’s ability to perform the discrete steps in the research process is a statistically significant predictor of a librarian conducting research and disseminating the results. The analysis of the responses to the confidence scale and other survey questions suggests several paths for future research about academic librarians and their research agendas

Evaluative Criteria for Autoethnographic Research: Who’s to Judge? (Chapter 15)

This chapter is a exploration of autoethnography and shows how entrenched positivist assumptions are in our field. The chapter includes a reflection of the author\u27s own experiences with research and to connect them in ways to my academic library community

Survey Research on Little or no Budget: Practical Tips and Advice for Using the Internet to Conduct Surveys

The Internet is a medium that can be used to streamline the process of conducting survey research and offers advantages over traditional survey mediums like the face-to-face interview, telephone interview, and paper-based survey. Among the advantages are the potential for quick response rates via Web forms or e-mail, as well as monetary savings related to postage, stationary, or long-distance charges. In this article, we will provide practical tips for using the Internet for survey research as well as advice and lessons learned from our experience using the Internet to conduct a large survey project on little or no budget

Useful Divides: Games of Truth in Library and Information Studies Research and Practice

For much of its history, the work of knowing the library has been said to be riven with divides—between academics and practitioners; between theory and practice; between thinking and doing. There is now a sizable literature in library and information studies that seeks to measure, diagnose, and mend these gaps. This paper interrogates this discourse of division in LIS research and practice. We explore its history, the uses to which it is put, by whom, and to what ends. Rather than seek to bridge the divide, we occupy it, as a space of friction, discomfort, and possibility. Drawing on a vast corpus of academic and industry texts that engage with the gap discourse, we approach these as “games of truth,” as systems of knowledge that produce and reinforce certain ways of being. Using this approach, we highlight how the divide sustains power relations between different groups and constitutes specific forms of knowledge (and not others) as useful and relevant. Seeking to challenge the underlying logic of the divide and its effects in the world, we approach these descriptors in a relational, rather than absolute, sense. Through this excavation, we invite a critical praxis that sees usefulness and relevance as not that which is inextricably aligned to instrumentalism, nor the domain of specific social groups. Rather, we suggest that adopting a critical praxis means reorienting use, using knowledge to advance a mode of living differently, of changing the shape of the world, and of asking what can be done in the face of inequality and indifference. With this in mind, we put forward an alternative mode of understanding use in LIS: as a collective resource that we draw upon to challenge inequalities, to understand and repair past wrongs and continued silences, and to challenge the role of libraries and other institutions in constructing and legitimizing broader power divides in society. These, we suggest, are gaps worth challenging. Pre-print first published online 12/15/202

Special Libraries, April 1958

Volume 49, Issue 4https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_sl_1958/1003/thumbnail.jp