2,648 research outputs found
Ethnographic Study of Information Literacy Librarians’ Work Experience: A Report from Two States
This chapter reports on an ethnographic study of the experiences, practices and feelings of academic librarians who teach information literacy. Based on in-depth interviews with nine librarians who have information literacy responsibilities – five in West Virginia and four in Colorado – it examines the real-life work of practitioners in a wide variety of instructional environments. The research considers participants’ preparation for their instructional role, ambiguity about the concept of information literacy, instructional challenges and professional practices. The authentic voices of instructional librarians provide insights into the roadblocks they face, success they experience and their expectations for the future
Division of Labour and Job Specialization as Catalysts for Better Job Performance among the Staff of a Nigerian University Library
This study brought into fore some salient discoveries about the strength and weaknesses of division of labour and job specialization on the overall job performance of the staff of a Nigerian university library. A descriptive survey method was adopted to elicit information from the respondents. A questionnaire was designed with 30 structured questions including the demography of the respondents. Fifty (50) copies of questionnaires were distributed among the library staff of Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta and forty five (45) were returned. Forty two (42) out of these were found usable. This study finds that majority of respondents agree that job specialization makes their work easier and faster, enhances their job performance and they are fully satisfied with their present area of specialization, while a sizable number were dissatisfied because their training does not correspond with their present posting. The study also finds that library and information centres still cannot do without division of labour and job specialization even with the emergence of ICT infusion into library and information services provision. The respondents also preferred the present division of labour although a paltry number disagreed. Recommendations were made based on the findings of the study and conclusions drawn
Rarely acknowledged and often unrecognized: Exploring emotional labor across library work tasks
In the seminal work on emotional labor (EL), Arlie Hochschild (1983, 2012) defines EL as “the management of feeling to create a publicly observable facial and bodily display.” EL is “sold for a wage” (Hochschild, 2012). To date, there have been a few studies on emotional labor in librarianship. Julien and Genuis (2009) found EL to have a central place in the experiences of instructional librarians. Shuler and Morgan (2013) interviewed reference librarians, finding they are expected to perform EL yet are not formally trained to do so. Matteson and Miller (2013) surveyed librarians nationwide, with statistical analysis confirming EL present in librarianship. Matteson et al. (2015) asked MLIS holders to reflect via diary entries on performed EL. The results of these studies have clearly demonstrated EL as a part of librarianship.
To further advance the study of EL in librarianship, our work offers a quantitative perspective on EL across different types of library labor. We used a nationwide survey, recording types of library work performed, EL labor relative to task performed, with a section for open-ended comments. We sought to include all library workers, with a shorter questionnaire that still covers the established components of EL, such as hiding negative emotion. We will discuss how EL happens across the librarianship, with specific attention to differences to EL amongst various library tasks and between academic and public libraries based on the results of the survey, and implications for future studies
Teaching and its discontents
Teaching is a core role for librarians in academic contexts, although most librarians are not formally prepared to teach and encounter significant challenges in the role, including complex relationships with campus colleagues. The purpose of this research was to explore how community college librarians, an understudied population, understand their teaching role. Online interviews lasting fifteen to seventy-four minutes were conducted with thirty community college librarians who provide information literacy (IL) instruction. Participants were recruited by direct email invitation and were asked questions relating to their instructional practices. Interview transcripts were analysed qualitatively, with a specific focus on participants’ experiences of the teaching role. Participants reported positive relationships with students, and significant challenges in their relationships with disciplinary faculty and administrators. Their lack of formal preparation for the teaching role led to infrequent and informal assessment and evaluation practices. Pre-service education for the teaching role could be strengthened to provide librarians with the skill set and confidence to provide more effective instruction. Instructional quality is critical as the importance of IL is increasingly recognized as key to academic, workplace, and personal success
Relegating expertise: The outward and inward positioning of librarians in information literacy education
Previous research has demonstrated that discourses of information literacy and learners constrain and enable the practice of information literacy within higher education (Authors, 2020). This paper uses discourse analysis method to identify how information literacy discourses construct and position teaching librarians within higher education. Texts analysed include 4 recent English-language models of information literacy and 16 textbooks. Analysis suggests the existence of two distinct narratives related to the role, expertise and professional practice of teaching librarians. In the outward-facing narrative librarian work is typically absent from guidelines for practice. In contrast, book introductions, which constitute the inward-facing narrative, centre professional librarians yet simultaneously position them as incompetent, or as lacking the skills and understandings that they need to be effective in this setting. These narratives constitute a form of othering that threatens professional practice at a time when the professionalisation of librarianship is being drawn into question. This paper represents the second in a research programme that interrogates the epistemological premises and discourses of information literacy within higher education
Academic Librarians and the Space/Time of Information Literacy, the Neoliberal University, and the Global Knowledge Economy
This qualitative research study explores how academic librarians working in Canadian public research-intensive universities experience the space/time of information literacy, the neoliberal university, and the knowledge economy. Information literacy lies at the intersection of higher education and the knowledge economy: it became a priority for librarians in Anglo-American countries in the 1980s in the context of neoliberal educational reforms intended to better prepare skilled workers for the “information society” (Behrens, 1994; Birdsall, 1994).
The shift from Fordist modes of production to flexible accumulation, characterized by the expansion of capital into new markets, flexible workers, and just-in-time inventories, made possible by new information and communication technologies, occurred around the same time, impacting the relationship between space, time, and work, and intensifying and accelerating our everyday experience of time (Castells, 1996; Harvey, 1989).
Temporal labour in the knowledge economy is gendered, raced, and classed (Sharma, 2014). Time serves a form of social control: some workers’ temporal experiences are normalized whereas others’ are recalibrated (Sharma, 2014). In the workplace, time enables, regulates, and constrains performance, attitudes, and behaviours (Adam, 1998). This study explores how academic librarians, members of a feminized profession (Harris, 1992) and marginal educators on campus, experience the space/time of higher education’s globalizing agenda across their roles and responsibilities. The theoretical framework for this research draws from diverse disciplines and critical perspectives. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with twenty-four librarians. Thematic analysis within a constructionist framework was used to analyze the data. Findings suggest time is a key mechanism through which neoliberal governmentality is enacted in Canadian academic libraries. Just-in-time service models and pedagogical approaches and future-oriented corporate strategies and practices characterized the library’s timescape. Librarians experienced time as accelerated and intensified. Time for scholarship iii was rare. Librarians used multiple technologies of the self in order to regulate and recalibrate themselves. Some engaged in self-censorship in order to comply with corporatized institutional values and priorities. As a result, librarians experienced stress and considerable emotional labour (Hochschild, 1983). This study makes a significant contribution to the existing literature on time in the neoliberal university and the conditions of academic librarians’ work
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