• The Healthcare Worker's "Secret Weapon": Exploring the Professional Identity of Health Librarians in England

    Author(s):
    Janan Nuri (see profile)
    Date:
    2022
    Group(s):
    CityLIS
    Subject(s):
    Library science, Information science
    Item Type:
    Dissertation
    Institution:
    City, University of London
    Tag(s):
    Librarian Professional Identity, Health Librarian, Stereotypes, Neutrality, MLIS, Health Libraries, Professional Identity, Healthcare Libraries, Librarianship, Library and information science
    Permanent URL:
    https://doi.org/10.17613/fd26-r957
    Abstract:
    The aims of this project were to explore the professional identity of health librarians utilising aspects of the Librarian Professional Identity Continuum (LPIC) created by Pierson et al. (2019). This created a way of understanding professional identity considering four different Identity Anchors that make up an individual librarian’s sense of professional identity. This project set out to explore whether there is a shared professional identity, whether the LPIC model is an effective tool in comprehending professional identity in general and whether the Identity Anchors from the model could be applied in a successful way to understanding health librarians. A mixed methods approach, using an explanatory sequential design, was utilised for this project, starting with a questionnaire before follow-up interviews with some of the questionnaire respondents. The questionnaire findings are based on 75 responses, and nine participants were interviewed. All participants in this research project were health librarians based in England. The findings of this study show that participants felt being a health librarian is meaningful work that adds to the healthcare profession, and to a higher purpose in society. The results also suggest that for participants, excellent customer service is important, as well as having a good awareness of library users and their needs. The variety and role diversity within participants’ day-to-day activities was another emergent theme. The study also reveals that the LPIC’s Identity Anchors provided a valuable lens through which to understand professional identity. The study concludes that future research could be done in different subsectors of libraries using the Identity Anchors of the LPIC model. There is also scope for further research exploring the relationship with CILIP and the librarianship population to identify improvements to help strengthen the wider profession of librarianship.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    1 year ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
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