Narratives of Academic Librarians: Summary and Analysis

Summary and Analysis

In this narrative, the librarian shares their journey and experiences as an instructional technology librarian through themes of personal curiosity and drive, mentorship, and outreach as the basis for developing their self-identity. In these chapters, they discuss their early career, navigating different roles, embracing technologies, building connections through advocacy and engagement, and reflections on the future. 

In the initial chapter the librarian reflects on not having a clear path or career guidance during their college years, which led to a series of explorations. Their journey wasn’t one of early intention but of serendipity and discovering what sparked their interest. This theme speaks to how the librarian began to come into their identity by chance or through a process of trial and error, without a well-defined plan. The absence of guidance highlights how the initial librarian identity was constructed through organic experiences. The librarian expresses a profound moment of discovery when they first encountered library resources, particularly microfilm archives, which "blew their mind." This is a recurring theme of intellectual curiosity and excitement around research. Their passion for finding and sharing information becomes central to their professional self-image, reflecting a personal connection to the library profession through hands-on experiences. 

Their early job roles and the focus on basic instructional technology such as PowerPoint contributed to their constructed self-identity as a navigator- who helps others make use of educational technology. The librarian also states “"every job you get is because you know somebody" and acknowledges the importance of personal connections and networking, from their classmate who helped them secure their first library job to mentors who guided them along the way. The librarian also notes their move towards greater autonomy as interactions with a previous supervisor as one catalyst. Overall this first chapter was one of growth and yet uncertainty regarding their career, which is not unexpected in self-reflecting on the early part of one's career.

In the second chapter, the librarian reflects on their evolving professional identity as an academic librarian in the context of navigating challenges related to technology and instructional design, as well as evolving workplace interactions and perceptions such as mentoring and growing self-defined work standards. The librarian mentions how they had to self-advocate in order to obtain tools and resources needed to perform their job (e.g., web editing software, a better computer). This reflects the evolving process of self-empowerment and recognizing one's needs to perform as they define their role.

The librarian states “I am always critical, but I mean, I'm not unhappy. I just want to improve and do better.” In this instance the high pressure placed upon oneself demonstrates a perceived need to both improve and succeed. These strong personal expectations are a dominant theme in the development of their workplace identity. They also state that developing strong personal relationships led to mentoring and teaching other librarians. This showed a greater confidence in their role and despite some overwhelming workshops, the librarian learned to “pull in help from everyone else.” However the complex nature of internal confidence and external expectations of the professional librarian is revealed in an instance with one supervisor who stated, “maybe you're not cut out to be an academic librarian” and “expected more output,” to which the librarian still considers later in the career, “I still think I don't do enough.”

In the third chapter, the librarian begins by reflecting on transforming from someone learning on the job to someone who is actively using new knowledge to improve their work. This is in reference to acquiring a new graduate degree and applying that knowledge to the past. The idea of “reverse engineering” past work and improving the work product shows how the librarian integrates past experiences with new pedagogical and technology knowledge to refine both their identity and skills. This theme is again reminiscent of TPACK as seen in the preceding librarian narrative (librarian 3). 

In utilizing instructional technology tools, the librarian explains a growing level of self-reliance in their career. They used available resources and tools, even when they weren’t ideal, and strong adaptability to new technology. This indicates a theme of self-driven, adaptive identity, one that evolves based on practical needs and in the absence of, or eschewing, external structure and direction. The librarian also explains resistance to administrative directives (like having to do publications on their own time) and moving to a new institution and developing personal boundaries within their professional duties. Along with this the librarian mentions balancing individual work and embracing collaboration as a key theme in developing their self-identity. This collaboration was with both colleagues and students and a highlight throughout their career. Similar to previous librarian narratives, the librarian mentions both universal design and accessibility as themes in their self-identity, showing an existing and growing value system which influenced their approach to instructional content creation.

In the next chapter, the librarian addresses the evolving nature of their work identity as defined by others in the institution and as the librarian self-defines. The librarian alternates between embracing the fluid definition of their role as helping others with instructional technology while also seeking other opportunities across the institution and outside the institution. The theme of mentoring as an important element reemerges, as the librarian sought to engage in mentoring as the mentor, instead of the younger mentee earlier in their career.

In the last chapter, the librarian provides an overview and touches upon themes of uncertainty with higher education and reinvention, personal/professional life balance, and late stage career “coasting” at the “pinnacle” of their career. This theme of uncertainty and the need to reinvent or retool is a common factor with educational technology. 

References

Allen, W. C. (2006). Overview and evolution of the ADDIE training system. Advances in developing human resources, 8(4), 430-441.