"Det är så himla viktigt kring yrkesidentitet"
En narrativ studie av berättelser om folkbibliotekarien
FolkbibliotekarieYrkesidentitetLivsberättelseNarrativSocialkonstruktionismHumanitiesHumanioraDocumentationInformationLibrary scienceArchivisticsArkiv- och bibliotekskunskapDokumentationSocial Sciences
This Master's thesis aims to investigate librarians' identity construction through the study of their narratives about themselves and their lives. We want to understand in what way the education in Library- and Information science contributes to shape the students professional identity and how these identities then continue to be transformed when they enter their professional lives. We assert that this construction of identity takes place through socialisation. We start with the reference work because we think this is a central part of librarians' tasks. Our theoretical starting point is constructionism, we mean that professional identity is a social construction that continuously is formed and transformed.We interviewed six former students at Library- and Information science at Lund University. All of them are working or have been working at public libraries. The interviews show that the former students could be categorized as either institutional- or function oriented. By institutional oriented we mean a librarian who is connected to the library as an institution and see themselves as librarians. By function oriented we mean that the librarian is independent of the library as an institution and that he or she is open for other work possibilities. Even if they can be categorized as institutional- or function oriented they have things in common that has to do with the education in Library- and Information science. They all think that the education is more or less relevant to their current work. They all think that service for the library users is very important and they have flexibility when they are put into situations that challenge their role as librarians.The former students construct their identities as librarians' against other librarians with qualities they approve or dislike. The former students' constructions of their identities depend upon time and space. In another context, in presenting themselves, their identities probably will have a different construction.