Guest post by
Mary Delaney, Claire McAvinia & Jane Secker
In March 2016 as part of the LILAC conference in University College Dublin (March 21st – 23rd) a symposium
was held titled “Librarians as Doctoral Researchers, opportunities and
challenges when practicing librarians become researchers” http://bit.ly/2b383sE
This event
was really well attended and generated significant discussion among librarians
from around the world about the opportunities and challenges faced when
pursuing research opportunities.
The session
had contributions from people pursing PhD research, people considering pursuing
PhD research, and others who pursued different forms of research activity. Many benefits were raised such as opportunities
for collaborating with colleagues from outside of libraries such as Teaching
and Learning Centres, linking research to practice and the benefits that this
brings, confidence building, developing interdisciplinary dialogues, taking
ownership of knowledge and experience and researching topics to “understand
gaps” in the field. Furthermore the concept of professional identity was
discussed and the value of broadening and raising our profile by pursuing
research activities so that in addition to seeing librarians as those who
support research, they are also recognised as researchers in their own right.
However,
there was also extensive discussion about the challenges associated with moving
beyond our more “traditional” roles. These include developing skills to pursue
funding opportunities, finding the time to pursue research alongside the day
job and gaining workplace support to pursue research activities. Interestingly,
some of these challenges had close parallels with those met by colleagues in
academic development and staff training whose roles have evolved over time and
who have pursued doctoral qualifications and research.
At LILAC a
Google Group was set up and people at the symposium were invited to join the
group to continue the discussion. A
number joined and we continue to welcome new members. Find us at doctorlibrarians!
We are now
following up for the next phase. What is the next step for the profession? What
more can we do to enhance this debate? While there are excellent resources in
place such as this very blog what else might help? How can we further develop
our Google Group? How can we build on existing good work? Would a seminar
raising some of these issues help? Would further training days or seminars
organised by LAI or CONUL or
CILIP or AISHE benefit this emerging
group? What might that training look like? We want to hear from you!
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