librarians

CONTEXTUAL EXPLANATION
This article was written for a peer-reviewed journal. Owing to personal circumstances and commitments, I was unable to make requested amendments in time for the deadline, and I withdrew my submission. Nonetheless, I’d like to share it, since I don’t foresee myself writing much more on librarianship in future. I present it here in the same shape in which it was originally written, give or take a few tweaks to sentences (and reversion to the first person in a few places).

Abstract

It is fair to note that ‘third space’ has a variety of meanings within librarianship circles, with the liminality of the literal physical library space attracting perhaps more contemporary commentary than the idea of a ‘borderland’ where silos break down and different professions meet.

Nonetheless, although recent writing about third space professionals has focused on individuals with administrative roles in academia, it prompts me to argue that academic librarianship similarly occupies a third space role, and the arguments for valuing and increasing the visibility of third space professionals are equally applicable.

I briefly describe the typical career path of those attaining librarianship qualifications.

There follows a reflective case-study on my own third-space professionalism, having attained librarianship and teaching qualifications, and a mid-career PhD. (I’m posting this article a short while after retiral from the library, as I embark on the next stage of my career.)

Best practice in the context of a third-space career in librarianship is outlined, suggesting that it is arguably just as applicable for achieving success and fulfilment in a third-space role anywhere in higher education.

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Introduction

Whilst authorities such as Emily McIntosh, Diane Nutt and Celia Whitchurch have researched and published various aspects of third-space roles in higher education, the focus appears largely to have been upon more obviously administrative roles such as student success professionals, or what reviewer Agnete Vabø describes as the ‘new administration class’. (Whitchurch and Society for Research into Higher Education, 2012; Vabø, 2013, p.646; McIntosh and Nutt, 2022, p.1)

In discussions within the library community, ‘third space’ or ‘third place’ has been construed more in terms of a physical space where different communities meet, whether students from a variety of backgrounds; or students alongside librarians; or a ‘third space’ rather like a bookshop or coffee-shop – a space that is neither home nor work, where patrons meet with various expectations, and where librarians occupy roles ranging from curatorial, through pedagogical, to something akin to a guide to the resources within. These and other constructions of the concept were extensively explored by American Associate Professor of Library and Information Science, James K. Elmborg, just over a decade ago.(Elmborg, 2011)

In terms of the status of library staff occupying roles somewhere between administrative, professional and academic, discourse amongst American librarians has tended more to focus on what a recent report has referred to as ‘Academic librarian faculty status’, but this is not exactly applicable in the British context, where librarians are seldom described either as ‘faculty’ or ‘tenure-track’. (Wertheimer, 2023) This makes the concept of a professional ‘third space’ particularly appealing The present opinion piece argues that academic librarians have, in a sense, occupied a third-space position for years. I describe the nature of academic librarianship, outlining some of the pleasures and pitfalls of such a career, and addressing some of the misconceptions that students and academic staff sometimes hold about librarians.

Drawing upon personal experience, I posit that individuals occupying more than one role also find themselves in a yet another uniquely ‘third space’ of their own, and I highlight some of the challenges that this raises.

Lastly, I suggest some best-practice pointers towards making such careers as rewarding as they have the potential to be.  I believe this demonstrates the overlap between all the different kinds of career in these hybrid professional roles.

Becoming an Academic Librarian

Whilst educational administration and student success-related work has in recent decades become a largely graduate profession, there has been a professional framework for librarianship for much longer. It may therefore not be immediately obvious that there are significant similarities between library work in higher education, and other third-space professional roles.

In British librarianship today, graduates from other disciplines often take a postgraduate Master’s in Library and Information Science, in much the same way that a graduate aspiring to teaching might now take a Master’s in Education. (Only a few decades ago, a postgraduate diploma was considered sufficient in both librarianship and teaching.)  Indeed, mirroring our transatlantic cousins, an academic librarian might already have a Master’s in their own discipline before pursuing a Master’s in librarianship. Thereafter, there are various routes to becoming a Chartered Librarian, and optionally, in due course, a Fellow of CILIP. (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals website, no date) 

Those occupying library assistant roles are equally likely to have a first degree, but may not necessarily have completed vocational training, unless their ultimate goal is a more advanced professional role. Conversely, some qualified librarians go on to acquire teaching qualifications as well, particularly when involved in library or research skills instruction. Teaching is a particularly relevant competency for librarians, in terms of assisting patrons.

Whilst librarianship in the UK is still a profession in which professional qualification and/or registration is desirable rather than compulsory, there is nonetheless an emphasis on gaining proficiency in a variety of key skills, with CPD encouraged both by librarianship organisations, and employers. Chartered Librarians or Fellows can choose to submit for revalidation after a while, but this is not essential.  (However, both the Charter and the Fellowship do require continued membership of the awarding body, otherwise one may no longer use the postnominals.) 

Subject librarians in academic libraries depend on subject knowledge as much as their professional skills. In-depth understanding of a discipline makes one better able to acquire the right library stock, whilst subject analysis enables one to create a more helpful catalogue to aid future discovery by readers. There’s little point in creating beautiful catalogue entries, if you don’t understand what a student is actually asking for. Having studied a subject to degree or postgraduate level, one can better understand queries and requests from both students and lecturers, but this also opens up opportunities for collaboration with teaching staff, when both parties appreciate the skills that the other brings to the task in hand.

Librarians are very much hybrids in that third space between professional and academic staff. For a start, we not only help students find resources for their assignments, but also advise on how to discern what is an appropriate or acceptable resource to use. That’s a bit more than being a pen-pusher, and indeed, is as key to a student’s ultimate success as the work done by our professional colleagues in student success roles.

Correcting Misconceptions

There are, however, misconceptions about what it takes to be an effective library worker. At times, patrons seem to regard our professionalism as little more than being an efficient office worker. Indeed, serving at an issue or enquiry desk is to some readers clear evidence that one’s main purpose is to stamp and shelve books.  This is untrue for most library workers!  To be dismissed as ‘just a librarian’ does tend to betray this viewpoint. 

‘You’re actually quite bright, aren’t you?’ an undergraduate observed, after a resource had been located for them. (They didn’t know that I’d walked away from doctoral studies to train as a librarian some years earlier. Ruefully, I reflected that an incomplete PhD – a “Ph” without the “D” – was no use at all.)  But, ‘What does a librarian want with a PhD?’, an academic once asked.

When a Librarian embraces Research

Much midnight oil was burned, before eventually – a quarter century later – I had a PhD on a different topic, self- funded and studied for in my ‘spare time’ alongside full-time work and raising a family. The knowledge I’d gained doing the doctorate was directly related to one of the subjects we teach at my place of work.

I followed the PhD by secondment as a Research Assistant to a major AHRC grant, publishing a monograph, taking a PGCert in Teaching in Higher Arts Education, getting an AHRC networking grant in my own right, and more recently being awarded an honorary research fellowship at another institution. Oh, and writing quite a bit more. Moreover, as a hybrid, third-space professional, it turned out I was very well-suited to helping with academic writing and referencing!

Occupying More than one Role: another Take on Hybridity

Whilst librarians certainly provide academic support, hybridity by its very nature can take different forms. Being a librarian with an element of teaching (we call it ‘user education’) is one thing. Being a librarian with an element of research – for twelve years, I was seconded to be a researcher 1.5 days a week – is another. Or try being a postdoctoral fellow at another institution whilst keeping the home-fires burning as a librarian at the same time. It’s not so much occupying one role in a ‘third space’, as occupying multiple roles and finding oneself a hybrid professional as a consequence.

Academics get research leave. I resorted to taking odd half-days of annual leave.

Carving out a Role in the Third Space

Approaching the end of my librarianship career, I inevitably reflected upon successes and failures. With a ‘year-end’ review, one does a similar exercise, but there is more expectation that certain things will be done differently, or better in future, in an effort to become one’s best, most efficient self.  However, I’ve chosen to focus on research, with a new part-time research role since retiring from the library – I’m leaving the third space for other people to make their own.

CARVE

Nonetheless, these observations may be helpful to younger colleagues carving their careers as ‘hybrids’, somewhere between academia and the professional office – in whatever professional capacity. Taken in the following order, the mnemonic ‘CARVE’ seems appropriate:-

Collaboration and networking are by far the best way to experience fulfilment in a hybrid role. McIntosh and Nutt underline that, ‘One way to find a place is through participating in knowledge networks.’  (McIntosh and Nutt, 2022, p.5)  Librarians are fortunate to have a variety of librarianship organisations and interest groups with which to engage, and networking became even more important when I acquired other research-based roles:-

• As an AHRC Research Assistant, I brought research skills, extensive experience in cataloguing music, and my existing engagement with appropriate library networks. Our small team was developing a database of digitised resources, entailing much comparison of sources and amassing critical metadata. (University of Glasgow et al, 2015)
• With my AHRC Networking grant, I established a network of third-space professionals and scholars, as we explored printed music surviving from the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Librarians and scholars met on a level footing. (‘Brio, Special issue: “Claimed from Stationers” Hall’: papers from an AHRC-funded network project’, 2019)
• Before, during and since the pandemic, I devised a project of my own, acquiring more music by women composers and composers of colour, to improve equality, diversity and inclusion for our own library. Here, I was undeniably acting as a librarian, but I found myself networking with composers, museum professionals, librarians in other institutions, and educationalists at conferences, as I outlined what I was trying to achieve. (McAulay, 2023)  Indeed, the research I conducted proved useful in a variety of contexts. I’ve shared my findings with interested students, and proudly attended a Master’s student’s final recital, in which one of the newly-acquired works was performed. In future, there is also going to be a prize for diversity in recital programming – the initial idea was mine, even if I wasn’t in the space where the decisions were made.

Achieving a qualification, publishing something, or completing a project (within the department, or inter- departmentally) merits praise. In any role, there is plenty of mundane slogging, but it’s bearable if third-space achievements are noted and greeted with approval.

Recognition is important, and distinct from visibility (see below). Without recognition, success can be lonely. McIntosh and Nutt cite work by J. Hall arguing that ‘one of the challenges for those working “in-between “ is the lack of recognition and validation for this work.’  McIntosh and Nutt, 2022, p.2 citing (Hall, 2022)  Line managers can signal to other members of the department that achievements are a valuable part of the departmental success story. Without reinforcing this message, there’s the risk of causing resentment that one is pushing too hard against the glass ceiling, an upstart with ambitions above one’s station.  

Visibility is similarly crucial. It is entirely appropriate that a noteworthy achievement  should be disseminated – not just internally, but perhaps also sectorally. This boosts confidence and a sense of both autonomy and authority. Blogging and social media are invaluable, and journals are there for disseminating ideas.

Energy is required, to achieve the exhilaration of a successful third-space career. It can be exhausting, particularly in the effort both to maintain visibility and be an effective self-advocate. If, in a library, there is often a perception amongst patrons, whether staff or students, that librarians simply issue materials, send out overdue notices and catalogue things, then it must be very similar in the registry, faculty support office or IT department. Combatting misconceptions with a smile can be very wearing, but is there a choice?  However, backing from line-managers goes a long way to making the task easier and more fulfilling. Indeed, it’s crucial.

Conclusion

It is important that the concept of the ‘third space’ or ‘hybrid’ professional should be more widely understood by those whose roles are more conventional.  Whether a professional in student success work; the library; or some other academic support role; or indeed, the individual wearing a multiplicity of professional ‘hats’, many workers in higher education support roles are striving to make a difference in a more modern, blended way. With appropriate departmental support, this can only make us more rounded as individuals, confidently offering a wider range of strengths and skills than hithertofore.

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Bibliography

‘Brio, Special issue: “Claimed from Stationers” Hall’: papers from an AHRC-funded network project’ (2019) Brio, 56(2).

Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (no date) CILIP accredited qualifications – CILIP: the library and information association, CILIP: the Library and Information Association. Available at: https://www.cilip.org.uk/page/Qualifications (Accessed: 10 January 2024).

Elmborg, J.K. (2011) ‘Libraries as the Spaces Between Us: Recognizing and Valuing the Third Space’, Reference & User Services Quarterly, 50(4), pp. 338–350.

Hall, J. (2022) ‘Understanding and debating the third space: achieving strategy’, in The impact of the Integrated Practitioner in Higher Education: Studies in Third Space Professionalism, ed. E. McIntosh and D. Nutt. Routledge, pp. 26–32.

McAulay, Karen (2023) ‘Representation of Women Composers in the Whittaker Library’, Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice, 11(1), pp. 21–26. Available at: https://doi.org/10.56433/jpaap.v11i1.533.

McIntosh, E. and Nutt, D. (2022) ‘The Impact of the Integrated Practitioner: Perspectives on Integrated Practice to Enhance Student Success’, Student Success Journal, 13(2). Available at: https://studentsuccessjournal.org/ (Accessed: 18 December 2023).

University of Glasgow, University of Cambridge, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (2015) HMS.Scot: Historical Music of Scotland. Available at: http://hms.scot/ (Accessed: 3 September 2024).

Vabø, A. (2013) ‘Review of In the space between administration and academia. Reconstructing Identities in Higher Education. The Rise of Third Space Professionals’, Higher Education, 66(5), pp. 645–647.

Wertheimer, A. (2023) ‘Review of Academic librarian faculty status: CLIPP # 47 (2022)’, The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion, 7(1/2), pp. 1–3.

Whitchurch, C. and Society for Research into Higher Education. (2012) Reconstructing identities in higher education: the rise of ‘third space’ professionals. 1st ed. New York, NY: Routledge. Available at: http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/aston/detail.action?docID=1075438 (Accessed: 18 December 2023).

Cover Image by Joe from Pixabay