Information technology, change and information professionals’ identity construction: A discourse analysis

Abstract

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are often identified by librarians and information professionals as being a driving force behind the way they perform their day‐to‐day activities and how they interact with their clients. This study considers the role ICTs play in the shaping and constructing of the identities of librarians. Using data gathered from interviews, email discussion lists, and the professional literature, this study employed a discourse analysis to examine the language resources librarians use when constructing their professional identities, with particular attention to the role of ICTs in this construction. ICTs both challenged and enhanced the identities of librarians. While the changes related to ICTs have left librarians feeling insecure about their professional positions, they have also opened up new roles and opportunities for librarians to pursue. Librarians have a service‐oriented identity that is influenced by ICT‐related changes affecting their work. These changes will challenge and benefit librarians as they engage with ICTs and determine how, if at all, they can be incorporated into their day‐to‐day practice.

Metaphors and critical incidents: introduction to a methodological approach derived from expressions of librarian professional identity

“…Turning to the analysis of data, previous studies have coded inductively or deductively as an analytical method (e.g., Ahmed, 2012). Some form of content analysis, however, is heavily used to analyse qualitative data (Fraser-Arnott, 2016, 2017a, 2017b, with thematic coding also a feature of such analysis (Hicks, 2014b(Hicks, , 2016Hoffman, 2014).…”

The rise of artificial intelligence – understanding the AI identity threat at the workplace

“…Second, verification prevented describes the personal perception and inspection of self-beliefs initiated or influenced by technology. Third, meaning change (Aboud, 2020;Abouzahra et al, 2015;Alvarez, 2008;Bernardi & Exworthy, 2020;Brooks et al, 2011;Daskalopoulou et al, 2019;Geertshuis & Liu, 2016;Hicks, 2014;Israeli, 2019;Jussupow, 2018;Jussupow et al, 2018;Karsten & Laine, 2007;Lamb & Davidson, 2005;Stein et al, 2013;Svejvig & Jensen, 2012;Teubner, 2007;Walsham, 1998)…”

An integrated understanding of librarian professional identity

“…Time is often used as a linguistic device to index events over the course of a professional career (Bossaller et al , 2017), to frame quotidian practice (Hicks and Schindel, 2016), and broadly, can be seen to frame the context of a profession (Preer, 2004; Preer, 2006). Furthermore, the more time spent within a profession implies a greater potential for encountering changes in tools used (Hicks, 2014c) and professional expectation (Austin and Bhandol, 2013). As professional identity becomes increasingly personalized over time, tension can result if the identity is no longer perceived to align well with the profession (Fraser-Arnott, 2017b; Fraser-Arnott, 2018).…”

“…Librarianship can be understood as that which defines the practice and the linguistic expressions thereof, outlining the meaning given to it and therefore the sense-making process of a collective (Bennett, 1988; Garcia, 2011; Hicks, 2014a, 2014b, 2016a, 2016b; Wise, 2012). Practicing authentic tasks and duties of the profession centres the practitioner within an act understood to be truly “librarian”, the values of the profession, and the knowledge that others throughout the world would likely be doing the same or similar (Garcia, 2011).…”

“…Therefore, a librarian’s practice is service and they derive their identity through their practice. Changes in the tools used for practice, however, can act to influence this identity (Hicks, 2014b; Preer, 2006).…”