University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

On Your Own but Not Alone: One-Person Librarians in Ireland and Their Perceptions of Continuing Professional Development

Hornung, Eva

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/46047

Description

Title
On Your Own but Not Alone: One-Person Librarians in Ireland and Their Perceptions of Continuing Professional Development
Author(s)
Hornung, Eva
Issue Date
2013
Keyword(s)
  • Solo librarians
  • Libraries in Ireland
  • Professional development
Abstract
One-person librarians (OPLs) are the sole information provider in their respective organizations. Continuing professional development (CPD) is vital to satisfy their own information needs and, by proxy, those of the people they serve. No research has so far been carried out to establish what CPD means to these highly specialized library workers. This article reports on some of the findings of a phenomenographic study conducted among thirty OPLs in the Republic of Ireland. The researcher found five different ways of experiencing CPD, ranging from an organizational focus only to a lifelong, lifewide learning orientation. She also discovered four dimensions of variation, namely, “time,” “style,” “networking,” and “role,” each of which influenced succinctly how solo librarians perceived the effectiveness of different means of CPD. The study suggests that a new model of understanding CPD is needed if library associations want to provide successful support to OPLs. A “one-size-fits-all” approach is not appropriate for OPLs.
Publisher
Johns Hopkins University Press and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
ISSN
0024-2594
Type of Resource
text
Language
en
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/46047
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2013 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Owning Collections

Library Trends 61 (3) Winter 2013: Research into Practice PRIMARY
Library Trends 61 (3) Winter 2013: Research into Practice. Edited by Sheila Corrall and Barbara Sen