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 Copy

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

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Copyright 2013 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

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