(via Samantha Thompson-Franklin, University of Idaho)
We are interested in learning more about the experiences of librarians who have made the move from public services to technical services work. If you have ever changed positions from a public services librarian role to a technical services librarian role, we invite your participation in a short survey.
Definitions
The researchers acknowledge that the lines between public services and technical services work in libraries are sometimes blurry, and in recent years, some scholars have even recommended doing away with the terms because of the changing nature of many library roles. We also recognize that some librarians may have had or currently have responsibilities in both areas. We therefore invite survey participants to use their best judgement in self-identifying as public or technical services librarians. The following examples of these terms may be of assistance in this process.
Public Services: reference, instruction, circulation/access services, outreach, public programming, research assistance, liaison work, reader’s advisory
Technical Services: electronic or digital resource management, cataloging or classification, discovery systems, ILS configuration, database management, acquisitions
To read the informed consent statement and complete the survey, please visit here.
Additional Information
Participation in this survey is voluntary and is expected to take between 10 and 15 minutes.
Participants may choose to participate in a follow-up interview conducted via Zoom and will be invited to provide contact information if they would like to do so. Interviews will be recorded with Zoom Cloud Recording so that transcriptions will be obtained. Recordings will not start until introductions have been completed. Participants may end the interviews at any time and decline to answer any questions. Interviews are expected to take no more than one hour.
Confidentiality
Survey responses will be completely anonymous unless participants willingly share their contact information for follow-up interviews. Interviewers will know the identity of interview participants but will not share identifying information with anyone. Responses may be cited–without names attached–in reports, presentations, or publications referencing the survey. Zoom recordings will be saved to researchers’ personal computers; however, participants should be aware that interviews will be recorded initially to the Zoom cloud.
For More Information
Please contact one of the librarians involved with this study.
Attebury, Rami – 208-885-2503, rattebur@uidaho.edu
Thompson-Franklin, Samantha – 208-885-2531, sthompsonfranklin@uidaho.edu