Student name: Heather Seminelli
Title of Project: Professional Identity of Librarians
Abstract: What does it mean to be a professional, and do librarians act in accordance with the academic definition of a professional? As seen through the lens of social media, there is an idea that being a professional means being passive and not making waves at work, or that librarians are not a profession because our field has not done enough to deserve that recognition. Current literature in the library field concentrates on external physical attributes related to the stereotypes of librarians or public satisfaction with libraries, but not how the public views librarians or how we view ourselves as a profession. Library users do not fully understand what librarians do, which leads to undervaluing of the impact and importance of librarians. In the modern environment of budget challenges, it is important to be able to articulate the value of both libraries and particularly librarians.
Excerpt: This presentation explores the sociological academic literature on professions to determine if librarianship meets the requirements to be a profession, if library literature supports librarianship as a profession, and why professional self-identification matters.
