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Abstract: “We just don't leave it at the door when we enter the workplace”: The effect of identity on perceived expertise in librarianship
Research shows that a librarian’s identity affects their experience of library work: librarians of color experience discrimination (e.g., Caragher & Bryant, 2023; Geiger et al., 2023) and women are overrepresented in the profession, but underrepresented in higher-level positions (e.g., Ashiq & Warraich, 2023; Eva et al. 2021). We wanted to explore these issues in relation to expertise, learning how librarians’ identities or perceived identities affect their feelings about expertise or perceptions of their expertise. In addition, we took an intersectional approach to understand how multiple identities might interact to affect feelings about or perceptions of expertise. This approach requires listening to individual stories.
Thirty librarians were selected to participate, representing diverse identities in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, ability, type of library, and type of position. Participants were interviewed using Zoom and transcribed data was coded inductively, focusing on the concepts of expertise and identity. The value of our findings lies in the authentic, personal accounts of how expertise is ignored or exaggerated, depending on the lens through which the librarian is viewed.
Most librarians expressed that their identity affects some aspect of their work and their perceived expertise. As one participant stated, “I don't think that my identity affects my ability to do the job. I think that it affects the way that people perceive my ability to do the job, and the way that they perceive and or receive the information that I give.” Most often, gender, race, and ethnicity were aspects of identity that seemed to affect perceptions of expertise (“the academic world is definitely a world where the white male perspective is the most valuable”), but other identities were mentioned, emphasizing the value of taking an intersectional approach. Other identities included age, size, physical ability, mental illness, and geographic origin or accent. These identities affected perceptions of expertise by colleagues and library users.
Participants who fit the stereotype of the white, female librarian recognized that they were granted a perception of expertise that was not necessarily earned, while others recounted incidents of discrimination. In addition to sharing stories of their interactions with others, some participants shared their thinking about their identity and their expertise (“I’m always slightly wondering how people are going to perceive me, which can cause me to have some mental barriers about reaching out to people at times”). From a positive perspective, these experiences can lead to personal growth: “So I have been doing that a lot more. Not just racially, but also with my sexuality, with my gender. In talking about my own lived experiences, and what that brings to the table, and what that doesn't bring to the table.”
Hearing from librarians about how their expertise is affected by their multiple identities raises questions of how the profession communicates its expertise to the public, how instructors conceptualize expertise in LIS programs, and how scholars frame library expertise in their work.
Thirty librarians were selected to participate, representing diverse identities in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, ability, type of library, and type of position. Participants were interviewed using Zoom and transcribed data was coded inductively, focusing on the concepts of expertise and identity. The value of our findings lies in the authentic, personal accounts of how expertise is ignored or exaggerated, depending on the lens through which the librarian is viewed.
Most librarians expressed that their identity affects some aspect of their work and their perceived expertise. As one participant stated, “I don't think that my identity affects my ability to do the job. I think that it affects the way that people perceive my ability to do the job, and the way that they perceive and or receive the information that I give.” Most often, gender, race, and ethnicity were aspects of identity that seemed to affect perceptions of expertise (“the academic world is definitely a world where the white male perspective is the most valuable”), but other identities were mentioned, emphasizing the value of taking an intersectional approach. Other identities included age, size, physical ability, mental illness, and geographic origin or accent. These identities affected perceptions of expertise by colleagues and library users.
Participants who fit the stereotype of the white, female librarian recognized that they were granted a perception of expertise that was not necessarily earned, while others recounted incidents of discrimination. In addition to sharing stories of their interactions with others, some participants shared their thinking about their identity and their expertise (“I’m always slightly wondering how people are going to perceive me, which can cause me to have some mental barriers about reaching out to people at times”). From a positive perspective, these experiences can lead to personal growth: “So I have been doing that a lot more. Not just racially, but also with my sexuality, with my gender. In talking about my own lived experiences, and what that brings to the table, and what that doesn't bring to the table.”
Hearing from librarians about how their expertise is affected by their multiple identities raises questions of how the profession communicates its expertise to the public, how instructors conceptualize expertise in LIS programs, and how scholars frame library expertise in their work.