SSLIS seminar | Exploring Librarians’ Approaches to Reference and Research Service with Q Methodology – Amy VanScoy

Exploring Librarians’ Approaches to Reference and Research Service with Q Methodology – Amy VanScoy

Librarians hold different beliefs about what reference and research services are for and how they should relate to the people they serve. My research has traced these "orientations to practice" across several countries, identifying three: communication and information provision, empowerment and learning, and empathy and growth (a relational, transformative orientation). While the first two orientations have replicated widely, the empathy and growth orientation has not reappeared in recent studies, raising the question of whether it is culturally contingent. This talk introduces a new project taking up that question in Sweden, where democratic mission and enlightenment are central to library law and practice. The talk will also detail the methodology used in the studies, Q methodology, which combines card-sorting with follow-up interviews.

Language: Engelska
Chair: Ulrika Centerwall
Zoom: https://hb-se.zoom.us/j/66891319632

Amy VanScoy’s research profile

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