Academic Librarianship

Academic Librarianship: Anchoring the Profession in Contribution, Scholarship, and Service is needed now as a response to how much has changed in academic librarianship as a profession (from the smallest academic libraries to large research libraries).

Much has been written recently about the status of the profession of librarianship, i.e. whether or not it should still be considered a “profession,” are the same credentials still required/enough, should things change dramatically in SLIS programs in response to the new normal, and what is the impact of hiring PhD’s in disciplines outside of librarianship.

Major topics covered include:

• State of the profession of librarianship today
• Status of librarians
• Tenure or not
• Move away from faculty status in some (more) academic libraries
• Contributions to the profession -- scholarship
• What is produced
• How are librarians conducting research
• Where is it taking place -- who is producing scholarship
• Why
• Trends
• Contribution to the profession -- service and professional associations
• LIS Education
• Tomorrow -- what are the implications for the future of our profession

Author Marcy Simons explores the history, current status, and future of the profession of academic librarianship. She clearly demonstrates the need for a shared understanding of how we will work together in order to continue our transformation.