Professional Identity as Gateway to Critical Practices: Identity Negotiations of Public Librarians in New Zealand with Implications for LIS Education and Practice

ABSTRACT

Librarian professional identity can be understood as a developmental process occurring over time and is indicative of a renegotiation of identity through experiences. This process transpires with or without cognitive grappling of identity and its influence on behaviour, making the renegotiation process either explicit or implicit. Among these experiences, education is a key developmental phase in which entrants begin to define conceptualisations of the profession and their identity within it. Critical, reflective, and reflexive practices can be understood as forms of identity negotiations relating to the practice of a profession in society. Effecting change within a profession through these practices requires first an examination of professional identity to understand the influences upon it. This paper reports on selected findings from interviews with practicing public librarians in New Zealand. It introduces the umbrella term critical practices for critical, reflective, and reflexive practice, defined as identity negotiations within the context introduced by this paper. In order to better effect critical practices, results suggest provision of cognitive spaces in educational settings can encourage explicit grappling with professional identity. Such spaces could encourage self-awareness of the identity process for entrants and begin the explicit recognition of the relationship between identity, behaviour, and practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Professional identity
• LIS education
• critical practice
• reflective practice
• reflexive practice
• cognitive spaces

Introduction

Critical practices contribute to socially constructed orientations of identity to varying degrees (Wise, 2012). Librarianship, as a socially oriented profession, indicates an individual practitioner’s identity within a common context of a profession. Working within a profession influences self-perception, contributing to the construction of professional identity (Whyte, 1956/2002). Librarian professional identity can be understood as a process over time, influenced by contextual factors on the local and professional levels. As rapid change on various fronts characterises this service-based profession, it has become increasingly relevant to examine how practitioner perception of professional identity influences behaviour (Sundin & Hedman, 2009) not only with respect to patrons but also as the institutional personification of the library and its meaning to communities served. Education and training, whose influences last beyond the experiences themselves, highlight an important step in the identity process, acting to initiate bounding between primary and professional identities (Sare, Bales, & Neville, 2012), personal buy-in to the profession, and contributing to unify entrants into a common culture (Holley, 2016).

Critical (Nicholson & Seale, 2018), reflective (Schön, 1995), and reflexive practices (May & Perry, 2012b) can be understood as explicit and deliberate identity negotiations. The practitioner examines behaviour with one or a combination of the above lenses in such a way that either directly or indirectly questions actions or motives, which are fundamentally informed by the perception of self. As a process over time, identity formation and continued development transpires either with or without explicit grappling of identity and its influence on behaviour, thereby making the renegotiation process either explicit or implicit. Practical improvements to a profession and its education, therefore, cannot disregard identity as an important constituent in strengthening professional practice and its highly formative pre-cursor, education.

This paper reports selected findings from a research project on librarian professional identity in New Zealand. Specifically, it details responses from interview participants on critical incidents related to questions of professional identity and its development. Findings indicate emergent trends from respondents as they relate to critical practices. Moreover, this paper advocates opportunities for explicit examinations of professional identity within formal education and continued professional development in order to redress gaps in individual educative experiences. Such opportunities provide continued support for identity and practice development through critical practices.

Literature Review

Professional Identity

Professional identity is the product of the impact the organisational and/or professional life has had on one’s understanding of self within its context (Whyte, 1956/2002). It is developed from the basis of a pre-existing identity outside of the professional context (Trede, Macklin, & Bridges, 2012). Social practices in the profession, discourse and behaviour, act to influence identity perception and development (Sundin & Hedman, 2009). These practices are incorporated on the individual level according to varying degrees of personal affiliation with the professional collective. Interaction through professional social practices, such as communication, also contributes to the collective perception of professional identity, reinforcing practices and contributing to its creation (Sundin & Johannisson, 2005). This dynamic indicates an iterative cycle of development through the influence on and from the individual professional identity within a collective context.

Librarian Professional Identity

The decision to become a librarian begins the professional identity development process, conceptualised as bounding with the pre-existing identity (Sare et al., 2012). Professional practice contributes to identity definition according to the particulars of practice and as a mechanism to differentiate from other practitioners and professions (Sare & Bales, 2014). Librarian professional identity is contextualised to local factors of practice (Hicks, 2016), yet its development is persistently influenced by societal perception, both locally and broadly (Pagowsky & Rigby, 2014). Similarly, individual practitioner perception of identity is an avenue to identity negotiations (Sare & Bales, 2014). Manifestations of the profession, such as association bodies, provide access to a common identity (Preer, 2006), yet formal education acts as an initial unifying experience for entrants into a common culture from which identity is, in part, grounded (Holley, 2016). Perception of the overall profession will influence interaction with it while interactions with peers can often prompt reconceptualisation of practice (Fraser-Arnott, 2018), thus influencing personal affiliation with the profession. This dynamic is further compounded as a practitioner’s identity becomes increasingly personalised over time (Fraser-Arnott, 2017). Such a personalisation suggests tension if a practitioner’s perception of the profession and professional identity do not align. Additionally, librarianship is embedded in various levels of affiliation (e.g. personal, professional, organisational) with an additional dynamic of identity presentation in the digital world (e.g. Diao, 2020).

Librarian professional identity is underpinned by a sociological understanding of identity (Pierson, Goulding, & Campbell-Meier, 2019); development takes place over time, influenced by social factors of one’s environment. This understanding of identity therefore accounts for certain complexities of the developmental process. However, extant understating of this process is often framed as unproblematic. Socially constructed development necessarily is embedded in contexts with competing influences and with persistent oscillation between the individual and the collective. Any discussions of this topic must consider that identity development may not be a normative process. Additionally, the extant literature landscape may be reflective of areas of specific scope in a wider dynamic.

Formal Education

Formal education offers socialisation for entrants around professional practices. This initial socialisation is an important contributing factor to the development of this identity and perception of professional contribution to a society (Cherry, Duff, Singh, & Freund, 2011). Institutional variations of program offerings contribute to nascent professional identity development, as an individual is increasingly aware of the relationship between their pre-existing and developing professional identities (Hussey & Campbell-Meier, 2016). This introductory period into the profession and the socialisation with professionals contributes to the initial conceptualisation of individual relationship relative to the broader profession (Hussey & Campbell-Meier, 2016). For example, it is during this stage in which develops the awareness of the nature and scope of the profession and opportunities for further socialisation through networking, e.g. association participation. These examples illustrate contributing factors to professional identity development, whose incorporation varies according to the individual.

Formal education also introduces entrants to the inherent dynamic of individual and societal perception in identity development, either explicitly or implicitly. Representations of the librarian, such as in popular culture, present and reinforce a societal perception of practitioner and identity. Understanding of popular cultural representations of the librarian can assist in the socialisation of entrants and highlight the broader professional relationship to these perceptions, as either leveraging or working against them (Wilkins-Jordan & Hussey, 2014).

Critical Incidents

Critical incidents in professional practice or the educative setting may occur at any time over the course of a career and fundamentally influence librarian professional identity development (Frye, 2018). Flanagan (1954) pioneered the critical incident technique, a methodology to elicit respondent perception of behaviour and its lasting effects. Respondents are prompted for a significant incident having occurred in their lives, usually around a specified topic. Flanagan’s (1954) original conceptualisation of a critical incident is a complete occurrence, allowing inference and prediction, whose consequences are unambiguous and thus critical. Some have offered a modified conceptualisation, emphasising that definition of ‘critical’ and incident as based on the meaning and perception given to them (Angelides, 2010). Information research has made use of this technique (Gogan, McLaughlin, & Thomas, 2014; Radford, 2006).

Hutchins and Rainbolt (2017), however, use the critical incident technique within the professional identity framework, highlighting the technique’s applicability in examining the influence of incidents on perception and identity development. Their study on imposter syndrome of academic faculty frames imposter events as critical incidents. The authors indicate imposter events as common and whose lasting effects on identity are adverse without an adequate coping mechanism. Linton (2016) suggests the usefulness of exploring critical incidents as they relate to librarian professional identity. Her study utilises a survey to explore the identity development of medical librarians participating in curriculum review and development. A critical incident approach is not explicitly used but the results indicate that, for some in her sample, such participation framed, reinforced, or developed their professional identity. Such participation and its subsequent impact on librarian professional identity can be understood as a critical incident framed within the identity theoretical framework. Frye (2018), however, explicitly uses a critical events approach to explore the influence of such events on the professional identity of early career school librarians. For her sample, negative critical events tended either to create a clearer conceptualisation of the nascent professional identity or impact motivation to continue in the professional role. These three studies in particular suggest the critical incident technique is well suited for the investigation of the influence of incident(s) on identity development.

Critical Practices

It is within this social context that critical practices as they relate to practitioner and professional identity are situated. This paper uses the term critical practices as an umbrella term for reflective practice, reflexive practice, and critical theory and practice as understood in librarianship. It draws on what can be understood as related movements in theory and practice, which can be grounded in identity. The following discussion will address reflective practice, reflexive practice, and critical practice in librarianship, respectively.

Reflective practice is indicative of a practitioner’s contemplation of their work in action, the norms underpinning judgements, the implied theories of human behaviour, or a self-constructed role in an institutional context (Schön, 1995). While broadly encompassing, such introspection takes into account observation and affective state prompting new, individual theories of an occupational phenomenon. Schön (1995) indicates ‘appreciations’ of self and others carried into contexts when confronted with shifting practices. Reflective practice acknowledges the implicit role of professional identity in practice, indicating a constructed role within a context.

Reflexive practice can be understood to extend reflective practice. Whereas reflective practice indicates contemplation of an occupational self or phenomenon, reflexive practice emphasises the mode of perceiving and acting in relation to the world within a context. Reflexivity is indicative of a ‘self-referential “bending back” upon oneself of some notion’ (Archer, 2013, p. 3). Metaphorically, it is the distinction between the driver (the knower), the road (the known), and the windscreen (the medium by which to know) (May & Perry, 2012a). It is not simply reflection on and of a topic, but also that ‘bending back’ to continuously consider ways of knowing and interacting in the world, the influences upon that knowing, and the awareness of bringing it into practice and interaction with other people and their influences. Reflexive practice is linked to identity, whose ‘… subsequent deliberations about the effects of … choices constitute a form of self-analysis for professional learning and identity building, as this new knowledge is woven into the next course of action’ (Ryan & Carmichael, 2016, p. 154).

Critical practice, however, can be understood to apply the reflexive lens to expose and challenge support systems of oppression (Nicholson & Seale, 2018). Critical librarianship is the application of critical theory and practice to reconcile theory and practice in the library and information science (LIS) context (Nicholson & Seale, 2018). This praxis is oriented around social justice in an institutionalised profession characterised by fluctuation between critique and compliance in a persistently political world. It is ‘… a site of contradiction, that both agrees with and contests institutionalization, that channels power but also critiques it’ (p. 11).

Beyond its use as an umbrella term, critical practices can be understood as various forms of identity negotiation for the self and in relation to others, in and outside of practice. It is also the relation of individual and local practice to the broader profession and society within the above contexts. Critical practices offer conceptual tools in understanding key aspects of practice and are therefore representative of a type of grappling with professional identity.

Research Questions

This paper is drawn from a larger study investigating librarian professional identity in New Zealand. The paper focuses specifically on critical incidents related to questions of professional identity and its development, guided by the following research questions:

1. What types of responses are provided by the participants discussed in this paper about the influence of critical incidents on professional identity?

2. How do these responses relate to critical practices, as defined in this paper?

3. What opportunities for formal education and continued professional development can be identified from the results?

Methodology

This paper draws on a wider research project utilising a mixed-methods model. Phase 1 distributed a questionnaire operationalising aspects of Librarian Professional Identity Continuum (Pierson et al., 2019). This questionnaire was distributed fully online to those working in public libraries in New Zealand between November 2018 and January 2019. Questionnaire format was chosen to test operationalisation of the Librarian Professional Identity Continuum and to maximise reach to potential participants across the country. One of the four sections elicited open-ended responses on critical incidents relating to respondents’ professional identity. Pre- and pilot testing of the questionnaire identified wording of the open-ended questions which reduced jargon and positioned them with a practitioner focus. In order as they appeared in the questionnaire, the open-ended questions relating to critical incidents were:

1. Think of an important event or events that has/have impacted your identity as a librarian. Please describe the event(s).

2. Please elaborate on what specifically made the event(s) impactful to your identity as a librarian.

Phase 2 purposefully selected participants based on questionnaire responses for follow-up interviews. Semi-structured interviews allowed participants to explain and elaborate on responses and further reflect on their professional identities. Forty interviews were conducted from March to September 2019. Discussion on critical incidents formed a central part of discussions in interviews. Interpretation of themes and additional meanings of critical incidents was verified or extended by participant responses.

Interviews also allowed deeper discussions on critical incidents as they related to and influenced professional identity. Specifically, participants were asked the following three core questions on the critical incidents and their meanings as provided in the questionnaire:

1. Why was this the critical incident you thought of when responding to the question?

2. How do you think it influenced how you see yourself as a librarian?

3. Why do you think it influenced you the way it did?

Once participants articulated their responses to these three questions, the sentiment of the critical incident and its meaning were verified by respondents, i.e., whether the critical incident was positive, negative, or expressing aspects of both positive and negative. Once sentiment was established, participants were asked to provide another critical incident of the opposite sentiment and the three core questions were repeated. Where sentiment displayed aspects of both, precluding a direct opposite, another critical incident was elicited in a general way. Sentiment assessment of the critical incidents was done to confirm the sentiment analysis of those provided in the questionnaire. It also provided an opportunity for the researcher to prompt additional critical incidents in the interview setting. Specifically, this allowed for deeper exploration of identity negotiations around these incidents and offered a comparison of identity negations based on critical incident sentiment.

Nine participant responses (22%, n = 40) were purposefully chosen due to contrast and clarity of responses. These responses contrasted from others in the wider sample in a distinct way, prompting the investigation outlined in this paper. Response clarity offered strength to analysis using an inductive approach and provided for ease of understanding in reporting. This paper only reports on these selected responses to the above three questions relating to their critical incidents. It further reports on the relation between responses and critical practices.

Results

Results indicate four categories of responses to the critical incident questions. These categories were inductively derived from the data. While some categories were assigned to responses individually, other responses characterised multiple categories. This finding indicates that a principle of mutual exclusivity of category assignment was inappropriate within this study context. It further indicates a layer of complexity characteristic of examinations of identity and its negotiations. These four categories are:

1. Difficult to answer: Offering a response to the question is challenging.

2. In-the-moment grappling: Displaying a real-time reflection on the question relative to individual professional identity.

3. Uncertainty of answer: Inability to provide an answer to the question as the respondent is presently unaware.

4. Contrasting answers: Answers to questions differ depending on the sentiment of the critical incident being discussed.

These categories can be understood as part of the negotiation process for some. They also indicate that identity negotiation is not necessarily normative nor without complexity. Indeed, that multiple categories can be assigned to a response is reflective of the highly interconnected nature of negotiations and perceptions of influences. Often respondent perception can differ on individual elements of influences, such as the three core questions represent. This indicates a negotiation process between one’s perception of influence and professional and social agents (e.g. Wise, 2012).

The following sections outline participant answers to one of the three core questions outlined in Methodology in response to critical incidents and their category assignments.

Participant A

Difficult to Answer

Participant A (Table 1), discussing their positive critical incident, clearly articulates the nature of the questions as being in-depth, contributing to the difficulty in providing an answer. Such responses highlight the three core questions as eliciting responses to topics which are not necessarily given overt reflection. Rather, the questions indicate the incorporation of the impact and influence of critical incidents on identity development can often be visceral. When prompted to actively reflect and articulate on the impact of these incidents, respondents such as Participant A acknowledged this difficulty in what otherwise might have been an implicit process.

Table 1. Participant A example, positive critical incident.

Question	‘How do you think they influenced … ’
Answer	‘You’re asking some difficult questions … very intellectual, very abstract questions … I just feel like running in a circle now.’

Participant M

Uncertainty of Answer

One of Participant M’s (Table 2) critical incidents displayed aspects of both positive and negative sentiments, perhaps creating complexity and contributing to uncertainty. They indicate the implicit nature of cause, effect, and the awareness thereof. Action is prioritised over reflection, though they acknowledge there is an underpinning knowledge, whether formal or informal, which contributes to action in day-to-day professional practice. The relationship between action, reaction, and influence of an incident is indicated as not being overtly understood. Respondent M instead states they do not ‘think about it’, rather continuing in practice with an influenced identity due to their critical incident. This dynamic suggests that while the influence of an incident on their professional identity is present, understanding of the nature of that influence is not overt.

Table 2. Participant M example, critical incident displaying aspects of both positive and negative.

Question	‘How do you think it influenced how you see yourself as a librarian?’
Answer	‘ … it’s how you do your work. It’s all the schools that you’re pulling in, as a librarian … how does it relate back? I don’t know, I just do it. I don’t think about it.’

Participant D

Uncertainty of Answer

Participant D’s response (Table 3) supports and complements that of Participant M. Again, the implicit nature of the influence of critical incidents is revealed. Participant D, discussing their positive critical incident, highlights that conscious thought on the influences on identity often does not transpire, rather it is incorporated viscerally. In just ‘doing what I do’, Participant D similarly indicates that while influence on identity and its development over time is present, explicit understanding of the nature of that influence is not.

Table 3. Participant D example, positive critical incident.

Question	‘How did [the critical incident] affect how you see yourself [as a librarian]?’
Answer	‘Sometimes we don’t consciously … go “oh, I’m a librarian. Oh, I’m doing library stuff today.” It’s just … “I’m here, I’m doing my job.” … I’m so involved, I don’t think … that I’m a librarian at times. I’m just doing what I do.’

Participant S

Uncertainty of Answer & In-the-moment Grappling

Participant S (Table 4) displays a kind of reflection, but also an inference pertaining to what the interviewer was asking. In discussing their positive critical incident, they indicate an uncertainty of answer, admitting ‘I don’t know’, yet continue with exploring the topic as prompted by the question. This does not indicate critical thought about what prompted their particular critical incident to come to mind first; such a response would be suggestive of the criticality assigned to the incident by the respondent. Their response as indicated, however, denotes a degree of uncertainty of the importance of their critical incident as it relates to their professional identity and subsequent questions posed. Nevertheless, the response illustrates an in-the-moment grappling through reflective thought following uncertainty.

Table 4. Participant S example, positive critical incident.

Question	‘Why do you think this is the incident you thought of?’
Answer	‘I don’t know. I suppose I just looked at it, it was probably what came into my mind and … I was thinking about … what has librarianship done for me? Being a librarian … where have I been able to take my professionalism and my librarianship? … I guess I probably didn’t see things exactly the way you did.’

Participant L

Uncertainty of Answer & In-the-moment Grappling

Participant L (Table 5), also discussing their positive critical incident, illustrates an in-the-moment grappling, though more precisely, an uncertainty as to why their critical incident influenced them. This response suggests no previous thought to this specific question in relation to the incident, and therefore a lack of reflection or reflexivity concerning this particular question.

Table 5. Participant L example, positive critical incident.

Question	‘Why do you think [this incident] influenced you the way it did?’
Answer	‘Maybe because of who the person was too? Because they … did have such … a high reputation … in the scientific community … I don’t know. I’d have to think about it a bit more … Yeah … maybe we come back to it … ’Cause I don’t know. Any, all of the above.’

Participant W

Contrasting Answers & Uncertainty of Answer

Participant W replied to questions around interview themes and topics in a general way, contrasting with the specificity from other participants. In both examples given here, they discuss their negative critical incident. In the first example (Table 6), Participant W outlines a self-perceived tendency suggesting little reflection or examination of the influence of incidents relative to their professional identity. Instead, they indicate being at ease with ‘living in the now’ and not recalling specifics of past incidents, here attributed to the inherent process of their memory and its workings. Respondent W suggests a doubt as to the influence of incidents on their identity development. Similarly, however, they indicate an uncertainty of answer, suggesting no previous critical thought on the question posed. Their response in example 1 is later contrasted with their response to a different question in the core three.

Table 6. Participant W example 1, negative critical incident.

Question	‘Why do you think these incidents [are] what you thought of?’
Answer	‘Partly just … the way my memory works. I don’t generally remember specific incidents and things. They sort of fade away and that’s fine. I sort of live in the now. So it’s a bit more generic. I don’t know that I have … particular formative … things where I think like that absolutely, sort of made me think this way or that or the other … ’

When contrasted with example 1, Participant W’s second example (Table 7) illustrates the beginning of critical reflection with an allusion to becoming wiser over time in relation to a negative incident. This is the limit, however, as the participant was not able to elaborate further. The contrast lies in differing levels of reflective thought in relation to the question posed. This contrast suggests that the depth and breadth of individual critical thought on topics relating to professional identity development may be dependent on the nature of the question being posed. This would further imply that while the three core questions present with difficulty, some may be easier to conceptualise for participants and practitioners than others.

Table 7. Participant W example 2, negative critical incident.

Question	‘Why do you think it influenced you the way it did?’
Answer	‘Practical reasons, I suppose. The negative things, in terms of just being wiser about the sort of views and what have you … why do I think … sorry, I’m struggling to sort of think of a clear … answer to that … I’m a person who sort of works out my thoughts in the midst of a discussion or something else … I don’t always have an opinion off the top of my head, but I’ll talk it through.’

In-the-moment grappling may be due to the effect of the interviewing process, given the progression of the questions and the nature of the responses offered. The question in example 2 (Table 7) was third in core question order, as outlined in Methodology. This is further suggestive of the influence on critical thought on professional identity of posing these types of questions. As the three core questions bring to the fore what is otherwise an implicit, visceral process, they can also be considered explicit identity negotiations.

Participant J

Contrasting Answers & In-the-moment Grappling

Participant J, responding to the question posed in reference to their positive critical incident (Table 8), illustrates an acknowledgement of uncertainty which is immediately followed by an in-the-moment grappling with the question. The response suggests this question as an entry point to critical thought and reflection, yet the answer comes to an end quickly. Participant J’s response to the same question for their negative critical incident, involving work-place bullying, however, offers a sharp contrast.

Table 8. Participant J example 1, positive critical incident.

Question	‘Why do you think it influenced you the way it did?’
Answer	‘I don’t know, I’m just saying the same things … I think it was a self-confidence thing … I probably was lacking … in self-confidence at that time, and it did help to build me up to … ’ [End of Answer]

In response to the same question, yet in the discussion on their negative critical incident (Table 9), Participant J offers a lengthy and specific discussion on the influence of the incident on their identity development. Their response indicates deep and previous critical thought on the matter, thus not in-the-moment grappling. Participant J illustrates a contrast between responses to positive and negative critical incidents and their ability to grapple with it to different extents relative to the question. This contrast illustrates that individual focus of critical thought and reflection concerning such influences on identity are variable. This variance may be in accordance with individual perception of the extent of the impact on identity development, and therefore individual emphasis.

Table 9. Participant J example 2, negative critical incident.

Question

‘Why do you think it influenced you the way it did?’

Answer

‘I suppose it … it meant I had to take a good look at myself and why did I become a target. She had targeted others previous to me … so it certainly … made me look at myself and think “what is it that would make me a target?” I think that was possibly … my reaction to it was … within myself, things like real self-pity. “How could she do that?” “I work so hard, I’m so much more hard working that everyone else. Why is it she picked on me?” All this kind of … almost like nonsense. And that was my first reaction for the early months until I saw what I was doing to myself and that was not a good place to be. And kind of just turned that all around … and that’s … where I see myself as having grown through that incident, is I can now pick in any other situations since then when I’m starting to feel that same sort of weak, self-pity type reaction and think “no, that’s not a good, that’s not healthy, that’s not the way you want to react to this.” And I … can recognise it and kind of get out of it … I think I would’ve just gone on being a, you know, self-pity person if that hadn’t happened.’

It is important to note that their response is within the context of professional identity and a critical incident in their professional context. Their response alludes to an influence on pre-existing identity as well, highlighting the interconnected nature of these identities.

Discussion

Multiple category assignments can be seen as characteristic of identity negotiations and further evidence of the visceral aspects of identity, which are not often made overt. That multiple categories may be present illustrates the complexity of identity negotiations. Contradiction and developing understanding over time can be simultaneously present for some. These participants also illustrate the contrast of perception influencing identity development based on the sentiment of respective critical incidents and their perceived outcomes. The visceral aspects of identity can be understood as an influence, and the nature thereof, of which understanding is so embedded that articulation of it may not be readily achievable. Rather, understanding may be unconscious (e.g. Participant D), affective in nature (e.g. Participant J), or given no overt, critical thought (e.g. Participant W).

The three core questions prompted participants to bring to the surface and articulate the processes inherent in identity negotiations, and thus act as a form of identity negotiations. The categories outlined here can also be understood as an emerging map of responses to these identity negotiations. It is emerging due to the limited sample discussed in this paper, as it does not include all 40 participants. Instead, the selected results suggest a concurrent phenomenon in which some practitioners have critically examined such influences on their professional identity and/or some practitioners may not have encountered such prompts to explore identity in the course of their professional practice.

The three core questions represent in-depth identity examinations, many of which were given no previous critical thought as indicated by participants in this sample. The results denote reflective, reflexive, and/or critical thought on questions of identity are deeper identity negotiations beyond the experience of the critical incidents themselves. Lack of previous critical thought may be typical for at least some portion of practitioners. Such examinations may not necessarily transpire without a direct prompt or exposure to such questions. The nature of these questions can be characterised by difficulty. They elicit explicit examination of dynamics otherwise visceral. Such questions are not necessarily posed in contexts outside of the one presented in this paper. By their nature, they prompt a consciousness-raising awareness which may not be reflected in all contexts.

Participant A, for example, highlights the ‘abstract’ nature of these questions, which ask to outline a deeply implicit process in identity development. Awareness or understanding of the impact of critical incidents on identity is not overt, as indicated by this sample. This dynamic is indicative of an influence on identity, regardless of individual awareness of the nature of the influence.

In particular, Participant S’s response is suggestive of the usefulness of reflexivity, as indicated by their inference on what was sought through the question. Indeed, such inferences were not uncommon in interviews in the broader study, illustrating the interplay of individual participants’ ways of knowing, influences on those ways, and how they perceived and responded to questions. These individual differences sometimes necessitated guidance to redirect responses to the questions being asked.

Participant W’s contrasting answers suggest an initial difficulty in critically responding to such questions, though appears to indicate grappling with them is easier with time. This apparent dynamic further suggests prolonged exposure to such topics and questions as necessary to obtain deeper insights for some. When coupled with Participant J, results suggest that such critical thought may be best suited to critical incidents whose influence provoked a heightened affective response. This mechanism may contribute to a clearer conceptualisation for respondents to grapple with the topics presented in this paper. This implies, however, that such affective responses are wholly dependent on the meaning and criticality assigned to them.

Participant J, however, offers another aspect of contrast, wherein responses to the same question for different critical incidents differed considerably. While their first example is shorter and indicates some previous examination, their second example characterises deep and explicit previous examination. This contrast is indicative of the extent to which one is able to articulate influences and processes on professional identity and that its negotiations may differ according to the critical incident elicited. This difference highlights the benefit in eliciting multiple critical incidents, of varying sentiments, for explorations on identity and its influences over time.

Along with this emerging map of responses to identity negotiations, a hidden bridge of understanding becomes apparent (e.g. Participant D). The amount of uncertainty present in responses outlines an omission of previous critical thought on the influence of critical incidents on behaviour and perception. The amount of in-the-moment grappling, however, similarly indicates a willingness to explore such topics.

The results also indicate the importance of considering the influence of not only critical incidents on identity but critical thought on critical practices, their undertaking and execution. By effecting critical practices in the LIS professions, it is therefore beneficial to consider the influence of critical incidents on professional identity. This benefit extends to the influence of identities on ways of knowing, the subsequent perceptions of others’ ways of knowing, and issues warranting action in the context of critical practices in librarianship.

Critical practices require examination of such states as the status quo to effect change. Awareness of professional identity and its negotiations, what has influenced them, and subsequent behaviour is an initial step. Coupling such awareness with an understanding of individual perspective, influences on that perspective, and overall position within a collective context will contribute to the execution and actioning of critical practices in librarianship. These results indicate ample opportunity to traverse this hidden bridge of understanding within professional education and continued professional development.

Opportunities for Education and Continued Professional Development

Critical practices can be understood as various forms of identity negotiation. It is identity negotiation for the self and in relation to others, in and outside of practice. It is also the relation of individual and local practice to the broader profession and society. It is within education and continued professional development where this opportunity to traverse the bridge between reflections on identity, its inherent negotiations, and actionable critical practices is best suited. Formal education begins the bounding process between pre-existing and professional identities (Sare et al., 2012) and acts to unify entrants into a common culture (Holley, 2016).

Provision of cognitive spaces can be leveraged to grapple with existing and emerging professional identities, their negotiations, and their link to critical practices. Cognitive spaces in the LIS context are not merely the ‘sum total of an individual’s knowledge and experience’ (Flannery & Hendrick, 1999, p. 601). Rather, we propose it as collective spaces acknowledging the oscillation between individual and profession; encompassing the discipline: people, practice, and organisational/institutional contexts; and underpinned by individual and collective professional identities. It is the understanding that these elements are interrelated and requiring reflection to access. Thus, in education and practice, it is the ability to reflect on these matters and observe one’s position amongst them while examining one’s ‘sum total’ of knowledge relative to all other persons in these shared spaces. Provision of these spaces thereby links professional identity negotiations, critical practices, and the profession in the formal educational or continued professional development environment.

For example, these spaces could be discrete or embedded within a curriculum or programme. To prompt self-analysis, they may take the form of group or rhetorical discussions, journaling, or an ethical problem linked to identity. This paper also illustrates the usefulness of prompting reflection on critical incidents and their influence on identity, its negotiations, and behaviour within practice.

Questions which may be useful to consider in implementation of cognitive spaces include:

• How does a profession influence our identity as practitioners?

• What aspects of our professional identity do we consider having come from our pre-existing identity and/or from the profession?

• How might such aspects influence our perception and behaviour within practice-based and ethically bound frameworks?

  • E.g. ALIA Code of Conduct, LIANZA Code of Professional Conduct, ALA Code of Ethics, IFLA Code of Ethics.

• How do the above questions relate to critical practices?

• How might individual perception of critical practices and their actionable imperatives differ from another entrant/practitioner’s and why?

• How might consensus be built within the boarder profession on actionable imperatives when considering influences on individual ways of knowing and their differences?

Limitations & Future Research

Limitations include sample size. Nine (22%) cases were reported of forty total interviews conducted. This figure requires caution in interpretation of results. An additional limitation includes transferability of results. This paper reports on individual responses to questions posed to public librarians in one country in a particular time. It further proposes actionable opportunities for education and continued professional development which are untested. Future research is needed on the concept of critical practices in LIS to establish the applicability of findings beyond the nine participants in this paper. Future research could explore whether similar results are obtained in different cultures, countries, and LIS contexts. Additional opportunity lies in the implementation of suggested opportunities and testing of its usefulness. Future research also could explore the emerging map of responses through the categories outlined in Selected Results for further development.

Conclusion

This paper has presented selected results from interviews with public librarians in New Zealand on their responses to questions on critical incidents influencing their professional identities. It has further demonstrated an explicit link between identity understandings and critical practices as defined in this paper. Results indicate critical incidents influence professional identities, and therefore behaviour and perceptions within the professional context, yet a lack of critical thought for some practitioners on the processes of those influences on identity negotiations. Results further indicate a variance of critical thought relative to the type of critical incident and question posed.

This paper has outlined opportunities for formal education and continued professional development. Specifically, opportunities lie in the form of cognitive spaces explicitly linking professional identity, influences on identity negotiations, and critical practices. In moving forward on discussions around critical information research, education, and practice, it aligns well with the ethos of critical practices to consider how identity plays a role in executing these practices, not only currently but also moving into the future.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Cameron M. Pierson

Cameron M. Pierson is a PhD candidate at Victoria University of Wellington. His professional practice has brought him to different types of libraries around the world. His research interests focus on librarian professional identity and its impact on the library-as-institution’s interaction with society and information seeking behaviour.

Professor Anne Goulding teaches management of information services and research methods at Victoria University of Wellington. Her research interest lie in management of library and information services with a focus on the demonstration of impact of service programs. She is Editor of The Journal of Librarianship and Information Science.

Jennifer Campbell-Meier is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Information Management at Victoria University of Wellington. Her current research projects examine professional identity and professional education within library and information science. Her research interests include professional development, mentoring, and library futures.