The information professional of
the future: polymath or dinosaur?
Dr Judith Broady-Preston
Senior Lecturer and Chair, Management
Research Group
Department of Information Studies,
Aberystwyth University, UK
Email: jbp@aber.ac.uk
Presentation to the inaugural CAVAL People in the
Information Profession Conference, Melbourne,
Australia, 15 and 16 October 2009
Introduction
“in a web 2.0 world, the "closed shop" model of
professionalism is dead in the water. The fundamental
transition of the "information society" is a transition from
traditional forms of authority to a much greater focus on
community: on collaboration and personalisation with
traditional barriers broken down. For a web 2.0 model of
society, we need a web 2.0 model of professionalism –
not just in our use of technology but in our culture and
ways of behaving.” (Bob McKee, July 2009)
Paper presents work of Aberystwyth Management
Research Group on related themes
Outline

Brief background: changing professional landscape

Boundaries and barriers

Definitions and scope

Concepts of professionalism - attributes and identity

Threats to Information Profession (IP): terminal decline?


Managerialism
Professional deskilling, knowledge and identity

Discipline versus profession?

Employer engagement and CPD
Where are we now?
Changing professional landscape

“Blurring (or demolishing?) boundaries”




Generic – UK Government Panel on Fair Access to the
Professions – July 2009 report
Information Profession – Impact web2.0, 3.0, 4.0 on sector
boundaries
Levels of practice – glass ceiling shatters?
Governmental drivers




Employability: Relationship HEIs and employers
Transferability (e.g. Bologna)
Recognition work-based learning – development of competency
frameworks and occupational standards
Emphasis on skills –’can do’
Definitions and scope


Is key question – what is a profession? [Cf Feather
(2009)]
Oxford English Dictionary defines a profession as:


an occupation in which a professed knowledge of some subject,
field, or science is applied; a vocation or career, especially one
that involves prolonged training and a formal qualification.
Also…as mass noun: occupations of this kind. (2009)
Of greater interest/significance is NOT exploration
determinants/attributes per se, BUT an investigation of
role of professions and individual professionals in
context of:


Societal change
“Radical transformation” [cf. Ackroyd, 1996 and Hotho, 2008)
Definitions and scope: key question
NOT exploration determinants or attributes, BUT
How do professions position themselves and respond in
context of:

Changing nature professions

Relationships at macro and micro level

Relationships professionals and society, including issues
social identity and self-esteem
Attributes and Identity

Attributes professions vs occupations – old hat?


Payne = 5 attributes; Feather = 4 attributes
Concept of “social meaning”
 a collective professional culture and integrity, developed
and maintained through formal and informal groups; such
formal groups including professional associations, and
educational and research centres.
Contemporary views:
NOT


“traits” ( how should a professional behave?)
OR

“functions” (what should a professional do?)
Professional identity and work:
contemporary views

Professions now


construct and use range techniques and practices to gain,
legitimise and maintain control over professional work to obtain
dominance over other groups and privileged economic/ social
status
BUT Professions under scrutiny - UK 2009 Panel on Fair
Access to the Professions concluded that:

“for all the progress that has taken place in recent years by
government tackling poverty and disadvantage and all the efforts
that have been made by the professions to expand the pool of
talent from which they recruit …many professions are still
unrepresentative of the modern society they serve…Most
alarmingly of all there is strong evidence, given to the Panel, that
the UK’s professions have become more, not less, socially
exclusive over time”
Professional identity: role of
professional associations?

Market dominance




Need for:



Reinforce demarcation lines – ‘spheres of influence’
Formalise education/knowledge base – e.g CILIP’s BPK
Accredit education/training providers – collective and individual
impact
wider perspectives – danger of narrow focus on
power/knowledge
“dialectic” or dialogue between individual and collective
profession (association)
Bigger players?

“Because our preoccupations are small and introverted, we are
sending a signal to CILIP to care very narrowly about the
internally focussed business of qualifications frameworks and
little else. And we are sending a message to society at large that
we do not really have a vision of ourselves as bigger players on
the wider social stage.” (Joint, 2007)
Threats to Information Profession
(IP): terminal decline?

Managerialism and intervention – cf Health sector

Professional deskilling and professional knowledge



Centrality maintenance unique corpus of knowledge in
professional identity
Defensive strategies – boundaries and expansion
Professional skills/knowledge vs competency frameworks
 Generic vs specific


Behaviours vs technical skill sets
Key question – if we no longer possess unique
skills/knowledge (cf Feather) is IP still a ‘profession’?
Discipline vs Profession?


Role and relationship academe and practice – harmony
or tension?
Professional associations



Audunson – 3 differing approaches IP education:




specify knowledge BUT do not deliver education
recognise education providers – accreditation and conferring of
professional status – NB differing models
Discipline/Profession/Vocation
Need for pluralist approach? Co-exist in “a fruitful tension”?
No agreed global/pan-European/Pacific rim curriculum
Is IP a “unique” profession? Cf Payne’s IM study
Employer engagement

Existence/impact extreme views:


Some futurists and radical thinkers, consider that the concepts of
‘qualifications’ and ‘professions’ may become obsolete. Instead,
people will continually build their own personal portfolios of
learning and development and access other learning in an open
way on the internet. Each person will have a learning plan and
‘qualifications’ will become incidental markers along the way for
those who need them. (Edwards, 2005)
Need for pro-active employer engagement



IP = self-regulatory profession ergo recognition of VALUE of
professional qualifications - employer’s choice!
CILIP 2009 TFG
Fundamental to continued existence?
Continuing Professional Development
(CPD)

Professional qualifications need to be:


Relevant and timely – i.e. contemporary
Ergo need for individual CPD




CILIP view (CPD Framework, 2004):


Balancing a library’s needs with individuals’ needs = complicated
process
Needs as perceived by individuals vary from those perceived by
their managers
overall lack of understanding across the profession about who
should be responsible for what aspects of CPD, what should be
offered, and who should be taking the initiative.
Effective partnership = essential if “overlapping aims improved
performance and individual career enhancement are to be met.”
Mandatorycompulsory CPD? Cf CILIP July 2008
Where are we now?


“Challenging times” – future not straightforward or
assured
Will the 21st Information professional be a



polymath – i.e. multi-skilled, flexible, adaptable and continually
learning?
dinosaur – clinging to outmoded prescriptive working practices,
inflexible, hidebound, obsolete/irrelevant skills set?
Mandatory CPD offers the profession opportunities to



Demonstrate equivalency with other professions
Market ourselves positively as highly trained and motivated
professionals
Ensure recognition of the value of professional qualifications +
training in a volatile environment
Current Aberystwyth Projects:
professional knowledge and identity

Broady-Preston:







CPD, employer engagement and employability
“blurring” the boundaries – mapping the contemporary IP
Determining professional skills/identity in a volatile environment:
the hybrid information professional (jointly with BL)
Toft – librarians perceptions of themselves and their role
Ramsey – contemporary roles and responsibilities of
paraprofessionals
Williams – cross-case comparison of the IP in the legal
environment
Masereka Pius – change and conflict: impact on role and
behaviours of academic librarians
Finally…

Hopefully a starting point for further
discussion/debate

Thank-you for listening – happy to answer
questions either now or in the future

Contact – jbp@aber.ac.uk