Challenging Librarians: the Relevance of the Doctorate in

Professional Practice

Peter MacauleyDeakin University

Librarianship is an academic discipline but at present it occupies a basement in the house of intellect. It will climb upstairs when it can present a more firmly based tradition of scholarship, more certain and significant research findings, a less didactic approach to its subject matter so that students in library schools participate in academic questioning and argument rather than concentrating on learning a body of facts that will, inevitably, be out of date; and a more pervading sense of urgency and purpose.

(Jean Whyte, 1984)

Some Misconceptions

Pure Applied ResearchPrior to Career Mid-CareerAcademia ProfessionsFull-Time On-Campus Part-Time &/or Off-Campus

Young, male, science-based, H1

The Reality of Doctoral Candidature in Australia

72% are over 30 years oldApproximately 50% are part-time40% are part-time and off-campusOnly 40% enter academia51% male, 49% female55% are in professional fields of study= flexibility and diversity

(Ir)relevance of the Doctorate to Professional Practice

Programmes too narrowToo specialisedToo theoreticalPoor communication, interpersonal, and leadership skillsDoesn’t encourage multi-disciplinary or trans-disciplinary workPrecludes involvement of practitioners

Information/Knowledge

Librarians focus on informationResearchers focus on knowledgeTurning information into knowledgee.g. Information Literacy Framework cf. Research Degree Graduate QualitiesReproducing information Creating knowledge

A Practical Example

‘Doctoral research and scholarly communication: candidates, supervisors and information literacy’ Qualitative/ quantitativeQuestionnaires (400+ respondents)Interviews (72 candidates & supervisors)Four universities involvedPart-time, full-time, on-campus, off-campus

Information Literacy Statistics Online Research

Research Ethics Academic Writing Research Design

Survey Design Scholarly Communication

Adult Learning Theory

Project Management Advanced Project Management

Interpreting Qualitative Data

Scholarly Networking Academic Publishing Library Research Methods

Educational Methodologies

Faculty/Library Collaboration

Conference Presentation Skills

The Literature Review Distance Education Proposal Writing

Conducting Research Interviews

Research Culture Academic Publishing in Australia

Thesis Supervision Doctoral Pedagogy The Information Explosion

Higher Education Andragogy Pedagogy

Students from a NESB Pedagogic Continuity Disintermediation

Information Seeking Behaviour

Information Seeking in Practice

Writing Grant Applications

Librarianship is an academic discipline but at present it occupies a basement in the house of intellect. It will climb upstairs when it can present a more firmly based tradition of scholarship, more certain and significant research findings, a less didactic approach to its subject matter so that students in library schools participate in academic questioning and argument rather than concentrating on learning a body of facts that will, inevitably, be out of date; and a more pervading sense of urgency and purpose.

(Jean Whyte, 1984)

A Final Challenge

Consider undertaking a doctorateCreate some new knowledgeMake a significant contribution to professional practice