Challenging Librarians: the Relevance of the Doctorate in Professional Practice Peter Macauley Deakin 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in academic questioning and argument rather than concentrating on learning a body of facts that will, inevitably, be out of date; and a more pervading sense of urgency and purpose.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 Research Prior to Career Mid-Career Academia Professions Full-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 old Approximately 50% are part-time 40% are part-time and off-campus Only 40% enter academia 51% male, 49% female 55% are in professional fields of study = flexibility and diversity

(Ir)relevance of the Doctorate to Professional Practice Programmes too narrow Too specialised Too theoretical Poor communication, interpersonal, and leadership skills Doesn’t encourage multi-disciplinary or trans-disciplinary work Precludes involvement of practitioners

Information/Knowledge Librarians focus on information Researchers focus on knowledge Turning information into knowledge e.g. Information Literacy Framework cf. Research Degree Graduate Qualities Reproducing information Creating knowledge

A Practical Example ‘Doctoral research and scholarly communication: candidates, supervisors and information literacy’ Qualitative/ quantitative Questionnaires (400+ respondents) Interviews (72 candidates & supervisors) Four universities involved Part-time, full-time, on-campus, off-campus

Information LiteracyStatisticsOnline Research Research EthicsAcademic WritingResearch Design Survey DesignScholarly Communication Adult Learning Theory Project ManagementAdvanced Project Management Interpreting Qualitative Data Scholarly NetworkingAcademic PublishingLibrary Research Methods Educational Methodologies Faculty/Library Collaboration Conference Presentation Skills The Literature ReviewDistance EducationProposal Writing Conducting Research Interviews Research CultureAcademic Publishing in Australia Thesis SupervisionDoctoral PedagogyThe Information Explosion Higher EducationAndragogyPedagogy Students from a NESBPedagogic ContinuityDisintermediation 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 doctorate Create some new knowledge Make a significant contribution to professional practice