ERIC Number: EJ1106886
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016-Jul
Pages: 23
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1531-2542
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Mapping the Landscape of Practice across Library Communities
Whitworth, Andrew; Calvo, Maria-Carme Torras; Moss, Bodil; Kifle, Nazareth Amlesom; BlÄsternes, Terje
portal: Libraries and the Academy, v16 n3 p557-579 Jul 2016
Two academic libraries undergoing significant organizational changes were the location for a project that researched how staff members and subunits of the libraries made collective judgments, negotiated what is sometimes called the "landscape of practice"--the collective body of knowledge of their profession--and thus came to collective understandings about how to manage the changes they faced. Over a year, participants engaged in a series of facilitated sessions of concept mapping in which they created maplike diagrams depicting their knowledge of the library's operation. These sessions both facilitated and recorded the intersubjective agreement that staff members reached regarding the relevance of the resources available to them. These mapping sessions helped participants cross the boundaries between different communities of practice, groups of people working in the same professional area. The sessions enhanced participants' reflection on their own practices and their knowledgeability of other practices across the landscape of the library. The project shows how techniques for learning stewarding and enhancing knowledgeability can be integrated into a workplace environment, whether an academic library or elsewhere.
Descriptors: Communities of Practice, Academic Libraries, Organizational Change, Library Development, Library Administration, Concept Mapping, Change Strategies, Library Research, Library Services, Library Materials, Library Personnel, Interviews
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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