Et fag flere fagligheder - Forskning

Speciale: ET FAG - FLERE FAGLIGHEDER? Af: Ursula Constantin Andersen
ABSTRACT
This master’s thesis ‘One Profession – More Professionals?’ investigates the notion of
professionalism in the field of librarians and librarianship. Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse
analysis is used as a theoretical basis for a discourse analysis of 104 articles from
Bibliotekspressen, the journal of the Librarians Union.
The thesis objective is to explore whether the library profession has a consistant core of
professional competencies and qualifications, or if the title Librarian addresses too many
different notions of professionalism to be united in one profession.
Through a macro analysis, discourses are identified which approaches the subject in various
ways, where competencies, function, identification and status are seen as the four main
discourses of the field.
A microanalysis is carried out to identify values and positions in one article which is compared
to the identified discourses. Two basically different positions are identified.
Finally the analysis is compared to relevant sociological practices which concentrate on the
changes of the society and social institutions from modernity to radicalised modernity.
The thesis concludes that the dominant position of ‘the traditional librarian’ has a common
concept of core values, identities and competencies. But a large group of library professionals
has objectives that are incompatible with this position. The profession must therefore either
open up to a broader definition of professionalism, or define a more consistent profile.
2