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Currere As a Method for Critical Reflection in the Profession of Academic Librarianship

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Currere As a Method for Critical Reflection in the Profession of Academic Librarianship CURRERE AS A METHOD FOR CRITICAL REFLECTION IN THE PROFESSION OF ACADEMIC LIBRARIANSHIP by Richard A. Stoddart A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in Curriculum and Instruction Boise State University December 2015 © 2015 Richard A. Stoddart ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BOISE STATE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE COLLEGE DEFENSE COMMITTEE AND FINAL READING APPROVALS of the dissertation submitted by Richard A. Stoddart Dissertation Title: Currere as a Method for Critical Reflection in the Profession of Academic Librarianship Date of Final Oral Examination: 16 October 2015 The following individuals read and discussed the dissertation submitted by student Richard A. Stoddart, and they evaluated his presentation and response to questions during the final oral examination. They found that the student passed the final oral examination. Stan Steiner, Ph.D. Chair, Supervisory Committee Margaret Chase, Ph.D. Member, Supervisory Committee Jennifer L. Snow, Ph.D. Member, Supervisory Committee The final reading approval of the thesis was granted by Stan Steiner, Ph.D., Chair of the Supervisory Committee. The dissertation was approved for the Graduate College by John R. Pelton, Ph.D., Dean of the Graduate College. DEDICATION This work is dedicated to my parents who instilled in me the value of education at an early age through encouraging curiosity and reading, among other wonderful traits that I continue to rediscover every day. Finally, I dedicate this undertaking to my wife, Erin, without whose support, sacrifice, and inspiration, I could not have completed this project. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am eternally grateful to the librarians who were willing to explore, share, and discover a little bit more about themselves through reflection. Thank you for letting me have a window into these processes and struggles with my dissertation. Together, I think we have created an interesting case for critical reflection as a valuable addition to our beloved profession of librarianship. I would like to thank my adviser, Stan Steiner, for sticking with me through this process, as well as the dissertation committee, for their patience as I began this long journey which would be my study. Finally, I would like to thank the libraries where I have sought refuge and been employed in the past few years. Both the Oregon State University Libraries and the University of Idaho Library saw value in pursuing a doctorate in Education, as well as my project. The support and encouragement from all has been appreciated. v ABSTRACT Academic librarianship has an intimate association with narratives and stories from their traditional role in curating, caring for, and making collections accessible. Librarians also experience the intricacies and challenges of narrative inquiry through the qualitative research they undertake, oral histories they gather, reflective teaching practices they facilitate, and oral-traditions they interact with. Despite these intersections with reflection and narratives, academic librarianship, and library sciences as a whole, have not fully incorporated their own narratives within their practices. Academic librarianship has the ability but not the spaces to critically reflect in a holistic manner. Shadiow (2013) encourages us all to “recall, retell, and then scrutinize your stories” (p. ix) through critical reflection. One potential method to accomplish this task of “scrutinizing our stories” is the reflective technique known as currere. Grumet (1976a) suggests that currere allows us to put our “essences back into existence” (p. 41). Currere provides a pathway to putting ourselves back into librarianship much as it has done with other educators. This study explores the use of currere with a group of practicing academic librarians by the application of a reflection curriculum over a twelve week period. The central research question of this study seeks to answer is: What does structured, holistic, and critical reflection, such as currere, reveal about librarianship? Keywords: currere, critical reflection, academic librarianship vi TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ......................................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................................... v ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................. vi LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................... xi LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................ xii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................ xiii STATEMENT ON HUMAN LIVES RESEARCH ............................................................... xiv CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1 Librarianship, Stories, and Reflection .......................................................................... 1 Research Problem/Significance .................................................................................... 4 Being Heard: My Currere Experience .......................................................................... 6 Research Question(s) .................................................................................................... 7 Organization of Dissertation ......................................................................................... 8 CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE .......................................................... 10 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 10 Methodologies: Reflection, Autoethnography, and Narrative Inquiry ....................... 10 Encountering Subjectivity: Reflective Tradition in Academic Librarianship ............ 16 Currere as a Method for Reflection in Academic Librarianship ................................ 27 The Place for Currere in Academic Librarianship ..................................................... 33 vii CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY ............................................................................... 36 Overview ..................................................................................................................... 36 Participant Population ................................................................................................. 37 Recruitment and Informed Consent ............................................................................ 39 Cohort Demographics and Profiles ............................................................................. 39 Library Profile ............................................................................................................. 39 Librarian Profiles ........................................................................................................ 39 Cohort Profiles ............................................................................................................ 40 Privacy and Confidentiality ........................................................................................ 41 Risks and Power Dynamics ........................................................................................ 42 Study Design ............................................................................................................... 45 Currere: Regressive / Autobiography ......................................................................... 49 Currere: Progressive / Narrative Inquiry .................................................................... 50 Currere: Analytical / Autoethnography ...................................................................... 53 Currere: Synthesis/Participant Driven Methodology ................................................. 57 Peer Performance of Synthesis ................................................................................... 60 Follow-Up Survey ....................................................................................................... 60 Analysis....................................................................................................................... 62 Validity, Generalizability, and Other Concerns .......................................................... 62 Coherence ................................................................................................................... 67 Resonance ................................................................................................................... 69 Wakefulness ................................................................................................................ 70 viii CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS .............................................................................................. 73 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 73 Constraints: Self-Reported Data and Group Dynamics .............................................. 73 Observations on the Twelve-Week Curriculum ......................................................... 74 Synthesis Reflection Coding ....................................................................................... 79 Survey Pre-
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