The Academic Librarian as Blended Professional
Reassessing and Redefining the Role

The Academic Librarian as Blended Professional employs a model that allows for individual and managerial reconceptualization of the librarian's role, also helping to mitigate obstacles to professional development both internal and external to the library.

Using traditional and personal narrative, the book extends Whitchurch?s blended professional model, designed to consider the merging of academicians? roles across several spheres of professional and academic influence in a higher education setting, to academic librarians.

The book is significant due to its use of higher education theory to examine the professional identity of academic librarians and the issues impacting librarian professional development. The work offers a constructive, replicable research design appropriate for the analysis of librarians in other academic settings, providing additional insights into how these professionals might perceive their roles within the larger context of a higher education environment.

Following the application of the blended professional model, this book contends that academic librarians have similar roles concerning research, instruction, and service when compared to an institution?s tenure-track faculty. The scope of professional productivity and the expectation of the librarians, though, are much less regimented. Consequently, the academic librarians find themselves in a tenuous working space where their blended role is inhibited by real and perceived barriers.

Chapter 1: Introduction and Background of the Study Chapter 2: Purpose of the Study/Research Questions Chapter 3: Historical Roles  A: Role of Academic Faculty  B: Role of Academic Librarians  C. Perception vs. Actuality of the Librarian Role  D. Women in Higher Education  E. Female Faculty and Administration Chapter 4: Methodology Chapter 5: Librarians vs. Tenure Track Faculty A. Research B. Instruction C. Service Chapter 6: Librarians as Blended Professionals A. Spaces B. Knowledges C. Relationships D. Legitimacies Chapter 7: Obstacles to Professional Development A. Time and Money B. Gender C. Organization Chapter 8: Implications and Future Research Chapter 9: Conclusion

Michael received a Bachelor of Arts in Classics and History, summa cum laude, from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 2003, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Alpha Theta, as well as a Master of Arts in History from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 2006. He additionally was inducted into Phi Kappa Phi and completed the requirements for the Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies for Higher Education Administration at George Mason University in 2011. Michael received his Doctor of Arts in Community College Education from George Mason University in spring 2015.

• Uses a model from the discipline of higher education in order to better conceptualize and understand the academic librarian's role in the institution
• Allows for the analysis and understanding of the librarian's identity and role in a context familiar to those outside of the academic library system
• Provides a unique understanding of both the library system and its librarians, explaining the nuances of the greater higher education collective