Abstract

Organizational culture often influences the success of professionals working in higher education, and within that culture, librarians and their impact on the academic community are often overlooked. Taking an interdisciplinary approach to the assessment of professional identity and issues impacting professional development, this qualitative case study extends Whitchurch’s (2009) blended professional model to academic librarians. By considering the merging of roles across several spheres of cultural and academic influence, this discussion provides for the exploration of an individual’s dichotomous perceptions of role and identity within an organizational culture. Based on an inductive analysis of seventeen qualitative interviews, this work contends that organizational, managerial, and administrative factors internal and external to the case library contribute to the low cultural perception and social standing of academic librarians. Faulty communication, lack of professional mobility, overly structured job descriptions, and poor use of talent within the organization all hinder individual and collective professional identity and development.