The experience of Korean academic librarianship

Abstract

There are numerous quantitative studies about job satisfaction, career choice, and perceptions of academic librarianship in professional Library and Information Science literature; however, not much qualitative work has been done to understand the lived experience of librarianship in any setting. A phenomenological study was conducted to understand the experiences of Korean academic librarians working in South Korea. Themes covering several aspects of academic librarianship emerged, linking career choice, LIS education and career readiness, relationships with faculty and students, and the development of professional librarianship and academic libraries in South Korea. In addition to adding personal context to quantitative studies about these issues, the phenomenological method used in this study enhances comparative librarianship literature by highlighting the universality and nuances of academic librarianship practice on a global scale.

Keywords

academic librarianship international librarianship career choice LIS education South Korea

Introduction

“My people cannot write characters even though they have hands, and cannot read characters even though they have eyes. Chosun needs new characters that are suitable for the people,” declared King Sejong the Great, fourth king of Chosun. In 1443, King Sejong’s concern regarding his people’s illiteracy resulted in his masterpiece: the Korean writing system called Hangul. Originally known as Hunminjeongeum, Hangul was brought to fruition in King Sejong’s research institute and library, Jiphyeonjeon (Hall of Worthies) and is generally regarded as one of the most scientific writing systems in the world. However, Jiphyeonjeon’s creation was indicative of earlier print and writing culture in Korea: wood block print made in the eighth century and moveable type preceding the Gutenberg press by 73 years have both been discovered in the country (WLIC, 2006). Jiphyeonjeon was also followed by the creation of university libraries: in 1475, Sungkyukwan University’s library (Chonkyunggak) was opened, and through the 19th and mid-20th centuries, private university libraries like the one at Ewha Woman’s University were also founded (Lee and Um, 1994).

LIS education was established after Korea’s liberation from the Japanese in 1946. Around the same time, the Chosun Library Association was formed; however, curriculum development and library conferences were brought to a standstill when the Korean War started in 1950. After the war was over, colleges and universities experienced steady growth and almost all of them had libraries. This growth created a need for organization and education of library workers, and the Korean Library Association was reestablished in 1955. Two years later, a library school was created at Yonsei University (Lee and Um, 1994; Cho, 1996; WLIC, 2006). In the following years, tumultuous political environments and rapid economic and technological developments have both benefited and constrained library development in Korea. On one hand, several laws promoting libraries have been created; on the other hand, academic libraries race to keep pace with collection development, staffing, and programs and services (WLIC, 2006).

Korea has three categories of librarians: first-grade professional librarians, second-grade professional librarians, and paraprofessional librarians. These grades are determined by education. While master’s degrees in LIS are not required to become a librarian, a second-grade librarian may be promoted to a first-grade librarian by taking courses or completing a ‘regular degree’; additionally, a paraprofessional librarian may be promoted to second-grade librarian rank by taking on more education or through years of service. Generally, all librarians must have at least a junior college-level education (WLIC, 2006).

Korean Ministry of Education statistics (KMOE) reveal that in 2013, there were 425 academic libraries employing 2790 full-time and temporary librarians; however, expanded KMOE data from 2008–2013 also show that more academic librarians are being hired as temporary workers, while the number of full-time regular academic librarians has declined (KMOE 2008–2013; see Table 1). It is important to note that in 2007, the South Korean government implemented the Non-Regular Workers’ Protection Act, which required companies to permanently hire temporary workers who have been employed for 2 years – a move that was meant to protect temporary workers, but instead spurred employers to implement “hire and terminate” protocols (Hankyoreh Media, 2008; Lee, 2008). Additionally, Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) usage has exploded in South Korea. The European Union notes that by 2011, “South Korea topped the ranking of internet use, with more than four in every five inhabitants online” (2012:82). NAVER, a popular Internet search engine in Korea, answered its 100-millionth query in 2013 (South Korea’s Internet giant, 2014), and the mobile messaging application Kakao Talk has captured 93 percent of South Korea’s mobile phone users (Frier, 2013). Declining numbers of librarians, LIS job stability, and users turning to search engines and personal networks to resolve information needs are familiar concerns to LIS professionals. In Korea, where the pursuit of higher education is rooted in tradition and highly competitive (Education, 2013), the questions of who will be managing libraries and guiding students of the Information Age are particularly pressing.

Table 1.

Korean academic library employment statistics, 2008–2013.

Year	Full Time Regular Librarians	Temporary Librarians
2008	2140	557
2009	2161	569
2010	2120	579
2011	2187	611
2012	2139	640
2013	2071	719

Korea’s impressive print culture and academic library development tells the story of a nation that holds education in high esteem. However, its rich history and statistical data only offer a terse outline of librarianship in South Korea, rendering the lived experiences of library and information science (LIS) professionals invisible. How and why are Koreans attracted to academic librarianship? What are their day-to-day experiences within the profession? Using a phenomenological method of qualitative inquiry and applying it to the context of modern LIS practice in South Korean academic institutions, this study brings into view systemic, cultural, and other issues that affect South Korean academic librarians as they practice a myriad of specialties.

Literature review

Lawyers debate precedents in courtrooms and firefighters douse large blazes; however, the profession of LIS is different because most of the work done by librarians is unseen by the public (Nardi and O’Day, 1999; Lee and Ngatai, 2004). Nardi and O’ Day assert “many of the contributions of librarians are invisible to library clients…[A]s a result, few people have much of an idea of what librarians do” (p. 82). There is a paucity of North American or international scholarly literature focusing on the self-described career and work experiences of LIS professionals; however, several studies offer some insight into issues that informed the present study.

Noh’s (2010) work on the career paths of Korean librarians revealed a feminized LIS profession, gender disparities in career advancement, concern about the devaluation of library education, and motivational factors for participation in professional development; however, the theoretical study focused on career mobility and job retention rates for librarians in all kinds of environments (public, school, etc.). Kim’s 2005 study primarily discussed barriers to using LIS research in practice, but it is useful to note that some barriers were linked to library organization, including “insufficient time on the job to implement new ideas,” “lack of authority to make changes,” and “a lack of support from other staff” (p. 441). The recent push to implement subject specialization in Korean academic libraries is also covered in LIS literature (Shin and Kim, 2002; Noh, Kim, et al., 2011; Otani and Shoko, 2012); and these works uncover Korean librarians’ desires to further professionalize librarianship without invalidating the current LIS curriculum and librarian licensing systems. Additionally, Noh, Ahn and Choi’s (2012) scrutiny of changes in the Korean LIS curriculum provides links between LIS education and career preparedness and offers insight into the kinds of courses practicing librarians believe would improve viability in the workplace.

Methodology

Approach

This research study is phenomenological and seeks to find meanings in South Korean academic librarians’ work and career experiences. These experiences were collected via in-depth interviews covering several aspects of library career and work-life. Transcendental significance is garnered via the participant’s responses, which are brought into clearer view via an exercise called epoche. Epoche allows researchers to approach rich data with as little prejudgment as possible in order to be more receptive to and perceive the phenomenon “freshly.” (Moustakas, 1994:60). Creswell notes that the goal of phenomenology is to find the common elements of individual experiences and reduce them to a “description of the universal essence” (2007:58); thus, this study aims to build an interpretation of South Korean academic librarianship via the descriptions of those involved in this experience.

Sample

A call to participate in the study was posted on the Korean librarian mailing list 도메리 (DOMERI). Participants were invited to take part in interviews. A purposive sample of seven women and four men who identified themselves as academic librarians working in South Korea participated in this study. All participants are native Koreans; just under half were between 25–35 years of age and just over a quarter were between 46–55 years old. Participant criteria were (a) experience working in a college or university library in South Korea, and (b) if necessary, willing to travel to Seoul to be interviewed. See Table 2 for a general demographic summary of participants.

Table 2.

Participant summary.

Participant

Late career male subject specialist working at a 4 year public national college/university, with more than 15 years’ experience, rank of Librarian I.

Late career male academic library policies coordinator working at a government/ministry office, rank of Librarian I.

Early career female serials/acquisitions librarian working at a 4 year private college/university, rank of Librarian II.

Early career female cataloger working at a 4 year private college/university, rank of Librarian II.

Early career female interlibrary loan/copy services librarian working at a 4 year private college/university, rank of Librarian II.

Early career female cataloger working at a 4 year private college/university, rank of Librarian II.

Late career female library administrator working at a 4 year private college/university, rank of Librarian I.

Late career male library administrator working at a 4 year private college/university, rank of Librarian II.

Late career male digital library/systems librarian working at a private college/university, rank of Librarian I.

Early career female serials/acquisitions librarian working at a 4 year private college/university, rank of Librarian II.

Late career female serials/acquisitions librarian working at a 4 year private college/university, rank of Librarian II.

Interview procedure

During May 2013, participants were interviewed individually over the course of a week in Seoul, South Korea. A Korean-language translator assisted with the interviews and participants were not required to speak English to participate. After obtaining informed consent and completing a short demographic and career background survey, each participant answered questions in a semi-structured interview. The semi-structured interview helped maintain focus on some topics while allowing freedom for participants to bring up other issues that could be addressed by the researcher. Follow-up questions and points of clarification were negotiated with participants via email with the help of a local interpreter. All interviews were recorded for subsequent review and verbatim transcription.

Data analysis

Subsequent analysis of the present data was performed using Colaizzi’s method of descriptive data analysis (1978). Participants’ interview transcripts were read several times to identify overall impressions. Significant statements or phrases that directly related to the experiences of academic librarians in Korea were identified, and meanings were created from these statements. These meanings were categorized into themes, which brought focus to commonalities of the experience of Korean academic librarianship for participants.

Results

Eleven verbatim transcripts were produced. From those transcripts, significant statements were selected and assigned formulated meanings. From the formulated meanings, 17 themes emerged. See Tables 3 and 4 for examples of significant statements and clusters.

Table 3.

Examples of significant statements of Korean academic librarians and formulated meanings.

Significant Statement	Formulated Meaning
I graduated with a bachelor's degree in library science, but after I completed the degree I realized that my undergraduate studies was not enough.	Undergraduate LIS education does not offer enough preparation for a career.
I think the biggest advantage is being able to satisfy my intellectual curiosity using various channels like the Internet or looking at books or talking with students and professors.	As an academic librarian, I’m able to learn about anything I’m interested in and discuss these topics with like-minded people.
In reality, the university does not have to hire librarians. Even in some libraries in Korea, the person who works in the library is not a librarian. The university can hire anyone with a four-year college from any major and ask them to work in the library.	Librarianship is perceived as a job anyone can do, and no particular skill set is required.
When I do user education, 10 out of 10 people are surprised at the amount of information that the library can provide, they have an improved image of the library and the librarian.	Library instruction is a solid path to helping showcase the value of libraries and librarians.

Table 4.

Example of one theme cluster with their formulated meanings.

Stagnant library development

Inconsistent library leadership slows down long-term planning and results in erratic library policies

Library is headed by non-librarians

Budget cuts

Changing role of librarian

Decreasing collection development spending

Downsizing or removal of librarians

Lack of faculty support

Changes in user preferences (in-person to remote use)

Theme 1: Clear career choice

In this theme, participants discussed why they became academic librarians. Participants were almost equally split between choosing librarianship based on their personality traits or value systems, filial piety, or as a matter of professionalism. A female academic librarian in her mid-20s said,

“I really like helping people. This is really rewarding and I always wanted to get involved with an educational institution. I really like to see people growing and people can get good resources from me and I think that’s cool.”

Another older male academic law librarian recalled his career choice for academic librarianship was because

“I liked to read books, manage books, and manage information, so I decided to do something related to that.”

For other respondents, parents and family members played a large role in their career decision. A mid-career library administrator remembered, “So I happened to be a librarian because my mom decided which major I should go to.” For others, their career choice was a mixture of values and educational preparation. One young cataloging librarian mentioned,

“When I thought of volunteering to society, I thought I should do something specific. So I chose library science as my major and then after that I graduated and became a librarian.”

Professional recognition of the field also swayed participants’ decision to pursue academic librarianship. A male academic library administrator succinctly stated that

“[i]n Korean society, working for a university as a librarian is the way to be recognized as a specialized profession. That’s why I chose to become a university librarian.”

Theme 2: Transitioning career expectations

Respondents had an idea about what librarianship entailed before they began their LIS education, and they gained a clearer understanding of the skill sets LIS required after they were employed in the field.

Before beginning their LIS education and subsequent LIS careers, many participants associated librarianship with books and reading, even if they weren’t sure what other skills the job required. A government employee recalled,

“I didn't know much about the job specifically, but I knew that I could have a job where I could be close to books.”

Respondents gradually reconciled their original thoughts of bookish employees with more dynamic actions. A current library school graduate student and part-time library employee remembered,

“I think what I knew at the time was very little. I thought of librarians as people who just checked out books for people. But I came to realize that librarians were more involved in managing information.”

Theme 3: Murky career preparation

Librarians realized during their LIS practice that they were not as prepared for a library career as they would have liked, regardless of their education levels. A serials/acquisitions librarian with a bachelor’s degree noted,

“Sometimes [professors] require very specific specialized knowledge, which is insufficient with my breadth of knowledge. They have more knowledge and specific information, so I feel limited by this fact,”

while another librarian with more experience and a master’s degree asserted,

“I think when I was an undergraduate student, I didn't get many computer science [classes]. But now I'm a librarian and I have some difficulty… That’s why I got an ORACLE certificate last year, but I'm still having a hard time understanding.”

The same participant went on to state how this knowledge gap impacted her daily work, mentioning,

“Sometimes I feel like I really need to study more because a lot of vendors are visiting us and sometimes I feel like I [don’t] understand what they are saying.”

Theme 4: Continuing education

Korean academic librarians discussed continuing education, noting courses available via the National Library of Korea (NLK) and the Korea Education and Research Information Service (KERIS). Fear of technological obsolescence was cited as a reason for participating in continuing education. A male librarian with 15 years’ experience mentioned,

“[Technology] is just changing so fast, so it’s really hard to keep up with. We take a lot of seminars or read, or try hard to keep up with technologies.”

Another male librarian echoed the worry about technology, linking continuing education to modeling behaviors for colleagues and future librarians:

“The reason why I decided to pursue continuing education is because I shouldn't fall behind because of technology and also I felt that someone should do it in order for others to follow the same path.”

The main benefits to continuing education were the satisfaction of self-development, networking, and remaining current about LIS practice. “I can keep up with knowledge and trends…there are lots of good seminars for academic librarians, so it makes me learn and grow more,” said a serials librarian working at a private urban university. A cataloging librarian mentioned that she enjoys

“the information exchange from other librarians I meet, and I get to know about what other librarians are doing. This is invigorating and vigorous.”

Theme 5: LIS curriculum limitations

Participants worried about the limitations of the LIS education system in Korea and how they related to specialization in the field. Constraints of the curriculum were often couched in the context of comparing perceptions of American library education standards. One participant noted,

“In Korea you graduate with a bachelor’s degree in library science, whereas in the United States you do an undergraduate degree in a different major and then you do a master’s in library science. Therefore in Korea, you don’t have specialized librarians.”

Another mentioned,

“Korean librarians are unable to provide services because the educational system is different. [In the United States] You have people who major in library science from the graduate level and they have specializations where they focus on specific topics. They are able to assist with research, whereas in Korea, there is no such thing.”

Theme 6: Professionalization of librarians

Academic librarians were concerned about the professionalization of librarianship, and they engaged in activities that are generally reflective of professionals: participating in communities of practice, networking with colleagues, and building collaborative relationships with colleagues, the campus community, and library users. Regardless, these activities were overshadowed by worries about gaining society’s confidence in professional status and worries about not having control over who enters the field.

Respondents perceived that Korean society has not yet given librarians authority to be professionals. These perceptions are realized in the following statements from respondents: “Librarians in Korea are raising their voices, saying ‘we are professionalized, we have professional jobs,’ however society refuses to give them that amount of recognition,” and “[s]ometimes I'm disappointed in the lack of recognition of librarians by Korean society in general.”

Numerous paths into library practice also present problems for the field. One acquisitions librarian discussed the negative impact of not having formal educational requisites of entry into LIS practice:

“The main problem that was and still remains unresolved today is there are so many ways a person can become a librarian. The qualifications when one thinks of a librarian don’t exist. That’s the biggest threat…There’s a big difference between institutions that have formally educated librarians and librarians who are just chosen from somewhere else and then placed inside the library…You can graduate from a two- or three-year college and become a librarian or you can just be a person who hasn't majored in library sciences and be hired and receive training and then be a librarian. These types of people, since they haven't received a formal education in library science, they aren't a very big help to the library. According to their level of competency, they should be given different jobs, but this is not the case, so they have misunderstanding and conflicts with faculty.”

Theme 7: Subject specialization

Specialization arose as a path to LIS professionalization in Korea; however, participants believed specialization has implications of devaluing LIS degrees at the undergraduate or graduate levels. Several respondents mentioned or discussed at length Yonsei University Library’s subject specialization program, where the library hires candidates with a degree in a non-LIS discipline and then allows them to earn the masters’ level library degree within a certain amount of time after their employment begins. A majority of participants disagreed with this approach, and one participant discussed her own institution’s liaison training program, which focuses on helping currently licensed librarians become subject specialists. She explains:

“As an alternative to the trend of hiring people as librarians who don't have library licenses, there was a woman librarian [at my institution] who said ‘why should we have people who don't have library licenses become specialized librarians? Why can't we have librarians who receive training to become specialized librarians?’ She was the one who trained us to become liaison librarians.”

A library administrator underscored LIS professionalism and its link to specialization, gravely stating,

“I’ve thought a lot about how librarians can be recognized as specialized professionals but the hard thing is in the United States there are so many different types of intellectual interests and research that’s going on, so it’s easy for a librarian to specialize in one area. But in Korean society there is a tendency where if one thing becomes popular, then everybody rushes to that one thing. So it’s hard for librarians to have a specialization in one certain thing…[Difficulties of specialization] is one thing I lose a lot of sleep over – I think about it a lot.”

Theme 8: External perceptions of librarianship

Librarians discussed how co-workers, faculty members, and students’ perceive their work. Respondents felt that university employees in other departments perceived library work as light duty, requiring no skills and minimal effort. A respondent from a private university scoffed,

“[University employees] think working in a library is very comfortable. They also send university employees who are sick or need a bit of a break to the university library.”

Respondents believed faculty members felt superior to them and that they rarely showed support for librarians. Noting the superiority faculty feels over librarians, an interlibrary loan librarian asserted that “[m]ost professors don't see librarians as a supporter of their research, but rather as an employee who’s below them.” This sentiment is further reflected in a cataloger’s perception that professors also doubt librarians’ research skills:

“In Korea, professors don't perceive librarians as equals who would be able to participate in their research. They would ask, ‘are librarians' able to conduct this research or role?’ They kind of see librarians as inferior, like, below them.”

Turning to student perceptions, respondents made distinctions between undergraduate and graduate students. An early career librarian with teaching experience noted,

“I think graduate students know much more and acknowledge librarians because they have to write theses. So they have to ask about how to write references and how to submit the dissertations. So they are really thinking, ‘oh, I can ask those people about how to write a thesis and how to find articles.’”

Conversely, undergraduate students are agnostic about librarians. Said one library administrator:

“I don't think the students distinguish the staff from the librarians. All the people in the library: the ones who works at circulation or the one who works as a subject specialist, in the students’ eyes they are all librarians.”

External perceptions surrounding lowered work value, condescension, and lack of recognition from co-workers and library users resulted in negative emotional outcomes for academic librarians. Respondents discussed their hurt feelings due to erroneous perceptions of their careers. A respondent who began her career as a teacher-librarian in a middle school recounted,

“I had a hard time. My principal always yelled at me, ‘what do you do, you're only just checking out books and that’s all you do.’”

The same respondent talked about managing her hurt feelings stemming from co-workers who think library work is easy, explaining,

“When I was first working, I thought [the idea that people think my job is easy] was mean and I took it very personally. Now I think, ‘well maybe people can think like that because other staff do work a lot,’ so I don't want to be angry with them. I just want to be like, ‘ok, people think like that but I want to keep working hard as much as I can.’”

Theme 9: Stagnant library development

In Korea, the university president or a dean of a college appoints someone – often a faculty member who is not a librarian – to run the library. A systems librarian expounds:

“The dean of the school appoints the head of the library. They have no expertise in library sciences and they are people that don’t even use the library…Usually college professors from the College of Humanities tend to become the university librarian, but they don’t know about the library. The library is a very complicated organization but they don’t know anything about it…They don’t have any experience in management. Sometimes a professor who has experience being the head of an administrative office becomes the head of the library and that does help.”

Respondents added that these administrative university librarian appointments are rotational, lasting about 2 years per incumbent. This rotation causes delays in effective leadership and contributes to inconsistent strategic planning, shown in the following responses:

“When the director first comes here, we have to report to them how jobs are done or how the library is organized, things like that. So for a couple of months we prepare documents and educate them,”

“Last year we planned the five year strategic plan and our boss told me, ‘I'm not going to be here for three of the years, so it’s all up to you.”

Participants revealed other delays in library development due to erratic library leadership. Appointed library administrators may not be familiar with library management; thus, budgets may suffer, collection development policies may not reflect user preferences, and staff shortages may occur. The systems librarian noted,

“The current dean doesn't know the reality, because there is a demand for paper books. He doesn't know anything about it.”

Other respondents recalled,

“The head of the library and the dean of the school have promised to reduce the size of the library,”

“Last month we opened our new international campus, but the university didn't hire anyone. So we sent the librarians from here to that library.”

Theme 10: Librarian roles

In this theme, respondents’ thoughts centralized on the roles of the academic librarian. Pride of librarianship was evident: “Being a librarian, we can play a very central role in the achievements of students and professors. I feel this is an advantage of being a librarian,” mentioned one interviewee. However, pride was tempered with budget and employment worries:

“When there are cutbacks or layoffs in the universities, librarians tend to be the first on the list and that phenomenon is intensifying, so libraries are unable to fulfill their role.”

These worries were underscored by a sense that librarians and libraries don’t have a solid support base. A systems librarian at a private 4-year university explained,

“if the college needs something, the professors organize and they push from behind and support the college. But when the library has cutbacks on employees or budget, nobody comes to take action or support the library or complain against this type of action.”

Theme 11. The heart of a campus?

Discussing the library’s role on campus, librarians responded with a quote that is frequently attributed to renowned former Harvard University President Charles W. Eliot: “The Library is the Heart of the University.” There were two schools of thought behind this idea: Inspired Action and Tired Rhetoric. The Inspired Action group discussed their wholehearted belief in Eliot’s statement. For example:

“I was taught that the library is the center of the university and it’s a basis for research and study. I personally believe this is true.”

This group also felt a sense of evolution with modern library spaces and services. An early career acquisitions librarian said,

“I think that the role and function of libraries is evolving now. It’s not so much just an institution that’s only for research, but it’s a place where students can rest. It’s also a multifunctional place where exhibitions go on.”

The Tired Rhetoric group often cited Eliot’s quote with marked levels of disillusionment, reflected in these telling responses:

“Usually in universities, the library is said to be the heart of the university; however, amongst librarians in Korea, the joke is that it’s more like the spleen,”

“Well, literally speaking, the library is the heart of the university, but in reality at [my university], the president is very focused on [a road project].”

A male librarian with over a decade of experience offered an explanation merging these two schools of thought, but with a nod to the administrative perspective:

“It’s commonly said that the library is the heart of the university, but most people tend to not think of the meaning behind it, but just repeat it like a slogan. People don’t tend to see why the library is the heart of the university and why it is important. University officials who have the mind of a manager or executive – if they understood the meaning behind this saying – they would invest actively in expanding or developing the library. However those who have a business or executive mind but who don’t understand this slogan just think of the library as a waste of money because it’s not a place where you produce results…I personally think that the library is important and that the role of the librarian is important, but in the mind of the university official who thinks like a business executive, the library is not important.”

Despite the split regarding the academic library’s role, respondents felt that outreach activities and library instruction help the campus community realize the library’s value. One librarian disclosed plans for faculty instruction at her institution:

“This year we are trying to create a new library instruction class just for staff. So now they know what we actually do and this is an opportunity for us to advertise…”

A male librarian working at a suburban campus also observed the positive relationship between user education and perceptions of library value:

“When I do user education, I tell the students about discovery services and they're all surprised. These are the types of efforts that Korean librarians are trying to make via user education.”

Theme 12: Job benefits and challenges

Korean librarians enjoyed perks and identified disadvantages of practicing LIS in academia. Access to books and information and job stability were top benefits: “I think the biggest advantage is being able to satisfy my intellectual curiosity using various channels like the Internet or looking at books…” noted a law librarian. Working as an academic librarian also offers better job security, an advantage mentioned by newer and experienced librarians.

Disadvantages of academic librarianship included a down side to job stability and emotional or systemic constraints on professionalism. One serials librarian said,

“Because [academic librarianship] is such a stable job, there’s no motivation and it’s easy to become complacent. That’s the biggest disadvantage.”

Various limits on the professional practice of LIS were also identified. One cataloging librarian at a small urban institution mentioned the emotional burden of going unnoticed and putting in efforts to be recognized:

“I think being a librarian is an invisible existence, and the department is also invisible…the effort of [becoming visible] is tiring.”

A male librarian with national academic library policy experience lamented,

“Because of the very monolithic system, I'm unable to create new types of programs that are needed.”

Another male library administrator insightfully noted that his desire to be a professional often conflicts with the time he has available to perform his basic duties:

“There is no opportunity to implement or show professionalism. As a librarian I'm aware of the path I should take, but there’s no time for me to do anything or put in any effort.”

Theme 13: Gender roles

Respondents discussed gender advantages and disadvantages in academic librarianship. Female respondents noted the benefits of working in a feminized career, including less discrimination and a perception of the career as family-friendly. Female librarian disadvantages overwhelmingly centered on preferred hiring practices and career advancement for male librarians: A female acquisitions librarian perfunctorily stated, “When they're hiring for positions they do tend to prefer men.” Another female librarian implied that this preference also affects career advancement: “Team leaders here are all males.” Male librarian respondents brought up the gender advantage of hiring and career mobility as well; however, they cited gendered work as a disadvantage in librarianship: “[Men] are expected to do jobs concerning manual labor and physical strength,” noted a male library administrator.

Theme 14: Job satisfaction

Rather than overall job satisfaction, Korean academic librarians mentioned satisfaction with specific aspects or outcomes of their jobs. One newer acquisitions librarian responded,

“I'm satisfied that I've had a lot of various experiences in my career. I've learned a lot compared to the number of years I've worked as a librarian.”

One cataloging librarian was very specific about when she is happy with her job:

“When I do user education people sometimes come up to me and say ‘thank you for today’s education’ I feel very good about that.”

When job dissatisfaction concerns arose, larger issues of recognition and parity were mentioned. A serials librarian explained,

“Librarians are dissatisfied with their jobs because even when they do work, there are no gains that come back to them. So they've just given up. There’s no monetary or physical compensation, nor is there a feeling of achievement.”

Theme 15: Uncertain job outlook

Korean academic libraries have joined the economic trend of hiring temporary employees; thus, academic librarians may find it hard to find permanent employment. One respondent explained Korea’s Non-Regular Workers Protection Act and how it has impacted library employment and staffing:

“I don’t know if you know this but in Korea – I don’t know the exact name of the law but we call it ‘Irregular Staff Law.’ Irregular staff means that employees don’t have tenure. They work full-time but if the company hires the person more than two years, they have to give them lifetime benefits. They cannot work at the company for more than two years. If the company wants to hire the person more than two years, they have to switch the employee to a regular (full time, permanent employee). That’s the social problem now. Especially in librarianship, the job of librarians. More and more temporary jobs. The library won’t hire librarians as full-time permanent employees. That’s not only for librarianship, but in Korea in general that’s a very serious problem.”

Permanent full-time library jobs are rarely available. An acquisitions librarian tersely stated, “They don't want to hire any librarians, “and another respondent echoed, “Speaking of my library, the numbers of librarians at my library, no new librarians are being hired.” These decisions create staffing shortages in affected institutions, which, when combined with the practice of arbitrarily moving library workers to other university departments, places even more strain on current employees. A cataloging librarian said, “My library has the lowest ratio in the country of librarians per student. So the number of jobs librarians take may be a lot.” A serials librarian simply declared: “Cutting down the number of librarians leads to more work on individual librarians.”

The lack of job availability discouraged librarians from recruiting people to the LIS field. A recent graduate stated,

“I've heard there are students who work part-time in the library who say that they want to become librarians, but I cannot really say, ‘go ahead and study library sciences’ because there are so few job openings.”

Another respondent added that earning a top-notch library degree doesn’t solidify gainful employment:

“I do want to encourage people to become librarians, but even [graduates of] Yonsei University, one of the top universities with library science, are unable to get full-time jobs.”

Theme 16: Lowered professional engagement

As noted in Theme 4 (continuing education) and Theme 6 (professionalization), academic librarians take advantage of continuing education provided by library associations and institutions and this group also strives toward professional recognition; however, discussions about participation in professional associations reveal a disconnect between these actions and goals. Many participants were not members of professional LIS associations (e.g., Korean Library Association, Korean College and University Library Association.) A respondent explained the common practice of not joining professional associations in Korea:

“I am not a member of any association, but not being a member of an association is a common thing…The reason why people don’t need to join associations in Korea is because school ties are extremely important in Korea. So if I’ve graduated from a school there are other people who graduated from the same school [who work] in various different libraries, so I already know what’s going on in these various libraries through these connections.”

Participants felt there were no benefits of joining associations. A serials librarian stated,

“The general perception among Korean librarians is ‘what has the KLA done for us?’ The National Library of Korea and KERIS has done more for us than KLA.”

A late career acquisitions librarian also explained,

“[The university /academic library associations] are focused on libraries, not librarians! They are not interested in the quality of librarians – what librarians should be doing, the rights of librarians. They're only interested in quantity, the size of the library, and the quantity of books. The only thing concerning librarians is the number of librarians, and even this is not about how many first degree, how many second degree librarians there are – just the simple number of librarians.”

Theme 17: Some LIS advocacy

Respondents discussed library advocacy within the context of national library policy, namely, the National University Library Promotion Bill, which was introduced to Parliament in 2008 and seeks to promote governmental support and create basic quality standards for college and university libraries. The bill has not been approved yet, and one respondent explained why:

“Right now, university librarians are represented by the association of university librarians, and public librarians are represented by the national library association. There’s a difference of opinion between the association since one takes care of the university librarians and the other takes care of the public libraries. Right now the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology takes care of university libraries, and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism takes care of public libraries, so the Korean government has a two-pronged management system, which makes it difficult to have a unified library policy.”

Interviewees mentioned the importance of rankings in Korean education and noted that an important part of this bill’s success rested on university administrators’ desire to place highly in any ranking system; however, they also felt that library administrators did not place much authority in the Ministry’s policies, nor would any policies have any direct influence on their work. A male library administrator summed up this conflicting feeling, stating:

“I don’t think the passage of the bill will change perceptions of university libraries, [but] I think it’s better than having no bill.”

Discussion

In this study, Korean academic librarians made clear decisions to pursue librarianship as a career. Participants originally thought they’d be working with or caring for books; however, after gaining employment, they realized library work was much broader, and they felt unprepared to perform the full spectrum of duties. Feelings of being unprepared, especially with regard to fast changing technologies, led to participation in continuing education. Engaging in continuing education also highlighted the constraints of LIS curricula and echo Noh, Ahn and Choi’s study revealing that “courses like Practicum in Organizing and Managing Web Resources, Library Planning, Marketing, and Assessment, Understanding Information Technology for Managing Digital Collections and Information and Communication in a Digital Age need to be considered for becoming core courses” (2012:360).

Several studies have uncovered the interest in and conflicts of pursuing subject specialization in Korea, and these phenomena were an important part of experience for participants in this study. Participants felt that promoting specialization is a promising path to LIS professionalization, but the current education system is a barrier. Some libraries have created their own programs to recruit subject specialists, and many librarians are wary of such programs, feeling that they favor other disciplines over LIS. Thus, librarians in Korea are working to create programs that offer specialization training without undoing the current LIS education model in Korea.

External negative or ambivalent perceptions of what library work entails was significant, and librarians experienced negative emotions as a result. These external perceptions plagued several areas of library work, from stunted library development to tense relationships with coworkers, faculty members, and library users. Librarians try to show their worth to the Korean academic community by promoting the library’s value. They are proud of the work they do on their campuses, even though they are disappointed in how their institutions’ administrations choose to show their support of the library.

Job stability and having access to information are advantages to being an academic librarian, but complacency and arbitrary work constraints mean that librarians can have a difficult time staying motivated. As discussed in Noh’s study (2010), participants noted LIS feminization and career path differences based on gender. Female librarians believe that librarianship is a great job for women because of its stability and because the field is feminized; however, they also perceive that male workers are preferred. Male librarians also believe that the preference for male employees is an advantage – they noted they are able to advance in their careers much faster than their female colleagues.

Looking at the future, a large area of concern pertains to library employment. Some libraries are not hiring at all, and de facto implementation of the Non-Regular Workers’ Protection Act by many institutions has further devastated the prospects of full-time, permanent employment for librarians. Lowered opportunities for employment lowered the willingness of academic librarians to recruit people to the LIS field, which in turn endangers the sustainability of modern librarianship in Korean society.

Academic librarians in Korea do not generally join professional organizations because they don’t feel a sense of affinity for the groups and believe that these groups do not speak for them. Regardless of the lack of direct professional engagement, there is library advocacy activity, particularly at the national level. The current library promotion bill focusing on academic libraries has been in parliament for some time. Passage of the bill will offer minimally positive outcomes and academic librarians hope that it will create a foundation for more legislation in the future.

From initial decisions about the career of LIS to the slow fight for continuing support in Korean parliament, respondents to this study reveal that the breadth and depth of academic library work remains largely unseen. Additionally, the experiences recounted in the interviews disclose that the public parts of library work are discounted or misunderstood in Korean academia.

Asking librarians to recount their career experiences revealed that liaison work (subject specialization) and outreach instruction activities could help increase visibility, especially with regard to librarians feeling more on par with faculty members and garnering support for the library when needed. Working in tandem with these domestic efforts, international study abroad programs also seem to positively impact how users view the library. A small number of participants noted that students and faculty who have attended colleges and universities abroad return to Korea with different expectations of librarians and a new perspective of the library’s role in their academic lives. Surprisingly, a minority of respondents also admitted a positive side of rotational library leadership: people who arrive to the position knowing nothing about libraries leave the position as advocates for the organization.

Implications and future research

A construction of the experiences encountered in South Korean academic librarianship has been created. This research positions LIS work and career life in South Korea as invisible and misunderstood, both to those considering librarianship and to managers and users of academic library services on college and university campuses. Those considering librarianship do not realize the true nature of the career until after beginning work; people who manage libraries often do so without understanding library organization; and those who use libraries may be agnostic about library workers’ roles in academic success. The invisibility of library work may have long-term negative impacts on the viability of librarianship in South Korea, particularly in the areas of LIS recruitment and consistent library development, which is erratic due to rotational leadership and staffing shortages or short-term employees. Areas of future inquiries include: expanding the current qualitative study to incorporate methodology triangulation (e.g., gathering experiential data from work journals, observations, etc.), monitoring the development of subject specialization and its relationship to LIS professionalism; objectively measuring program, outreach, and instruction activities and any links to changes in external perceptions of librarianship; and delving into the relationship between professional engagement and library advocacy in South Korea academic librarianship.

Footnotes

Appendix: Semi-structured interview schedule

Why/how did you decide to become an academic librarian?

Other than librarianship, what other careers did you consider?

Before choosing librarianship, what did you know about the career?

What influence did your college entrance test scores have on your career decision?

How often do you interact with students and faculty?

How do you feel about your interactions with students and faculty?

Would you tell me what role you think the library plays at your university?

What role do librarians play at your university?

How do you think your role is perceived by students, faculty, and college administration?

What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of being a librarian?

What do you think are the advantages and advantages of being a male/female librarian?

How have you responded to problems you encounter most often as a librarian at your college/university?

In what ways has technology affected your job and how have you adapted to these technologies?

Thinking about national academic library policies (MEST), which policies have had the greatest impact on the development of academic librarianship?

Which policies have had the greatest impact on you and why?

If you have completed continuing education courses or certifications, why did you take the courses?

What benefits did you gain from taking the courses or completing the certification(s)? (If you haven’t completed any courses or certifications, would you discuss why not?)

Think about academic librarianship in the next few years. What do you think are future opportunities and threats to the profession?

Thinking about your experiences as a librarian, tell me why you would or would not make the same career decision today.

What ideas do you have to recruit more people to academic librarianship in Korea?

Is there anything you would like to tell me that would help me understand Korean academic librarianship better?

What questions you would like to ask me?

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to acknowledge the work and guidance of Mr. Won Jang and Ms. Da Eun Hong, Korean-English language interpreters. The author also thanks those who participated in this study. 진심으로 감사합니다.

This research was supported by a 2013 University of South Carolina Lancaster Research and Productive Scholarship Award.

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