循本正源 探赜进路——芝加哥大学图书馆研究生院第26届年会学者群体的图书馆专业化思想

Thoughts on Library Professionalization from the Community of Scholars at the 26th Annual Conference of the University of Chicago Graduate Library School

芝加哥大学图书馆研究生院第26届年会学者群体将专业社会学理论与图书馆职业考察双向结合,首次直接系统探讨图书馆专业化议题,其思想在当代仍具借鉴价值。文章探究学者群体思想的内在逻辑联系及对图书馆职业的指导意义,展现会议“阐释理论-发现问题”和“提出理论-解决问题”的讨论过程,总结会议提出的专业核心特征思想、专业界限思想和专门化协调思想:专业核心特征思想从职业视角阐述衡量专业属性的标准,与会的社会学和图书馆学学者分别在这一理论框架下考察图书馆职业,揭示两个不利于专业化的因素;专业界限思想和专门化协调思想阐述专业与相关群体、社会的互动关系,从社会视角为化解不利因素提供理论指引,图书馆学学者据此阐发解决实践问题的构想。

The scholars at the 26th Annual Conference of the University of Chicago Graduate Library Schoolof combined sociological theories of professions with an examination of the library profession to provide the first direct and systematic examination of the issue of library professionalization,in a way that remains relevant today.The article explores the intrinsic logical connection between the scholars’ideas and their guiding significance for the library profession.By presenting the conference’s discussion process of“explaining theories-identifying problems”and“proposing theories-solving problems”,it summarizes the ideas proposed at the conference about core characteristics of the profession,professional boundaries,and specialized coordination.Within the theoretical framework of the idea of core characteristics of the profession,which elaborates the standards for measuring professional characteristics from a professional perspective,the sociologists and library scholars each examined the library profession,and identified two factors that militate against professionalization.The ideas of professional boundaries and specialized coordination describe the interaction between the profession and related groups and society,and provide theoretical guidelines for solving disadvantages from a social perspective,while the library scholars developed some ideas for solving practical problems.The thoughts of the community of scholars are instructive for the professionalization of librarianship.