Re-conceiving time in reference and information services work: a qualitative secondary analysis
| Pages | 2-17 |
| Date | 09 January 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-03-2016-0028 |
| Published date | 09 January 2017 |
| Author | Jenny Bossaller,Christopher Sean Burns,Amy VanScoy |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management,Classification & cataloguing,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Scholarly communications/publishing,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
Re-conceiving time in reference
and information services work:
a qualitative secondary analysis
Jenny Bossaller
School of Information Science and Learning Technologies,
University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA
Christopher Sean Burns
School of Information Science, University of Kentucky,
Lexington, Kentucky, USA, and
Amy VanScoy
Department of Library and Information Studies,
University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, USA
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to use the sociology of time to understand how time is perceived by
academic librarians who provide reference and information service (RIS).
Design/methodology/approach –This study is a qualitative secondary analysis (QSA) of two
phenomenological studies about the experience of RIS in academic libraries. The authors used QSA to
re-analyze the interview transcripts to develop themes related to the perception of time.
Findings –Three themes about the experience of time in RIS work were identified. Participants experience
time as discrete, bounded moments but sometimes experience threads through these moments that provide
continuity, time is framed as a commodity that weighs on the value of the profession, and time plays an
integral part of participants’narratives and professional identities.
Research limitations/implications –Given that the init ial consent processes v ary across organizat ions and
types of studies,the researchers felt ethically compelled to share only excerptsfrom each study’s data, rather
than the entire data set, with others on the research team. Future qualitative studies should consider the
potential for secondary analysis and build data managementand sharing plans into the initial studydesign.
Practical implications –Most discussions of time in the literature are presented as a metric –time to
answer a query, time to conduct a task –The authors offer a more holistic understanding of time and its
relationship to professional work.
Social implications –The methodology taken in this paper makes sense of the experiences of work in RIS
for librarians. It identifies commonalities between the experience of time and work for RIS professionals and
those of other professionals, such as physicians and software engineers. It suggests revising models for RIS,
as well as some professional values.
Originality/value –This paper contributes a better understanding of time, understudied as a phenomenon
that is experienced or perceived, among RISs providers in academic libraries. The use of secondary
qualitative analysis is an important methodological contribution to library and information science studies.
Keywords Reference services, Academic libraries, Phenomenology, Sociology of time,
Qualitative secondary analysis, Secondary analysis
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Time is often perceived as something fixed and regular, a consistent structure with which
we measure our lives. But in fact, our perception of time is all but fixed and regular. It speeds
up when we are engaged in a task and drags when we are bored. At times, it seems in short
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 73 No. 1, 2017
pp. 2-17
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-03-2016-0028
Received 9 March 2016
Revised 21 June 2016
Accepted 9 July 2016
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0022-0418.htm
An early draft of this paper was presented at the 2015 Annual Conference of the Canadian Association
for Information Science/L’Association Canadienne des Sciences de L’information (CAIS/ACSI)[1].
The authors express their gratitude for the feedback received at this presentation as well as for the
feedback received from the reviewers at this journal.
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JDOC
73,1
supply, and at others, it seems like it never ends. In the workplace, conceptions of time are
often reduced to efficiency and productivity, ignoring how time is perceived by workers and
how this perception affects performance, job satisfaction, and other cognitive and affective
dimensions of work.
This study focuses specifically on perceptions of time in the work of reference and
information service (RIS) professionals. It aims to refocus the discussion of time in RIS from
efficiency and productivity to how it is perceived by professionals and how it defines and
shapes their work. The insights gained from this new focus will further our understanding
of RIS and contribute to the broader discourse on the sociology of time. It also suggests
strategies that professionals and managers can use to improve RIS practice.
The study is a secondary qualitative analysis of the data from two phenomenological
studies on RIS work. In neither study was time an aspect of the initial research questions,
nor did it emerge as a theme in relation to those research questions; however, in both studies
issues concerning time were regularly mentioned. Therefore, the researchers decided to
focus on the concept of time and re-analyze both data sets with this new lens. We found that
while many of the passages referring to time focused on mundane aspects of work, such as
time pressure or productivity, some passages provided deeper insight into how time relates
to self-image or meaning, especially within the context of the profession.
Literature review
The information provision, communication, and instruction that comprise RISs work is
bounded by both the imminent reality of the reference transaction and the librarian’s
experience of the work itself. It is measured in the outcome of the transaction and the
perception of the interaction. This presents several possible ways to talk about the space
and time in which reference work occurs. The concept of time, and its cognitive and affective
impact, has not been explored as an aspect of the work experience of the RIS professional,
although the sociology of time is an important area of research for other professions.
The literature review synthesizes the scholarly conversation concerning time and
professional work with relevance to the emerging themes in the study.
Bergmann (1992) writes a thorough review of various sociological analyses of time of
most of the twentieth century. Of particular pertinence for this study are his discussions
regarding the sense of time as a non-linear phenomenon, the effects of industrial capitalism
on the sense of time, and the perception of time scarcity. He explains that sociological time is
not natural; it arises from impositions, limitations, and demands of social systems, or from
the “relationship between temporal perspectives and social roles, social classes […] social
planning, and so on”( p. 85). The feelings of scarcity or inadequacy that arise in relation to
time come from the disjuncture of personal sense of time vs expectations. This “time
pressure”is experienced in the professions ( pp. 113-115), though he says thatthe sociology
of time in professions had not yet been fully explored. In fact, the interest in time in
sociological circles has ebbed and flowed and wide areas remain to be studied.
Time as commodity
A concern about time, often framed by a valuation of efficiency and economy, has played a
central role in the foundations of modern librarianship. Samuel Swett Green (1876), for
example, said that “Almost all investigators are glad to have their labors shortened by
availing themselves of assistance,”and Melvil Dewey, who was reportedly obsessed with
time and efficiency (Wiegand, 1996), expressed a preference for efficiency through his
eponymous classification schedule and his school, the School of Library Economy. Dewey
would have been keenly interested in the impact that library automation had on the field.
Ralph Parker, the first person to begin work on and to automate library workflows (Burns,
2014), was motivated by a future that would entail greater efficiency and less drudgery.
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Re-conceiving
time in QSA
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