The International Information & Library Review (2011) 43, 144e148

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Young librarians unite: Possibilities for professionaltransformation in Japanese librarianship

Eriko Amano

Graduate School of Policy and Management, Doshisha University, Japan

KEYWORDSSocial networks;Social capital;Profession in transition;Knowledge transfer;Interorganizationalnetwork;Professional learning;Japanese librarianship;Japan

E-mail address: amanoeriko@gmai

1057-2317/$ - see front matter ª 201doi:10.1016/j.iilr.2011.07.003

Abstract The interorganizational networking communities have spontaneously emerged amongyoung Japanese librarians in recent years. This study explores the role of the communities from theperspectives of professional knowledge management, social networks and social capital, and thepossibilities to reconstruct the Japanese librarianship. The study examined the following researchquestions: 1) What outcomes did young librarians who had participated in the interorganizationalsocial networkingcommunities getespecially in terms ofknowledgeacquisition andaffections?And2)What possibilities do the young librarians communities have to transform Japanese librarianship?Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with five librarians to gain insight into howthey engage in and feel about outside social networking activities and training opportunities.The results showed that the young librarians’ voluntary communities helped build social networks,provided opportunities for the transfer of tacit knowledge, and were a source ofmotivation for theparticipants. They also suggested that the communities could have a significant impact on the tran-sition of Japanese librarianship.ª 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Introduction

Many interorganizational networking communities havespontaneously emerged among young Japanese librarians inrecent years. This study explores the role of the commu-nities from the perspectives of professional knowledgemanagement, social networks and social capital, and thepossibilities to reconstruct the Japanese librarianship.

Emerging communities of young librarians

The activities of the communities comprised of relativelyyoung librarians have become conspicuous in recent years.

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The communities were emerged spontaneously in differentplaces throughout Japan and in small groups at the begin-ning but with a few of them quickly growing into nationwideorganizations. They appear to enjoy and make optimal useof the new web-based social networking tools such asGoogle Groups, Wiki, Skype, and Twitter. These types ofnetworks were referred to as “electronic networks ofpractice” by Wasko, Faraj, and Teigland (2004). Unliketraditional library associations, these young communitieshave neither membership systems nor steering committeesand are willing to communicate and collaborate with otherprofessions. Here are a few examples:

1. U40 Future Librarian (http://futurelibrarian.g.hatena.ne.jp/) was organized in 2009 as a loose community oflibrarians under 40. It seeks to encourage librarianship

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Professional transformation in Japanese librarianship 145

by creating a loose network of library stakeholders. Theyhave hosted nationwide gatherings composed of manydifferent simultaneous meetings in 2009 and 2010 andhave attracted to their ranks hundreds of librarians andrelated professionals.

2. Lifo (http://www.lifo-club.org/) was originally createdby several young librarians working in rather smallacademic libraries who had difficulty finding hands-onlearning opportunities. Its members are scatteredthroughout Japan; they communicate via Wiki andlistserv, and they frequently organize study tours andcollaborative activities with other groups.

3. Code4Lib Japan (http://www.code4lib.jp/) is an over-seas branch of Code4Lib, a community of systemslibrarians and other IT/Web-related library profes-sionals based in the U.S. Unlike the aforementionedcommunities, Code4Lib Japan is funded by Japan’sLibrary Advancement Foundation. Conducting Infor-mation Communication Technologies (ICT) relatedtraining programs and making a proposal of the stan-dardization of the API of online catalog are just two ofits current initiatives.

Two main factors are considered to drive the develop-ment of voluntary communities. The first is the dysfunctionof traditional professional organizations. Traditionallibrarians’ associations, such as the Japan Library Associa-tion, have tried to encourage librarians to renew theirconstructs of their profession, but their efforts seem tohave had little meaningful impact on the workplace. Thepower such organizations had to build cross-organizationalrelationships and manage professional knowledge hasbeen weakened in this age of rapid change in digitaltechnology.

The second factor is the shrinkage of libraries. This hasaffected universities; for example, as each library hasgotten smaller due to human resources cost-cutting, thenumber of professional librarians per university has beenhalved over the last 30 years (17.3 librarians per library in1980 and 7.8 in 2009 on average) and over half of these arepart-timers (Ministry of Education, Japan, 1980; Ministry ofEducation, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan,2009). While managerial expertise is becoming moreimportant to the profession, the development of part-timeparaprofessionals is also becoming increasingly essential forboth libraries and the professional community as a whole.Despite the discrepancy between the ideal and the stag-nant reality, young librarian communities might have begunto emerge.

This movement of young librarians in Japan has not beenintroduced in the context of Library and InformationScience (LIS) and Education. Effective professional transi-tions within the librarian community are challenging inevery country (Hardesty, 2002; Hillenbrand, 2005; Shen,2006), but this voluntary practice among young librariansmight be a unique example of change creation.

Social networks and social capital

The social network theory has been developed by variousresearchers to explore the structure and the role of social

networks as social capital from various perspectives (Baker,2000; Lin, 2001). Adler and Kwon (2002) in their reviewarticle describing achievements in social network research,argued that social relations as social capital benefited manyaspects of human practice.

The young librarian communities help members buildsocial relationships outside their own libraries and allowthem to expand their networks beyond their immediatecommunities. This form of network has been described bysocial network theory as “weak-tie.” Granovetter (1973)was the first to point out that weak-tie helped jobseekers get better information than strong-tie (e.g., familymember, close friends) did.

The aspect of knowledge transfer has also been dis-cussed both in interorganizational and intraorganizationalcontext. Burt (2001), using the concept of ’structuralholes’, compared the role of individuals who had richinterorganizational relationships with the ones who hadrather intraorganizational networks and his studyconcluded that the person who could fill the structuralholes between organizations brought benefits to the orga-nization because the person could gain more innovativeinformation through human network outside than theperson who acted only in a closed organization. One of theadvantages of network forms of organization Podolny andPage (1998) discussed was the learning benefit. Individ-uals could exchange their knowledge within interorganiza-tional network and it brought benefit to their organization.By an in-depth study on large firms, Byosiere, Luethge, Vas,and Salmador (2010) described how the intraorganizationalnetworks exchange both explicit and tacit knowledge. Thericher a person’s social network is, the better his or herperformance is because the network offers a wealth ofnecessary information acquired from other people(Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998). These previous findings in thesocial network theory lead us to predict that the partici-pants of the young librarian communities bridge the struc-tural holes, play an important role for knowledge transferand have a positive effect on the organizationalimprovement.

In the context of librarianship, we must refer to aninterorganizational network as a professional network, andthis study will discuss the roles and the possibilities of theyoung librarian communities at the level of the profession.Some articles have mentioned the possibilities of the non-traditional communities for the development of librarian-ship (Bordelon, 2008), and a few Japanese studies exist onlibrarians’ interorganizational knowledge transfer andsocial capital; thus, this research will contribute to theresearch into practice of LIS.

Research method

Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted withfive librarians to gain insight into how they engaged in andfelt about outside activities and training opportunities. Theinterviewees were selected from participants and orga-nizers of events and training programs hosted by the newlibrarian communities. They comprised two full-time, onepart-time, and two (contract) full-time librarians (Males: 2;

146 E. Amano

Females: 3). Four of them worked in university libraries,and 1 worked in a public library.

The interviews were conducted through online Skypechatting, a relaxing medium that is popular amongmembers of the new librarian communities and thatallowed interviews to take place at no cost throughoutJapan. To ensure that a wide range of opinions (bothpositive and negative) were collected, the intervieweeswere encouraged to talk as freely as possible. Most inter-views lasted between 50 and 60 min.

To begin, the interviewees were asked about theiraffiliations, current positions, job duties, ages, and expe-riences as librarians. The core interview questions includedthe following:

1. Which events organized by the new networkingcommunities did you attend? What triggered yourinterest in the events?

2. Did you get anything from the experience (e.g., prac-tical knowledge, emotional change, network, jobinformation)?

3. Do you belong to any traditional library associations orgroups, such as the Japan Library Association? Doesbeing a member of such a group differ from participa-tion in the events organized by the new communities?

4. What do you see in the future of Japanese librarianshipif the new communities keep growing?

Results

Expansion of human networks

Because the young librarian communities have been makingthe most of the Internet’s free social networking services,rendering irrelevant issues of cost and distance, inter-viewees have been able to casually expand their humannetworks beyond their own libraries. Young employees arehard pressed to find like-minded colleagues in theirshrinking organizations, which have held back on recruit-ment because of cost-cutting pressures. These newnetworks are especially useful to the part-time para-professionals working for lower wages, who welcome thelack of membership fees to participate in young librariancommunities. The casual nature of the new networkingcommunities is their most valuable feature.

Furthermore, events and training programs hosted bythe communities have greatly helped all the librariansinterviewed expand their networks. One academic librarianmentioned that, although he had not wanted to attend anyweekend events, he began to attend such events as often aspossible once he discovered the value of forming “analog”relationships with people of the same generation.

Knowledge transfer

Network-driven activities became a field in which infor-mation professionals exchanged tacit, rather than explicit,knowledge. Despite their appetite for learning, someinterviewees assumed that their attendance would provideno specific knowledge or skills that they could directly use

in their workplaces. Nevertheless, one of the part-timelibrarians said the following:

I can’t specify what helps, but what I learn from myexternal networking activities is definitely a big help tome in doing my job.

Based on the librarians’ responses, participants seem tohave exchanged knowledge through their networkingactivities despite not experiencing it as a conscious acqui-sition of explicit knowledge.

Knowledge diffuses as the network expands. Participantsdeeply value what they obtain from networking; thus, thosewith influence in their workplace encourage colleagues tojoin their networks. Doing so is very easy. You usually needonly register on a mailing list, without paying a fee. Thus theprofessional knowledge is carried across Japan on the Web.

Motivation

All interviewees said that participating in the new librariancommunities helped improve their motivation. Forexample, part-time librarians expressed frustration withthe disparity between their working conditions and those offull-timers, as well as with their meager influence and theirunfair workloads. They see the new communities as a fieldwhere they can share their feelings with people from otherorganizations living with the same situations.

The kind of library that used to offer rich opportunitiesfor OJT (“On the Job Training”) and off-the-job networkingthrough mutual communication with senior librarians andcolleagues is vanishing, while librarians are getting busierevery day. The new communities fulfill the functions thatconventional organizations have abandoned.

Getting a job

Some part-time librarians said that they had obtained jobinformation from people they had met during networkingactivities. The Japanese librarian job market lacksmobility. Nevertheless, as libraries under cost-cuttingpressures need skilled librarians, some of them began torecruit experienced professionals externally: the weak-tiesdeveloped in the librarians’ new networks accelerate theirrecruitment mobility.

Reputation

An enhanced reputation in the immediate organization issupposed to be one of the outcomes of social networking,but this effect was detected only faintly in this study.Though they felt appreciated by other community partici-pants, most interviewees did not think that their colleaguesjudged them on their outside activities fairly. An academicparaprofessional librarian complained as follows:

My colleagues have a negative impression of my activi-ties outside university. Some said to me, "What is thepoint of doing this? It doesn’t help your current work."The university does not even allow me to use its namewhen I do something outside of school.

Professional transformation in Japanese librarianship 147

Traditional libraries usually consider only those activitiesthey regard as “official” as appropriate criteria for evalu-ation. Activities (even well organized paid training sessions)hosted by new communities are rarely recognized as thingsworth evaluating. One exception was a part-time contractlibrarian who was to be promoted in the next fiscal yearbecause her activities were valued by her library.

Some interviewees declared that they regarded theparticipation in outside communities as individual learningopportunities rather than something directly related totheir work. They had become distressed over the wideninggap between their workplace realities and their fulfillingexperiences in the networking communities.

Difference from traditional librarian organizations

Interviewees considered participation in the new communi-ties to be easier than becoming a member of a traditionallibrarian organization such as the Japan Library Association.They questioned the Associations’ typical annual fee and itsvalue for money. Similar opinions were also given to theAmerican Library Association (Gordon, 2004). Members oftraditional library associations receive a monthly journal,which interviewees considered its least useful feature.However, even non-members have access to other servicesprovided by the associations, such as training workshops andspecial events, for a one-time fee. Participants of newcommunities do not encounter this sense of “membership”while communicating onlinewith tools freely available on theInternet. Someworkshops did require expensive fees, but oneof the participants said, “It was definitely worth while.”

Some interviewees mentioned that being part ofa traditional organization required them to jump a psycho-logical hurdle. A librarian who had attended an event andsocial hosted by a traditional association for academiclibrarians described the organization as “hierarchical.”Though the interviewees admitted the value of theseprofessional associations, they preferred light and quickcommunication with Twitter and membership in flat orga-nizations where everyone is active and visible to others.

Expectations

Most of interviewees stated that they expect newnetworking communities to transform librarianship inJapan. Although networking’s impact is not yet strong, theyexpect that young librarians willing to communicateoutward will steadily change the atmosphere of the libraryand of librarianship. This view demonstrates that theyconsider external networking to be not only of great valueto themselves but also something essential for a librarian asan information professional in the digital age.

Nevertheless, some interviewees expressed concern aboutthe future of network management. Though its loosemanagement style is the most attractive aspects ofnetworking communities, it couldweaken their sustainability.Keeping a balance between proper management and a casualatmosphere is the communities’ most difficult challenge.

The positive effect of networking on improvement oflibrarians’ skills was also mentioned. One of the inter-viewees pointed out that effective adaptation to the

methods of online social networking brings power toa librarian, whose work is intimately related to the infor-mation society. Social networking is booming on the Web,and the library services’ use of social networking tools suchas Facebook and Twitter (Dickson & Holley, 2010) will soonbecome very popular, even in Japan.

Discussion

The results show that the young librarians’ voluntarycommunities built social networks, provided opportunitiesfor the transfer of tacit knowledge, and were felt to bea source of motivation for the participants, as the socialnetwork theory had predicted.

A new style of professional knowledge transfer seems to beemerging in the young librarians’ networks. The librarians, asinformation professionals, would become stagnant if theyceased learning. Some new communities focus on socialnetworking rather than practical knowledge; others (Code4-Lib Japan, for example) provide training programs on cutting-edge technology. Contributions to professional developmentare multiplying beyond the continuing education provided bytraditional associations and OJT. The Japanese librariancommunity should acknowledge the growing importance ofthe voluntary networking communities to librarianship.

Networking had emotional dimensions for the partici-pants interviewed. They all felt a remarkably deep affec-tion for the communities, and they enjoyed making casualties with people. Both those frustrated by their stagnantworkplaces and those satisfied with their work environ-ments and surrounded by good colleagues saw significantvalue in external networking. The greater appeal of thenew communities over that of the traditional associations isclear. The new connections formed in these communitieswill reconstruct the process of professional communicationamong librarians.

It is noteworthy that social networking of librarians has thepossibility to facilitate mobility and optimize the job marketof information professionals. This direction will stimulateboth each organization and librarianship as a whole. Somelibraries under cost-cutting pressures are not able to cultivatefull-time professionals by themselves and prefer mid-careeremployment of a skilled librarian. In the interviews, somelibrarians had got job information from theirweak-ties. At themoment, though, “a freelance librarian” is not realistic inJapan where the life-time employment system is deeplyrooted, the mobility may increase in the near future. Thus, itmay be considered that a library will place more value on thesocial networking experienceand skill. On the other hand, thelower wages and working conditions of part-time skilledparaprofessionals have been major issues in Japanese librar-ianship, that have to be solved.

Conclusion

As the results showed, young librarians could acquireprofessional knowledge and motivation by participating inthe interorganizational social networking communities.The communities gave the young librarians opportunitiesnot only to expand their human networks, but also to getessential resources they needed for their work.

148 E. Amano

Following the social network theory, this study has alsoshown that the new networking movement among younglibrarians in Japan may inspire a professional reconstruc-tion (which is essential in this digital age) and thus createsocial capital that may benefit both the librarians’ profes-sional community and each organization. The seeds arebeing sown right now.

In this digital age, the technologies to be installed inlibrary services advance day by day, while each libraryorganization suffers pressure of human resource cost-cuttingfrom its mother body. Young librarians, who are eager toprovide good services to the library users, are aware thatthey can not depend only on the learning opportunitiesprovided by their own libraries and professional associations.It is important that the young information professionalsconsider the social networking communities as a provider ofnecessary knowledge for the work and the social networkitself as a vital source of professional motivation. The wholelibrarian community should acknowledge the functional roleof the emerging communities and encourage their activities.

This qualitative study took account only of the personaloutcomes of participants and did not clarify the outcomesfor the libraries where they worked. The number of inter-viewees was sufficient to accomplish the purpose of thisstudy; however, a wider survey would be necessary toconfirm that social networking among librarians could playan important role throughout Japan. Also recommended isa quantitative survey of a greater number of librarians toinvestigate the structure by which interorganizationalnetworking benefits to intraorganizational innovationthrough individual improvement.

Acknowledgment

I would like to thank the librarians that shared their time,experience and insight in the interviews.

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