OLA 2016

Autoethnography is a research method, whereby researchers investigate aspects of what it means to be a librarian. Starting with a reflective examination of themselves they investigate questions of library culture, values and identity. Autoethnography has potential to help librarians answer questions that cannot be answered by traditional, empirical research methods and to reveal voices that are obscured by aggregations of data. Autoethnography blends art and science and is at turns evocative, analytical, and creative. It can help us look deeply into our library culture, critique it where need be, transform ourselves, and ultimately inspire us to change librarianship for the better.