Professor Megan Sapp-Nelson from the University of Illinois and Professor Abigail Goben from the University of Illinois Chicago have been awarded a $187,554 two-year Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to conduct Missing the Middle: Identifying Structural Issues Facing Mid-Career Librarians.
Over the next two years, Sapp-Nelson and Goben will examine the systemic challenges facing mid-career academic librarians, culminating in a forum to help name these documented challenges and identify ways to disrupt them.
In mid-career, questions arise about career trajectory, barriers limiting transition between institutions become salient, and problems of work-life balance expand. Additionally, these librarians have advanced beyond most available mentoring and support. Previous work conducted by the team has exposed the current reliance on individual action and goal-setting and revealed a significant interest in systemic or organizational culture.
Through this project, Sapp-Nelson and Goben will undertake a scoping review and focus groups to map the landscape of issues and potential mechanisms of action. These will create the foundation to convene an interdisciplinary forum to identify recommendations and next steps for academic libraries and professional organizations to better support mid-career librarians.
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services RE-260525-OLS-26.