Biblioteconomia em Mato Grosso: construção identitária e desafios à consolidação do profissionalismo

Abstract

This study focuses on the process of identity construction based on the articulation between personal experiences and the professional trajectory of male and female librarians. To this end, we sought to analyse how they perceive their identity within the field of Library Science. In this sense, the general problem of the research concerns the social construction of identity, at the professional level, by the interviewers. The methodology used was based on a qualitative approach, also using quantitative data from secondary sources. Having as theoretical support the conceptions of the sociology of professions, in the analytical models of Freidson (1998) and Abbott (1988) that approach how the professions consolidated professionalism. To search the macro – micro dimensions of the system of professions this study relies on Abbott (1988) and to think about a typology of identities in Dubar (2005), taking into account aspects such as the subject's trajectory, sociability and subjectivity in their relationship with the world of work. As for the procedures performed, it was divided into phases: (i) bibliographic survey; (ii) organization and selection of the state of the art; (iii) field research. The research corpus was built from literature review, illustrative quantitative data, document analysis and interviews. Fifteen subjects were interviewed, selected by snowball sampling, the type of professional relationship that resulted in the sample's profile as: (i) thirteen male and female librarians from public institutions; (ii) one from a private institution; (iii) one who worked in a private institution, but changed his profession. The sample construction sought to hear the different possibilities of bachelors in Library Science, in relation to professional activity, the institution where they work, the position they occupy, where they studied, age group, sex, color / race, in short, the characteristics that can capture the diversity of the group and the outline of the problem under study. We opted for an analytical model that understands this universe in its trajectory, starting from a historical and social panorama of Librarianship; next, indicators are presented on the number of professionals working in the whole country, in the Midwest Region and the state of Mato Grosso; ending with the result on the social profile of respondents in some cities in the state. What stood out in the speeches was that the professionals perform a constant reconfiguration of their professional identity. They represent their identity through negotiations, in which they emphasize the understanding of their identification, sometimes in the biographical processes - who I say that I am - and sometimes in the relational processes, in which the group (other professionals, professional bodies, training institutions) says what the librarian is.