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Unpublished Paper
Overseas Librarians: “The specter of voluntarism and the hobgoblin of non-professionalism”
(2006)
  • Michele Gibney
Abstract

The following paper is on working abroad in a foreign country. It focuses primarily on Peace Corps volunteers—how they become involved with library development, what practices they instigate to promote the library’s collection, and how they create sustainability for the library. All of these elements combine, in my thesis, to show the “professional” nature of an overseas librarian. I argue that the perception of overseas librarians goes through peaks and valleys— the wartime conditions fostered international cooperation between allied powers and thus overseas librarians during the 1940’s were perceived as facilitators of international communication, the 1970’s were a slump in America’s xenophobic/egocentric history, and the past decade and a half has shown remarkable talent flourishing in foreign climes with the overall respect for overseas librarians on the upswing.

Keywords
  • overseas librarianship
Publication Date
December 2, 2006
Citation Information
Michele Gibney. "Overseas Librarians: “The specter of voluntarism and the hobgoblin of non-professionalism”" (2006)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/michele_gibney/30/