Exploring narratives of non-faculty professionals in neoliberal higher education: a cultural appropriation perspective on librarians

What is it about?

The purpose of this study is to explore how the rise of the new public management (NPM) culture in higher education affected librarians. Librarians are a central part of the traditional intellectual model of academia, whose professional ethos is challenged and threatened by the new market-oriented culture. Using a qualitative methodology based on semi-structured interviews with managers and professional staff of academic libraries at a public university, the present study provides insights into the perceptions of non-faculty professionals on the infiltration of NPM into higher education. Our findings reflect a cultural appropriation of integration taking place under the dominant NPM, resulting in a hybrid traditional-NPM culture. Theoretical and practical implications of the effect of NPM on professional staff of academia are offered.

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