The Glass Ceiling in Academic Libraries: Myth or Reality

1
The Glass Ceiling in Academic Libraries Myth or
Reality?

• Applicants
• Jackie Evans
• Mary Seeley
• Karen Butcher
• Alison Bentley
• Beatriz Ferrer-Quiles

2
Context

• Analysis of pay grade structures in academic
  libraries still indicates male / female imbalance
  at top management levels 39 women, 61 men
  (Ritchie, 2000).
• What constitutes the glass ceiling for todays
  middle managers?
• Is it cultural, personal or social?

3
Research Objectives

• To identify if where the glass ceiling exists
  for middle managers.
• To devise recommendations for good practice in
  relation to gender.
• To explore mentoring and other workplace
  development strategies as solutions.

4

• Research
• Methodology
• Sample
• Questionnaire
• Focus Group

• Deliverables
• Profile
• Guidelines
• Recommendations

5

• Dissemination Strategy
• Focus Group
• With questionnaire respondents
• Publication
• Targeting information community
• Newsletter
• Regular communication with stakeholders
• Mailing Lists
• Knowledge sharing in the academic community
• Workshop
• Half-day interactive training
• Academic Report
• Knowledge contribution insight

• Evaluation
• Change strategy analysis
• Validation by the stakeholders
• Time series analysis
• Before after data gathering analysis
• Recommendations
• Womens Library
• SOCIG
• Networking
• Future of Work Forum

6
Timetable

• Research Start Date End Date
• Design send out questionnaires,
• collate results Start January Mid-March
• Focus group workshop Mid-May
• Analysis
• Analyse questionnaire workshop
  findings Mid-March End June
• Consolidate/finalise research results End
  June End September
• Dissemination
• Prepare submit articles for publication Start
  October Mid-November
• CPD25 Dissemination workshop End November
• Review
• Project review with stakeholders Mid-December

7
BudgetPreparation design,
data gathering from questionnaires, holding
focus group workshop, data analysis
consolidation of results 300 hours _at_
10/hour 3,000 Publication of
findings, holding dissemination workshop60
hours _at_ 10/hour 600Project
review and evaluation15 hours _at_ 10/hour
150Workshop expenses catering,
speakers, room hire - Focus group workshop
650 - Dissemination workshop
450 Sundries stationery, photocopying,
postage 150Total
5,000
8
References

• Brewerton, A. (2002) Mentoring. SCONUL
  Newsletter, 25, pp. 21-30. Available at
  http//www.sconul.ac.uk/pubs_stats/pubs/newsletter
  /25/21-30_25.pdf. Accessed 25th October 2005.
• Bunting, M. (2005) Madonnas got it. Have you?
  The Guardian G2 Supplement 25th October 2005,
  pp. 24-25.
• Equal Opportunities Commission (2005) Policy
  Statement Equal Pay Definitions. Available at
  http//www.eoc.org.uk/Default.aspx?page1492theme
  printlangen. Accessed 24th October 2005.
• Equal Opportunities Commission (2005) Pregnancy
  Discrimination EOC Investigation. Available at
  http//www.eoc.org.uk/Default.aspx?page149968them
  eprint. Accessed 24th October 2005.
• Jones, E. and Oppenheim, C. (2002) Glass ceiling
  issues in the UK library profession. Journal of
  librarianship and information science, 34 (1),
  pp. 53-56. Available at http//www.swetswise.com.
  Accessed 24th October 2005.
• Kerslake, E. (2002) Women and librarianship a
  review article. Journal of librarianship and
  information science, 34 (1), pp. 53-56. Available
  at http//www.swetswise.com. Accessed 24th
  October 2005.
• Maestrovic Deyrup, M. (2004) Is the revolution
  over? Gender, economic and professional parity in
  academic library leadership positions. College
  and research libraries, 65(3), pp. 242-250.
• Ritchie, S. (2000) 2000 and beyond is sex in
  Libraries still an issue? Impact Journal of the
  Career Development Group, 3(5), pp. 1-4.
  Available at http//www.careerdevelopmentgroup.org
  .uk/impact/0500/sritchie.htm. Accessed 24th
  October 2005.
• Smith, A. and Morgan, S. (2001) Informal
  mentoring a perspective from both sides. SCONUL
  Newsletter, 24, pp. 25-28. Available at
  http//www.sconul.ac.uk/pubs_stats/pubs/newsletter
  /24/25-28_24.pdf. Accessed 24th October 2005.
• Vincent, J. and Linley, R. (2000) Women, social
  exclusion and the public library. Working Paper
  12. The Network Tackling social exclusion in
  libraries, museums, archives and galleries.
  Available at http//www.seapn.org.uk/workingpapers
  /vol3wp12.rtf. Accessed 25th October 2005.
• Zemon, M. and Harrison Bahr, A. (2005) Career
  and/or children Do female academic librarians
  pay a price for motherhood?. College and
  research libraries, 66(5), pp. 394-495.

9
Research Design References

• Denscombe, M (2002) Ground rules for good
  research a 10 point guide for social
  researchers. Buckingham, Open University Press.
• Denscombe, M (2003) The good research guide for
  small-scale social research projects. 2nd
  edition. Maidenhead, Open University Press.
• O'Leary, Z (2004) The essential guide to doing
  research. London, SAGE.
• Robson, C (2002) Real world research a resource
  for social scientists and practitioner-researchers
  . 2nd edition. Oxford, Blackwell.
• Silverman, D (2005) Doing qualitative research a
  practical handbook. 2nd edition. London, Sage.
• Thomas, R(2003) Blending qualitative
  quantitative research methods in theses and
  dissertations. Thousand Oaks, Ca., Corwin Press.
• Wisker, G. (2001) The postgraduate research
  handbook succeed with your MA, MPhil, EdD and
  PhD. Basingstoke, Palgrave.