Encounters with the Library: Understanding Experience Using the Life History Method

Drawing on the author’s own research, this article explores the use of life histories as method and the ways in which this research can contribute to new understandings about the experiential relationships between libraries and users. The article is divided into four parts. Part one defi nes the essential elements of a life history research study. Part two describes how to design a life history research study. Part three examines ethical, methodological, and interpretive issues related to issues of organizational insiderness and internal validity and textual authority. The author concludes by outlining the potential benefi ts and pitfalls of using life histories and discusses how life history research, and qualitative research in general, can enrich and broaden our understanding of library science theory and practice. Katheryn’s profi le is unusual for someone with aspirations of becoming a librarian. She recently graduated from the University of Southern California, earning a bachelor’s degree in history with an emphasis in medieval society. The story of her pre-professional and pre-educational socialization into librarianship is somewhat unique because, as a woman in her early twenties, she made the deliberate decision to become a librarian many years before most of us would consider a career in librarianship. Katheryn explains, “Well, I’ve been going to libraries with my Mom since I was three, since she could bring me in there and be sure that I wasn’t going to scream, and they were all good experiences.” Her mother was a volunteer in the local public library and Katheryn describes how being brought into “the back room of the library” where the photocopiers and other equipment resided made her curious about Encounters with the Library: Understanding Experience Using the Life History Method