Health librarians: developing professional competence through a 'legitimate peripheral participation' model

Area of Science:

• Health Sciences
• Library and Information Science

Background:

• Professional competency development is crucial in specialized fields like health librarianship.
• The legitimate peripheral participation model offers a framework for understanding how individuals gain expertise within a community.

Purpose of the Study:

• To apply the legitimate peripheral participation model to the professional development of health librarians.
• To develop a framework for mapping and recognizing competencies acquired by early-career health librarians.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the legitimate peripheral participation model as a theoretical basis.
• Developed a competency mapping and recognition framework tailored for health librarianship.
• Applied the framework within the context of a medical library setting.

Main Results:

• Successfully adapted the legitimate peripheral participation model for health librarianship.
• Created a practical framework for assessing and acknowledging the competencies of new health librarians.
• Demonstrated the model's utility in a real-world medical library environment.

Conclusions:

• Legitimate peripheral participation is an effective model for developing professional competencies in health librarianship.
• The developed framework provides a structured approach to onboarding and skill recognition for new health librarians.
• This approach supports the continuous professional growth and integration of librarians in healthcare settings.