Chinese immigrant academic librarians’ experiences and perceptions of career advancement in New Zealand

Abstract

This study sets out to explore how Chinese immigrants who came to New Zealand with a distinctive cultural and language background working as academic librarians feel about their career advancement prosperity. The findings show that initially, the participants did not have much interest in the library field per se and that it was due to external factors that they ended up working for academic libraries. Four major reasons were identified as to why librarianship was not a popular first choice of profession: an unsatisfactory salary, a lack of marketing of library qualifications and jobs by academic libraries, stereotypical views of librarians, and a lack of understanding of the local culture among Chinese immigrants. However, most of the participants eventually develop certain intrinsic motivation for the profession while working. They also developed objective and subjective goals. In terms of challenges and advantages, the findings show that English proficiency and a lack of understanding of the local culture were the two major challenges facing Chinese immigrant librarians. On the other hand, being able to speak two languages was a major advantage for them. On the personal level, most of the participants believed that their open-mindedness to new technology was the major factor that helped them thrive, whereas having a lack of confidence and assertiveness were the major negative personal factors that they had. On the organizational level, most of the participants believed that their libraries treated them fairly and that they had an equal chance when it comes to promotion. Finally, the participants used various career advancement strategies to push forward their career such as self-promotion.