The aim of this study is to explore the social class backgrounds of librarians working in the UK higher education sector and investigate if/how social class backgrounds shape librarians' professional identity and activities. Research from other professions indicate that social background and social class may influence individuals' professional identity, their relationship towards the profession and their workplace experiences. However, little extant literature exists on librarians' social backgrounds and none that is specific to the UK higher education library sector. This research aims to address that knowledge gap.
It is hoped that a better understanding of librarians' social backgrounds may help to address equity, diversity and inclusion efforts in the profession by highlighting potential disparities and differences in experiences in the profession. This may also help new entrants into the profession to more successfully adapt integrate into the librarianship workforce. In addition it is hoped that by better understanding academic librarians' workplace experiences and professional activities, library services can be designed to better suit the needs of diverse student populations such as first generation and other non-traditional students.