The global language of research: GSE scholar’s journey to Pakistan bridges cultures, advances scholarship

Funded by UB’s Office of International Education’s Associate Professor Fund for Global and International Research, VanScoy’s trip aimed to foster international collaboration, conduct significant research and build cross-cultural understanding. The fund seeks to support international research projects that will advance the recipient’s career.

“Our office is pleased to support Professor VanScoy’s ongoing research on several continents focusing on librarians’ perspectives on their own practice,” said UB Vice Provost for International Education Nojin Kwak. “This cross-national project will yield important insights from her firsthand work in Pakistan, South Africa and other countries that will inform our understanding of the profession in a global context.”

VanScoy was just as enthusiastic: “I was excited about the support from the university. It was exciting to know there was funding to support this stage of my career,” she said.

VanScoy has used Q-methodology in previous studies across South Africa, Slovenia and the U.S., finding it effective for identifying patterns in how professionals think and make decisions. In this study, librarians were tasked with ranking different approaches to reference services, providing valuable insights into their varied professional orientations, priorities and decision-making processes.

“It was very rewarding just talking to these librarians and seeing different kinds of libraries. Some are super sophisticated, well-funded libraries with the latest technology and rival the best libraries in the U.S. Then others were libraries that had almost nothing, but they were still trying to help their users and trying to provide resources,” said VanScoy.

“When I talk to librarians anywhere, they’re doing important work, and they communicate that. The specific questions library users ask may differ from country to country, but the commitment to the work—the desire to do more and help people—is always there,” she added. “It fills me with positivity and hope that—in our very small world—everyone’s working toward the same goal.”

VanScoy’s experiences also highlighted differences in librarianship across cultures. “In the U.S., librarians often see themselves as instructors, even in public or school libraries. That’s not really happening yet in Pakistan. Their whole system of getting master’s and PhD degrees in library and information science is fairly new,” she said.

The trip was personally rewarding and illuminating, too.

“Everyone I met in Lahore was welcoming and didn’t view me with suspicion or fear or hate, despite how the media depicts Americans to them. It really drove home to me how everyone I met is nothing like the media tells me either,” she said.

The warmth and generosity VanScoy received from her Pakistani hosts left an impression on her. “In all of the research I’ve done in other countries, there are cultures of welcome and gifting, and I’m almost always served coffee or cookies,” she said. “In Pakistan, it was chai. Oftentimes, there were small gifts as well.”