UCSF Library

Presented at the 2018 Medical Library Association Conference.

Objective

Imposter phenomenon is the inability to internalize accomplishments while experiencing the fear of being exposed as a fraud. Despite informal discussion and interest among the medical librarian community, no research has been conducted on this topic within our field.  Our research objective is to measure imposter phenomenon (IP) among US health sciences librarians.

Methods

In this mixed methods study, a census of all eligible Medical Library Association members, excluding students, retired members, unemployed members, and international members, was taken from October to December 2017. The census population was 2179, and 325 responses (15%) were expected. We administered an anonymous online survey using REDCap, featuring the Harvey Imposter Phenomenon scale, open-ended questions about coping strategies to address imposter phenomenon at work, and demographic information. Demographic variables included race, gender, age, type of library setting, years of experience, and educational background in the health sciences.  

Results

Results are pending. We hypothesize that imposter phenomenon will be greater in librarians with less work experience, younger librarians, and those without a health sciences educational background.  Descriptive statistics will be used to look for trends and bivariate analyses will be used to examine relationships between imposter phenomenon measurements and other variables (e.g. type of library setting). Thematic analysis will be used to discover themes among strategies for addressing imposter phenomenon.

Conclusions

Conclusions are pending; we will have conclusions to present by May 2018. Our conclusions will help inform awareness-raising and advocacy efforts around this issue.