Narrative‐based Practice

Citation

Neville, K. (2012), "Narrative‐based Practice", Library Review, Vol. 61 No. 1, pp. 57-58. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242531211207424

Narrative‐based Practice is the latest volume from author Peter Brophy who outlines the concept of story‐telling and describes new ways to incorporate narrative into teaching, research, professional practice and organizational management. Peter Brophy has a distinguished and long career as a researcher and librarian and is currently Professor of Information Management, Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU). He founded the Centre for Research in Library and Information Management (CERLIM), which since 1998 has been based at the MMU.

In the preface, Peter Brophy introduces narrative and states that story‐telling encourages empathy and individual participation by revealing “what lies beneath the surface of events” not just a list of facts (p. ix). He describes how Charles Dickens’ stories of hardship in Victorian London did more to change public opinion towards reform than factual reports in the Lancet. He goes on to ponder the use of factual evidence in performance measurement versus the “soft” qualitative analysis of user satisfaction. The focus of this book is on the importance of qualitative evidence, not just quantitative evidence, for practice models. Narrative‐based Practice begins with theories on the nature of narrative, through an outline of the concepts of learning, knowledge management, virtual worlds and narrative in organizations, and closes with a summary of narrative based practice in the final chapter.

The theoretical background of knowledge is described in Chapter 2 along with positivism, relativism and ethnography together with a dialogue on the role of narrative in continuous learning in professional practice. Chapter 5 discusses knowledge management, truth, wisdom and the dissemination of information as well as the close link between knowledge and narrative. Chapter 6 “Narrative in virtual worlds” describes the use of storytelling in the online environment. Social networking sites like FaceBook and blogs have an important storytelling component. Blogs are like dynamic diary entries with content linked with text and images. “Perpetual beta” is presented as the practice where users report the errors in new software, with the web 2.0 infrastructure able to take it a step further by enabling users to become “co‐developers” and collaborators. There are new collaborative web‐based narratives such as Mr Beller's Neighborhood with over a thousand contributions to a collaborated tale about New York. A Google map re‐mixes information from many sources to create new dynamic data. In addition, narrative is an important component of online computer games for character descriptions, chronology and plot development, and stories can be either embedded in the game or “emergent” as the game unfolds.

Narrative‐based practice can include formal methods like narrative interviews, inter‐organizational case studies, “learning histories”, collective sense making and informal story‐gathering. In the business environment, narrative plays a role in conferences, developing vision statements and to “legitimize” corporate memories and “glorify the past” (p. 103). While narrative does not replace data collection and analysis, it complements organizational thinking by introducing new ways of thinking such as the use of imagination and intuition. Organizational narrative fall into several broad categories, such as rule‐breaking, firing, tales about bosses, stories of conflict, moving up the corporate ladder and tales that illustrate how the company treats its staff. Organizational narrative serves to empower employees who are low in the hierarchy yet Peter Brophy warns that narrative needs to be viewed carefully as it can also be used to exaggerate and spread lies (p. 129). Appendix 2 “The history of the future” further discusses using storytelling in organizations as a successful method for team building in project management and in future planning. Narrative‐based Practice advocates that professionals can improve their skills in narrative by continuous learning which will provide ways to “enhance professional practice” (p. 148) and a simple practical template is included in Appendix 1 as a guide to creating a story. Storytelling can also be used to help staff gain an understanding of the customer experience and is illustrated with a real‐life example. The book concludes with a thorough 18 pages bibliography listing a comprehensive range of books and journals, followed by a detailed index.

Narrative‐based Practice is an important book in the field of narrative‐based practice and draws on the substantial experience and knowledge of the author, in addition to using many theoretical and practical studies. The book is unique as it has a broad range of relevance across many disciplines and would be applicable across a wide range of areas such as social policy, libraries and information management, health, and business management. It is recommended for purchase by libraries in universities and colleges of advanced education for academics, professionals and students. It is also available as an e‐book. This book gives a theoretical basis to narrative, yet weaves in real‐life examples from a wide range of areas and provides a satisfactory and thought provoking read.