Beyond the Tandem Model: reframing academic librarian supervisory roles in LIS internships through management, teaching and mentoring
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22452/mjlis.vol31no2.2Keywords:
LIS internships, Academic librarians, Supervisory roles, Mentoring, Tandem Model of Clinical Supervision, MalaysiaAbstract
Library and information science (LIS) internships rely heavily on academic librarian supervisors, yet their supervisory roles remain under-examined and weakly theorised. Models of clinical supervision, including the Tandem Model, were developed outside librarianship and have rarely been tested in LIS or in non-Western settings. This study examines how academic librarian supervisors enact their roles during LIS internships at three public universities in Malaysia, and how those roles align with and diverge from established supervision theory. A qualitative case study was conducted with 13 academic librarian supervisors. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews and analysed using Braun and Clarke’s six-phase thematic analysis, supported by ATLAS.ti version 22. Three role domains were identified: management (planning, organising, directing and controlling); teaching (task structuring, instructional design and strategic learning); and mentoring (psychosocial support, career support and professional development). The findings confirm the Tandem Model’s planning core but show supervision extending across a full management cycle, which exposes a supervisory boundary gap where supervision is strong inside the library but weak where the library meets the university. The model also omits mentoring, which supervisors regarded as central, and its application required adaptation to a collectivist context that balances directive guidance with relational, respect-based support. The study also reveals clear weaknesses: the absence of formal supervisory training, uneven faculty coordination and variation in mentoring. The findings are synthesised into a Practice Model of Effective Supervision in LIS Internship and a findings-derived self-check for strengthening practice.
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