Contributory Factors to Academic Librarian Turnover: A Mixed-Methods Study

Heady, Christina; Fyn, Amy; Kaufman, Amanda; Hosier, Allison; Weber, Millicent A.

doi:10.1080/01930826.2020.1748425

Cited by 14 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Of note is that, partly in response to university pandemic austerity measures, Northwestern University's library workers announced their unionization with SEIU Local 73, which has been recognized by the university. 18,19 Low morale continues to be an area of concern in librarianship, 20,21 particularly for librarians of color, nonlibrarian staff, 22 and members of underrepresented groups. Stress from caretaking responsibilities for workers who lost childcare or other forms of support during the pandemic has exacerbated issues of esprit de corps and well-being in the workplace.…”

Section: Library Staffing Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Top trends in academic libraries: A review of the trends and issues

2022

CRLN

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This article summarizes trending topics in academic librarianship from the past two years-a time of tremendous upheaval and change, including a global pandemic, difficult reflections concerning racial justice, and war between nation states. Rapid changes and uncertainty from these events have created a significant amount of shifts to academic libraries, higher education, and society in general. Such shifts have yielded new perspectives and innovations in how librarians approach delivering services, supporting student success, managing staff and physical spaces, embracing new technology, and managing data. This report attempts to provide a snapshot of developments worth noting. COVID-related trendsThe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on academic library services has been significant, and these changes, in many cases, are ongoing. The issues identified below transcend the period covered by this review as libraries face a fundamental shift that will extend far into the future and beyond the pandemic. In early 2020, nearly all academic 1 and public 2 libraries closed temporarily and shifted towards virtual services. Despite in-person closures, libraries continued online services, 3 kept their communities informed, 4 and adopted innovative collaborations 5 and technologies to adapt to changing circumstances. These closures and the institutional changes that enabled them had a significant and diverse impact on librarianship, including rethinking long-held paradigms, 6 increased professional stress around institutional budgets, 7 and the ability to work remotely. 8 The pandemic also surfaced long-standing issues of inequality 9 and inaccessibility 10 in libraries. Despite the challenges raised by closures, libraries continued to deliver core services and creative solutions, including virtual reference with increasing complexity, 11 a renewed focus on digital literacy with the rise in online learning, 12 and born-digital collection development. 13 2021-22 ACRL Research Planning and Review Committee Top trends in academic libraries A review of the trends and issues 2021-22 ACRL Research Planning and Review Committee: Alex McAllister (chair) is associate professor and coordinator of Collection Management, Appalachian State University Libraries, email:

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Section: Library Staffing Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Top trends in academic libraries: A review of the trends and issues

2022

CRLN

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“…7 Relatedly, academic library employees are often expected to become "a multitasking, boundless expert." 8 Changes in technology, an almost constant in technical services, is another cause of burnout. 9 The term for the pressure to keep up with rapidly changing technology, technostress, also appears in burnout studies.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Two-thirds of participants (66.67%) indicated taking steps to protect these employees. The most common practice was increasing support in general (27), followed by monitoring workload and preventing overload (24), encouraging the use paid time off (15), advocating for them (13), increasing scheduling autonomy (8), intervening to remove stressors (8), performing kind gestures (e.g., taking them to lunch) (6), offering project/task variation (5), having one-on-one meetings (4), assisting with workload prioritization (4), encouraging healthy time habits at work (e.g., take breaks, don't skip lunch, only work 8 hour days) (4), increased work autonomy (3), performing wellness checks (2), encouraging and supporting professional development opportunities (2), and encouraging use of benefits such as free counseling (1).…”

Section: Burnout Attitudes and Management Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Manager Perspectives on the Prevalence, Impact, and Management of Work-Related Burnout in Academic Library Technical Services Workers

Kennedy¹,

McGurr²,

Garewal³

2022

LRTS

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Work-related burnout has been studied for decades across multiple industries, including librarianship. However, few studies have evaluated burnout in technical services workers. This study surveys academic library technical services managers to learn their perspective on the prevalence and impact of burnout on technical services workers. Managers observed a high incidence of burnout in their direct reports. The negative impacts of burnout on employees (e.g., personal health) and the organization (e.g., performance decline) are discussed. Managers’ typical practices are evaluated through the lens of burnout prevention and mitigation. Documentation of the typical practices of academic library technical services managers is provided to assist current managers in self-evaluating their practices with peers. Overall, technical services managers are using thoughtful and research supported practices that can have a positive impact on the mitigation and prevention of work-related burnout.

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“…In addition, Houkes et al (2003) noted that the emotional exhaustion brought on by occupational stress has been shown to increase turnover intention of employees. Heady et al (2020) most recently found burnout, work overload, role ambiguity, and job stress to be leading causes in job-duty dissatisfaction and turnover in academic librarians. It is important to understand the toll of tenure track from a mental health perspective to protect librarians in the process and maintain a healthy approach to tenure.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Occupational stress measures of tenure-track librarians

Cameron¹,

Pierce

Conroy

2020

Journal of Librarianship and Information Science

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This study sought to measure occupational stress levels of tenure eligible academic librarians quantitatively and explores the connections between occupational stress and institutional supports. Researchers administered the Job Stress Survey™ to 109 academic librarians in tenure eligible positions. These data were then analyzed and correlated with participants’ responses in an earlier study which measured tenure confidence and access to institutional supports. Findings showed that lack of support contributes to stress more than the pressures of the job and supports that increase librarians’ confidence do not always decrease stress.

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Contributory Factors to Academic Librarian Turnover: A Mixed-Methods Study

Cited by 14 publications

References 34 publications

Top trends in academic libraries: A review of the trends and issues

Top trends in academic libraries: A review of the trends and issues

Manager Perspectives on the Prevalence, Impact, and Management of Work-Related Burnout in Academic Library Technical Services Workers

Occupational stress measures of tenure-track librarians

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