Reshaping Perspectives on Flexible Work: The Impact of COVID-19 on Academic Library Management

Abstract

During COVID-19, academic library employees pivoted to predominantly remote work. Associate deans, associate university librarians, and equivalent managers at the top 50 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) institutions were interviewed about benefits, challenges, pre-pandemic norms, necessary conditions, and the future of flexible work arrangements (FWAs). The findings suggest that successful FWAs require adequate technology and effective managerial communication and depend on the types of positions and individuals involved. Most managers believe FWAs will increase in academic libraries in the future. FWAs provide benefits for both organizations and employees and will likely have a positive impact on library space, recruitment, and retention. At the same time, careful communication and compassionate leadership are needed for successful FWAs.

Academic libraries' leaders' decision-making during the COVID-19 crisis

“…This may result in a new type of library staff. Recent research strengthens the expectation from academic library staff with the assumption that new hiring will already allow flexible working in the future; it could also mean that library spaces to be transferred from staff offices into more user spaces ( Green, 2022 ); Connell et al, 2021 , Hosoi et al, 2021 ). This study demonstrated that distance work was the one area that libraries were least prepared for, yet, library leaders believe that this will continue to be part of the future of the libraries.…”

“…The COVID-19 situation brought out various challenges and critical aspects of libraries' leadership crisis management which can be divided into six larger categories ( Graph 1 ).

Graph 1 Library leaders' challenges during the COVID-19 crisis (compiled by the author based on Newman, 2021 ; Frederick and Wolff-Eisenberg, 2020, April 2 , Frederick and Wolff-Eisenberg, 2020, December 9 ; Pryce et al, 2021 ; Tsekea & Chigwada, 2020 ; Hosoi et al, 2021 ; Greenhall, 2020 ; Aiwuyor, 2020 ; Connaway, 2020 ; Ashiq et al, 2022 ; De Groote & Scoulas, 2021 ; Connell et al, 2021 ; Temiz & Salelkar, 2020 ).

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“…One of the strategic changes that most organizations, including libraries, were forced to make during the COVID-19 crisis was distance working. According to the survey conducted by Hosoi et al (2021) , before the COVID-19 crisis, 74 % of academic library staff worked on-site. In general, libraries lacked strategies for distance work before the pandemic ( Pryce et al, 2021 ) because libraries' work procedures are typically built around physical library buildings.…”

When Disruption is the New Normal: The Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Technical Services in US Academic Libraries

“…Additionally, it also will be imperative to conduct follow-up research exploring how the pandemic-induced work arrangements, often improvised without any prior preparation in the early days, will have lasting effects on post-pandemic technical services. 20 As colleges and universities return from pandemic-related disruption across the US, much of technical services work will likely revert to pre-pandemic conditions. However, some of the changes instituted during the pandemic could plausibly continue, enabling certain technical services tasks to be optionally performed remotely.…”

Telecommuting Practices and Trends in the Digital Transformation

“…With another response being, where large number of businesses turned to digital technology to continue operating, with personnel working from home and using tools, such as videoconferencing, cloud services and virtual private networks (OECD, 2021). In the same spirit, Mihoko, Lauren and Diane (2021), talk of flexible work arrangements (FWAs) that involved flextime/flexible work schedules, formal and informal leaves, compressed workweeks, voluntary part-time work, job sharing, job exchange and phased retirement. In addition, these authors note that, telecommuting was much less common than these other types of flexible work arrangements.…”