Sexual Harassment at University of California Libraries: Understanding the Experiences of Library Staff Members

Abstract

In the first study measuring sexual harassment experiences of academic library employees at a single institution, we conducted a census of 1,610 nonstudent employees at the 10-campus University of California Libraries system. This anonymous online survey measured how sexual harassment was experienced and observed in terms of behaviors, exhibitors, reporting and disclosure, institutional support and betrayal, and recommendations for future actions. Out of 579 respondents, 54% experienced and/or observed sexual harassment at work. Respondents recommended training, workplace culture change, support from leadership, and clear reporting processes in order to address sexual harassment at University of California Libraries.

Lethe and aletheia: a study on cases of sexual harassment towards public library staff in Spain

“…Negative cases of institutional support were also reported, including covering up the experience, suggesting that it could affect the reputation of the institution, and feeling as though you were punished for reporting it (Graph 6). Many of these aspects were also recognized in the work of Barr- Walker et al (2021).…”

“…This study is based on the results of a Google Forms survey entitled "Study on sexual harassment towards public library staff in Spain," which was active between 20 March and 17 April 2021, designed based on that used by Barr- Walker et al (2021) in their recent study on sexual harassment of University of California library staff. In that as well as the current study, harassment is defined as unwanted behaviors that can make one feel uncomfortable at work and that are sexual in nature and/or based on gender.…”

“…The main issue distinguished among the documents identified and obtained was sexual harassment suffered by library staff (Gasaway, 1991;Watstein, 1993a;1993b;Ford, 2017;Oliphant, 2019;Oliphant, 2020), specifically for the case of public libraries in some documents (Houghton, 1999;Lieu, 2018). However, this topic is mainly analyzed for university libraries (Von-Stackelberg, 2018;Barr-Walker et al, 2019;Benjes-Small et al, 2019;Barr-Walker et al, 2021).…”

“…The author of this study hopes that this work and the results achieved will contribute to improving and overcoming the problem analyzed. The second thanks goes to the authors Barr- Walker et al (2021) for sharing their work under the creative commons license; their survey designed to analyze sexual harassment towards University of California library staff was used with an adaptation to the case of Spanish public library staff. Without these two contributions, this study would not have been possible.…”

“Finding a Way To Say ‘No’”: Library Employees' Responses to Sexual Harassment as Emotional Labour

“…Within the context of academic librarianship, similarly alarming findings from two recent surveys are emerging (Barr‐Walker et al, 2021; Benjes‐Small et al, 2021). For example, a survey of non‐student library employees of the University of California, San Francisco conducted by Barr‐Walker et al found that “Out of 579 respondents, 54% experienced and/or observed sexual harassment at work” (2021, p. 237).…”