Organizational culture: Bring back the joyful public librarian
Lindén et al. (2018) analyzed surveys given to Swedish public librarians and found that organizational stressors like work overload or conflicting professional values highly contributed to feelings of burnout, emotional exhaustion, and cynicism (p. 202). In short, the organizational culture of library stress took the joy out of public librarians. A shift in the library culture, management, and training might be what it takes to ensure a librarian-centered workspace for a user-centric experience especially as the hyperlinked library 2.0 moves faster and ever more chaotically. Subverting hierarchies, decentralizing the structures that limit the sharing of knowledge, and joining in the conversation without paywalls means making due with tomorrow’s innovative but demanding requests and with today’s human condition of making mistakes, being vulnerable, and needing to advocate for our voices to be heard (Weinberger, 2001). We, as administration and public library stakeholders, need a moment of reflection to make sure we take care of our librarian-as-guide facilitator and storyteller.
Jordan (2014) describes technostress as a library stressor when patron technological demands exceed librarian ability and resources, expected technological expertise is deemed unsatisfactory, or when workplace technology just does not work well anymore and causes personal and professional stress. Ensuring transparent discussions with management and stakeholders to ensure a sustainable organizational culture that resolves organizational stressors like lack of technical training may do wonders in preventing burnout and librarian turnover. Overworked public librarians need technology to make their lives easier, not harder. This unhappiness needs to be addressed.
Perhaps due to budget constraints or organizational status quo, public librarians often work solo positions that lack camaraderie, respectful peer interactions, and valuable opportunities to be heard and validated. Adding fire to the potential burnout, Henry et al. (2023) found post-pandemic increasing levels of incivil behaviors like disrespectful communication towards in-person public librarians by patrons or from abusive leadership. While public librarians may not be able to control how the public interacts with them, having a workplace confidante or mentor advocate might help deal with the sense of workplace dysfunction. Villagran & Martin (2017) promote accountability partners as a way to increase workplace organizational happiness for librarians through feedback, reflection, and meeting goals together. This recommendation aligns with the general feeling of social isolation experienced outside the day-to-day short patron interactions that affects many librarians without team partners (Matlin & Carr, 2014).
Understanding the embedded organizational culture within the public library allows us to explore how the social and information structure is held up and maintained by its worker, the public librarian. As Schmidt (2014) suggests, we must challenge our assumptions, focus on our community, and establish the individual person as a key component of our end-user experience. In this case, I submit that bringing back joy to the public librarian by resolving organization and cultural stressors like differing expectations around technological expertise, work load, and solitary public library postings seems like a good starting point. Creating remote check-ins with personal learning networks or virtual accountability partners who meet over Zoom seems like an excellent and quick way to make technology work for the unhappy and unsupported public librarian. Researching more about what Booth (2013) says about successful organizational culture at UTS Library might also be helpful for the budding informational professional like myself and other MLIS students. Encouraging the hyperlinked public library means locating the organizational cultural context in mindful reflection that begins with recognizing the value and needs of the public librarian-as-human.
Reference
Henry, J., Croxton, R., & Moniz, R. (2023). Incivility and dysfunction in the library workplace: A five-year comparison. Journal of Library Administration, 63(1), 42–68. https://doi.org/10.1080/01930826.2022.2146440
Lindén, M., Salo, I., & Jansson, A. (2018). Organizational stressors and burnout in public librarians. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 50(2), 199–204. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961000616666130
Matlin, T. R., & Carr, A. (2014). Just the two of us: Those who co-teach, co-learn. Collaborative Librarianship, 6(2), pp. 61–72. http://digitalcommons.du.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1099&context=collaborativelibrarianship
Schmidt, A. (2014, May 6). Exploring context: The user experience. Library Journal. https://www.libraryjournal.com/story/exploring-context-the-user-experience
Villagran, M. A. L., & Martin, L. (2022). Academic librarians: Their understanding and use of emotional intelligence and happiness. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 48(1), 102466-. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2021.102466
Weinberger, D. (2001). The Hyperlinked Organization. In The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual. Basic Books.
Wilkins Jordan, M. (2014). All stressed out, but does anyone notice? Stressors affecting public libraries. Journal of Library Administration, 54(4), 291–307. https://doi.org/10.1080/01930826.2014.924318
