Research Agenda

We have attempted throughout this book to highlight the importance of understanding emotional labor, emotional exhaustion, and burnout. We have attempted to underline the fact that these topics have direct bearing on academic librarianship, given the very nature of the profession. We have discovered that there is a dearth of literature on this topic within the profession, which seems ill-advised, given the significant individual and organizational impacts that emotion can have. However, it is not enough to promote awareness and highlight gaps; we recognize that we have an obligation to address these gaps. To that end, this chapter presents a kind of research agenda, proposing research ideas and approaches to that research intended to fill in the gaps and elucidate phenomena. Without a clearer picture of these issues, it will be much more difficult to identify and develop meaningful, effective solutions that adequately address the experiences and practices of academic librarianship. The chapter highlights specific areas of academic librarianship, profession-specific stressors, and related concepts.

Why Isn't This Being Studied?

This chapter poses and attempts to answer a significant question regarding emotions research within academic librarianship – namely, why isn't this topic being researched more? Given how emotionally-laden the work is and how emotionally-laden information-seeking behavior can be, it seems surprising that there is a dearth of research on emotion-related issues. Other people-oriented professions like healthcare and hospitality seem very focused on understanding the qualitative experiences of their professionals; in comparison, academic librarianship seems reluctant to tackle the topic. The chapter examines what does exist in the academic librarianship literature regarding emotions and branches out into other disciplines to see how they examine the issue of emotion and its impact on professional practice. The chapter also posits answers for why this topic isn't studied more within academic librarianship, focusing on issues of objectivity and data-driven decision making.

Academic Librarianship and Burnout

Given the emotionally laden work done by academic librarians, and given what the book has established so far on emotional labor and its contribution to emotional exhaustion, which in turn contributes to burnout, it should come as no surprise that academic librarians seem quite prone to burnout. This chapter explores the phenomenon of burnout among academic librarians, looking at the issue from three perspectives: a public services perspective; a technical services perspective; and a managerial/administrative perspective. It draws comparisons between front-of-house (FOH) and back-of-house (BOH) employees in the hospitality industry and the work of librarianship, given its customer service orientation. It draws on the professional literature for causes of burnout in librarianship. This chapter highlights the strong emphasis that has been placed on burnout research in bibliographic instruction librarians while criticizing the lack of research on technical services positions and managers/administrators, underlining the need for more research regarding public services positions that aren't tied to instruction, technical services positions, and managerial/administrative positions.

Emotional Labor, Emotional Exhaustion, and Burnout

This chapter explicitly articulates and explores the chain reaction that occurs starting with emotional labor through emotional exhaustion and into burnout. It examines the interrelationships of these concepts with the end view of burnout firmly in mind. It establishes emotional labor as an antecedent to emotional exhaustion and more fully implicates emotional exhaustion as one of the three main components in burnout which include EE, cynicism, and depersonalization. The chapter presents the work of Maslach and Jackson as well as offering another perspective on burnout as articulated by Aronson and Pines. Aronson and Pines include the dimension of tedium in the models of EL, EE, and burnout. The chapter explores the signs and symptoms of burnout and the impact it can have on an individual's mental and physical health as well as how burnout affects the organization. This chapter serves a critical foundation for appreciating why it is important to consider the emotional dimensions of academic librarianship.

Emotional Labor and Exhaustion

The focus of Chapter 2 is two-fold: emotional labor and emotional exhaustion. The chapter defines and describes each of these concepts in-depth and explores their many interrelationships. Drawing on the work of Grandey, the chapter provides definitions, examples, and related concepts for emotional labor (EL), which pertains to the regulation of one's own emotions within the particular context of the workplace, offering a conceptualization of the notion. This requires an understanding of both surface and deep acting, both of which are discussed. The chapter also explores the consequences of EL on both the individual and the organization. This leads into a discussion of emotional exhaustion (EE) which is likewise conceptualized within the chapter. There are six areas related to EE which the chapter explores: workload, fairness, reward, community, control, and value. It also examines the consequences of EE, briefly introducing its role in the phenomenon of burnout (which is examined more in-depth in another chapter).

Emotional Dimensions of Academic Librarianship

This chapter is the heart of this whole discussion: the emotional dimensions of academic librarianship. The chapter examines the nature of academic librarianship and what makes it an emotionally-laborious profession, exploring such topics as faculty status and tenure; change, technology, and innovation; intrapersonal challenges; subject specialty; campus leadership; and economic factors. The chapter explores what the academic librarianship literature is reporting regarding emotion within the profession, reporting on physical health problems, mental health problems, and the professional impact. It also discusses issues of gender and race/ethnicity and reaches beyond the borders of the U.S. to examine how librarians all over the globe are affected.

Introduction

Chapter 1 introduces the purpose of the work by briefly discussing concepts such as job satisfaction and the impact emotion can have on an individual in the work setting. It establishes the particular scope of the work – that is, academic librarianship to include community college librarianship – while leaving itself open geographically. The chapter briefly introduces the concepts of emotional labor, emotional exhaustion, and burnout, describing why it is important to study these concepts within academic librarianship at both the individual and the organizational level. The chapter also introduces emotion-related concepts and effects for the individual and organizational levels, not limiting itself to the context of academic librarianship. It also briefly examines workplace bullying and academic incivility. The chapter also introduces the topic of why the emotional dimensions of academic librarianship have not been more studied, acknowledging that the authors will propose some issues but recognizing that more research is needed to fully understand the emotional dimensions of academic librarianship before more meaningful and focused solutions can be identified.