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| Format: | Recurso educativo Open Access |
| Language: | en |
| Published: |
2023
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| Online Access: | https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED640404 |
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| _version_ | 1867180991191187457 |
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| author | Sara Parme |
| author_facet | Sara Parme Sara Parme |
| collection | Education Resources Information Center |
| contents | Academic Library Staff's Perceptions and Lived Experiences with Librarian to Staff Incivility Sara Parme Academic Libraries Library Personnel Librarians Librarian Attitudes Employee Attitudes Nonprofessional Personnel Negative Attitudes Antisocial Behavior Work Environment Interpersonal Relationship Employees Responsibility Barriers Higher education is weathering a tsunami of declining student enrollment, budget cuts, and hiring freezes. Academic libraries have been downsizing and reorganizing for decades in the midst of their own identity crisis from increasing automation. Traditional librarian duties are increasingly becoming the responsibility of library staff. The stress of the changing role of libraries and librarians, increased workload, and an uncertain future can create an uncivil workplace. The general problem is that the current state of higher education and academic libraries necessitates the library's effective functioning and the unity of its employees. This is crucial to justify employee positions, prevent further budget cuts, and defend their physical space on campus. It is well-documented in existing literature that incivility, characterized by rude and discourteous behavior, is prevalent in libraries. Furthermore, research indicates that incivility tends to flow down within an organization, affecting those with lower formal power and status. Surprisingly, despite this well-established pattern, academic library staff have been largely overlooked in the scholarly discourse surrounding library incivility. The study was conducted using Heidegger's hermeneutic phenomenology framework. The data was analyzed through the lens of social identity theory, focusing on power, status, and hierarchy. Current full-time academic library staff in the United States, without a Master of Library Science degree and that have encountered incivility from a librarian(s) in their library were purposively recruited to participate in a Zoom interview lasting about an hour. The aim of this study sought to examine the lived experiences of academic library staff who have encountered incivility from librarians. After an exhaustive review of the data, four themes emerged. The first theme, "Devaluation," revolves around librarians and library administrators treating participants with a lack of respect, questioning their competence, misunderstanding their job duties, neglecting awareness of their roles, not providing sufficient resources and workspace, inequitable recognition, and disregard for their suggestions and concerns. The second theme, "Inequitable and Unsafe Working Conditions," highlights participants' encounters during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in workplace conditions that were both unfair and unsafe. The third theme, "Barriers to Professional Advancement," reflects participants' perceptions of barriers to career growth hindering them from realizing their potential and unfairly restricting their opportunities for advancement. The final theme, "Hypocrisy," encapsulates the participants' experiences of inconsistency between librarians' stated values of social justice and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and their actual treatment of staff. The study findings provide a better understanding of library workplace incivility and increase the representation of library staff perceptions in professional literature. In addition, these narratives help identify the systemic reasons for incivility in academic libraries and reveal areas where future research is needed. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.] |
| format | Recurso educativo Open Access |
| id | eric_ED640404 |
| institution | ERIC Institute of Education Sciences |
| language | en |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| record_format | eric |
| spellingShingle | Academic Library Staff's Perceptions and Lived Experiences with Librarian to Staff Incivility Sara Parme Academic Libraries Library Personnel Librarians Librarian Attitudes Employee Attitudes Nonprofessional Personnel Negative Attitudes Antisocial Behavior Work Environment Interpersonal Relationship Employees Responsibility Barriers Academic Library Staff's Perceptions and Lived Experiences with Librarian to Staff Incivility Sara Parme Academic Libraries Library Personnel Librarians Librarian Attitudes Employee Attitudes Nonprofessional Personnel Negative Attitudes Antisocial Behavior Work Environment Interpersonal Relationship Employees Responsibility Barriers Higher education is weathering a tsunami of declining student enrollment, budget cuts, and hiring freezes. Academic libraries have been downsizing and reorganizing for decades in the midst of their own identity crisis from increasing automation. Traditional librarian duties are increasingly becoming the responsibility of library staff. The stress of the changing role of libraries and librarians, increased workload, and an uncertain future can create an uncivil workplace. The general problem is that the current state of higher education and academic libraries necessitates the library's effective functioning and the unity of its employees. This is crucial to justify employee positions, prevent further budget cuts, and defend their physical space on campus. It is well-documented in existing literature that incivility, characterized by rude and discourteous behavior, is prevalent in libraries. Furthermore, research indicates that incivility tends to flow down within an organization, affecting those with lower formal power and status. Surprisingly, despite this well-established pattern, academic library staff have been largely overlooked in the scholarly discourse surrounding library incivility. The study was conducted using Heidegger's hermeneutic phenomenology framework. The data was analyzed through the lens of social identity theory, focusing on power, status, and hierarchy. Current full-time academic library staff in the United States, without a Master of Library Science degree and that have encountered incivility from a librarian(s) in their library were purposively recruited to participate in a Zoom interview lasting about an hour. The aim of this study sought to examine the lived experiences of academic library staff who have encountered incivility from librarians. After an exhaustive review of the data, four themes emerged. The first theme, "Devaluation," revolves around librarians and library administrators treating participants with a lack of respect, questioning their competence, misunderstanding their job duties, neglecting awareness of their roles, not providing sufficient resources and workspace, inequitable recognition, and disregard for their suggestions and concerns. The second theme, "Inequitable and Unsafe Working Conditions," highlights participants' encounters during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in workplace conditions that were both unfair and unsafe. The third theme, "Barriers to Professional Advancement," reflects participants' perceptions of barriers to career growth hindering them from realizing their potential and unfairly restricting their opportunities for advancement. The final theme, "Hypocrisy," encapsulates the participants' experiences of inconsistency between librarians' stated values of social justice and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and their actual treatment of staff. The study findings provide a better understanding of library workplace incivility and increase the representation of library staff perceptions in professional literature. In addition, these narratives help identify the systemic reasons for incivility in academic libraries and reveal areas where future research is needed. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.] |
| title | Academic Library Staff's Perceptions and Lived Experiences with Librarian to Staff Incivility |
| topic | Academic Libraries Library Personnel Librarians Librarian Attitudes Employee Attitudes Nonprofessional Personnel Negative Attitudes Antisocial Behavior Work Environment Interpersonal Relationship Employees Responsibility Barriers |
| url | https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED640404 |