“What about us?” Wellbeing of higher education librarians

Abstract

Scant research has centred on the wellbeing of librarians. This paper seeks to answer how do librarians in the Higher Education sector describe their wellbeing, including what enables and impacts it? MethodAn Adapted Interactive Model of Research Design (AIRD) (adapted from Maxwell, 2009) was used together with Contributive Research Method (Puig et al., 2018). Data was collected during an online satellite event where 97 people from 34 institutions in three countries participated, from which 57 contributed data to the study through a workshop presentation on maintaining wellbeing. During the online interactive workshop, data was gathered in a contributory a manner, using embedded digital tools Mentimeter, and Hypothes.is. ResultsHigher Education librarians in the study aligned with Diener's (1984) conceptualisation of subjective wellbeing when defining wellbeing. Data also surfaced a shared understanding of subjective wellbeing, and identification of impactors and enablers to the wellbeing of librarians in the Higher Education Sector. The study surfaced two key findings: firstly six enablers to wellbeing were identified; and secondly, the wellbeing of Higher Education sector librarians is heavily impacted by work intensification. ConclusionsThe voices of librarians in the Higher Education sector have surfaced the need for inclusive wellbeing programs and strategies.