Library Employees Research Articles

Job Characteristics and Job Engagement: A Two-Wave Study among Library Employees

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether coworker support moderates the relationship between role stressors and job engagement among library employees. Library employees (n = 96) were surveyed over two time periods to assess these relationships. As predicted, job engagement at time 1 was significantly related to job engagement at time 2. As hypothesized, coworker support was found to buffer the effect of role ambiguity on job engagement. Job engagement was not as impacted for employees who had supportive coworkers in the face of ambiguity compared to those who did not feel supported by their colleagues.

Contextualizing Inclusivity in Terms of Language: Distinguishing Librarians from “Library Staff”

Numerous employee groups exist in libraries. Often, there is a tendency to distinguish these groups into librarians and library staff. Recognizing the expanding diversity of library employees as well as the climate of building more inclusive workplaces, this article seeks to examine if this distinction is represented on institution websites and in the research literature within the context of academic libraries. There are two competing elements of inclusion in the language used to group employees: belonging and uniqueness. This article explores the need to find a balance between grouping individuals collectively and recognizing their unique role differences.

Serials Metric Studies Performed at the Academic Library to Improve Scholarly Communication of the Library Users (Experience and Opinion of the Scientific Library of the Belarusian National Technical University)

The objective of the paper was to consider the current experience of metric evaluations of serial publications carried out by employees of academic libraries and to develop recommendations for conducting such evaluations. To achieve this objective, relevant publications were reviewed and the relevant experience of the Scientific Library of the Belarusian National Technical University was summarized. Two trends of such evaluations were analyzed, viz. both evaluation for the purpose of improving library collections or information services for library users and evaluation for the purpose of making managerial decisions, assessing the scientific performance of the university, research organization or their units. As for the first trend, the viewpoint that this area of research has lost its relevance has been refuted. Using for evaluation such indicators as disciplinary impact factor and disciplinary susceptibility factor (which is used for the selection of those non-specialized serial publications that cite specialized journals—not are cited by them; herewith the citing activity of an average article from the citing non-specialized serial is calculated) is considered. As for the second trend, the paper demonstrates the important role of metric evaluation of serial publications in which employees of universities and research organizations have published as well as of those serials that are published by academic organizations under analysis in the assessment of universities and research organizations themselves. The approaches to such evaluation, its examples and the experience of the Scientific Library of the Belarusian National Technical University in evaluating Belarusian journals indexed by the Emerging Sources Citation Index™ are considered. The issue of improving the scholarly communication of employees of the university or research organization using the results of metric studies of serial publications is considered as well. Recommendations are given on the use of a number of citation indicators for serial publications evaluations by academic library employees including evaluation for comparative analysis of serials that are indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded™ and by the Emerging Sources Citation Index™.

What Makes a Leader? An Exploratory Study of Academic Library Employees' Perceptions

What Makes a Leader? An Exploratory Study of Academic Library Employees' Perceptions

Scientometrics in the Library as a Research Support Tool in the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Scientometrics today is an effective tool to analyze and evaluate the activities of scientific organizations, as well as to form strategies and forecasts for the development of scientific research. To carry out scientometric research, specialists are required with the knowledge and skills to work with scientometric data. Such specialists can be employees of research libraries. The purpose of the study is to determine the role of the research library in carrying out scientometric works in the interests of research organizations. The article describes the experience of bibliometric analysis and the development of scientometrics in the Central Scientific Library of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (UB RAS). The study of the state of scientometrics in research organizations of UD RAS was carried out by the method of questionnaires. As a result, it is revealed that most often work in scientometric databases is carried out by scientific secretaries and deputy directors for scientific work. In some answers one can see a limited use of scientometric databases capabilities. Thus, the need for a specialist in scientometrics has been identified. Despite the indicated advantages of library specialists, the importance of interaction between a research organization and a library is emphasized for conducting a high-quality scientometric analysis.

Library Employees’ Perspective of Capacity Building through Continuing Professional Development in the Republic of Maldives

Due to many factors, particularly developments in technology, LIS professionals need to continuously refresh and upgrade their knowledge and skills through participation in continuing professional development (CPD) activities. The objective of this pilot study was to understand LIS employees’ perceptions, motivation, assessment, and preference for participation in CPD programs. Both quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques were used. An online questionnaire was administered, and 49 responses were received which was adequate considering the small size of the country. Seven semi-structured interviews were conducted via Zoom with four LIS employees representing national, academic, and school libraries and with three other LIS professionals in the country. Findings revealed that only 30.7% of the respondents had participated in any CPD learning programs. It was also revealed that LIS employees in the Maldives had access to a very limited number of LIS-related CPD programs. The CPD programs offered by the National Library of Maldives’s (NLM) were mainly targeted at new entrants to the profession as a majority of them were without any LIS qualification. As a result, appropriate training programs were lacking for supervisory and middle management employees across all types of libraries. Data analysis also revealed that the top three barriers to pursuing CPD programs were lack of suitable training programs, too costly to pay from personal funds, and lack of opportunities for career advancement. Three areas of potential improvement pertaining to LIS employees’ engagement in CPD activities were identified. The findings are expected to provide some basic data for developing a CPD plan and strategies for the LIS sector in the Maldives.

Closing the Loop: Building a Culture of Assessment in Academic Libraries

Library assessments are used to inform others of the library’s value to the community and to assist in decision-making. In some instances, those conducting the assessment are not those who are describing the library’s value or making decisions. In these instances, a final assessment step is to close the loop of assessment. This article examines the assessment and user experience literature for insights on how library employees can close the loop on library assessments. It suggests the next steps employees may take after completing an assessment that results in library improvement.

Disability in the Time of COVID

This column article discusses the state of people with disabilities who work in libraries in conjunction with the Covid pandemic, and the return to working on site. Also discussed is how accessibility changed in libraries because of the pandemic and the shut downs that occurred before vaccination. This article asks administrators to consider several issues including the difference between compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and accessibility, compassionate care for library employees and patrons, boundary setting, and embracing change.

Are library vendors doing enough to protect users? A content analysis of major ILS privacy policies

While privacy is a core value of librarianship, privacy standards differ by library and library vendor. These types of guidelines are necessary and useful, but understanding them can be overwhelming. Academic libraries increasingly rely on third-party, cloudbased vendors to manage their systems and to provide access to their collections. When selecting library systems, library staff must understand privacy issues and be aware of how vendors use data. However, libraries do not always have the staffing, time or knowledge, and vendors are not always interested in upholding library values. The project examines the content of privacy policies for popular library systems used by Canadian academic libraries. The research aims to help librarians better understand the policies, to help them make informed decisions about their own library systems. The process used to code the privacy policies and the results of the coding are included alongside recommendations for vendors and library employees. Building on two seminal privacy studies, the methodology is revised for a Canadian context and updated with today's terminology and context, making it adaptable for other libraries and context around the world.

Building Librarians’ Research Skills through Experiential Learning

Experiential learning programs are an effective method to teach data-focused research skills and statistical analysis. We examine the effects of a participatory research training program developed and executed by a data librarian and administered to library employees at a large academic library. The program aimed to improve research skills and increase research productivity. This study employs a survey within a concurrent mixed methods methodological framework to examine the outcomes of the training program. Our findings show that the program served as a low-cost, short-term, effective method of teaching data collection and quantitative analysis that increased participants’ knowledge of the research process, boosted their research confidence, and provided valuable data on library services for use by the participants and library administration.

Occupational Stress and Psychological Health of Employees of University Libraries in Osun State, Nigeria

This study examined the influence of occupational stress on the psychological health of the employees of university libraries in Osun State, Nigeria. A random sample of 32 participants from selected university libraries in Osun State, Nigeria. The result of the hypothesis revealed a weak positive correlation between occupational stressors and psychological health status (N = 32, r = 0.427, p = 0.015). The test also shows a weak positive correlation between the level of occupational stress and psychological health status (N = 32, r = 0.493, p = 0.004). The study concluded that employees who do not experience work-related stress would enjoy good health. The study also recommended that the management of university libraries should ensure that they provide mentorship, funds, Internet facilities, and encouragement to their employees to ensure a stress-free work environment so that library employees would continue to enjoy good health.

Awareness of Linked Open Data Among the Employees of Polish Libraries, Archives, and Museums

Purpose/Thesis: This article presents the results of a survey conducted in January 2021 among employees of Polish libraries, museums, and archives, examining their awareness of open linked data technologies. The research had a pilot character and its results will be used to improve the questionnaire and to conduct research on a wider scale.
 Approach/Methods: The survey method was used in the study.
 Results and conclusions: On the basis of answers received, it can be concluded that open linked data is not yet very well-known among employees of Polish libraries, museums, and archives. Those most aware of technologies allowing for machine understanding of content shared on the Web are doctorate degree-holders employed in research libraries. Furthermore, awareness of the projects using LOD technologies does not correlate with awareness of these technological solutions.
 Research limitations: The number of respondents (415) constitutes 1% of all the people employed in libraries, archives, and museums in Poland (based on data provided by the Central Statistical Office of Poland). This is not a large number, but considering the variety among the respondents, the sample can be considered representative.
 Originality/Value: The awareness of Linked Open Data among employees of Polish libraries, archives, and museums has not been the subject of any study so far. In fact, this type of research has not been conducted in other countries either.

Коллекция экспедиционных фотографий А.И. Скасси в собрании отдела рукописей и книжных памятников Научной библиотеки ТГУ

The article highlights the almost unexplored issue of the collection of photographs preserved in the Department of Manuscripts and Book Monuments of the Scientific Library of Tomsk State University. The photographs were taken by August Ivanovich Skassi. The author of the article managed to find biographical information about the photographer. As a military topographer, Skassi participated in scientific expeditions in Central and Central Asia. Knowing about his work, Grigory Nikolaevich Potanin invited Scassi on an expedition to China and Tibet, which lasted three years -from 1884 to 1886. It is known that Scassi made a topographic survey of the area along the route of Potanin's journey (more than 7 thousand kilometers long). In addition, he took about 200 photographs, which depicted the urban landscapes of China and the people who met on the expedition path. The author of the article notes that the works of G.N. Potanina, A.I. Scassi, A.V. Potanina in the Chinese expedition were awarded medals of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. Potanin highly valued the photographs of Skassi and kept some of them in his personal collection. It is known that in 1920 G.N. Potanin died and was buried in Tomsk, and his collection of photographs, together with his manuscripts and the library, first came to the Siberian Research Institute, and then to the library of Tomsk University. And a few decades later, a library employee N.V. Vasenkin carried out the attribution of these photographs. The collection of 16 photographs is stored in the collection of the Department of Manuscripts and Book Monuments of the Scientific Library of Tomsk State University as part of the Potanin fund. The photographs depict the Buddhist monasteries of Gumbum, Kadan-Syume and Wutai, the shrine of Yun-zhao-si in Wutai, the streets and individual buildings of Chinese cities and villages. The collection contains photographs of the family of the Dzungarian prince and the family of a Mongol official from Amdos, as well as portraits of ordinary people in China. Photographs of Tangut men in national clothes and servants of the Buddhist monastery Labran are unique. Most of the photographs are pasted onto cardboard or forms from the photo studio where they were printed. Many of the photographs have handwritten text made by G.N. Potanin. The photographs are well preserved, but are damaged: the paper has turned yellow, there are tears along the edges, and others. The collection of photographs by A.I. Skassi has reliable information about the history and culture of China and is an important historical source.

Employees’ perception of knowledge management in academic libraries in the digital age

The 21st century is associated with change in the business, education, and information environments due to the digital age paradigm shift. In the digital age, knowledge management has become essential for academic libraries that want to accelerate their performance in this time of change. The research objective was to evaluate academic library employees’ perceptions of knowledge management in the digital age. The research was guided by pragmatism through incorporating the mixed methods research approach where qualitative and quantitative methods were applied to ensure that the research questions were addressed. The research strategy was a case study. The study collected empirical data on cases of four campus libraries. This study applied the exploratory method to evaluate employees’ perceptions on knowledge management roles, skills, and technologies. Interviews and a survey were used as data collection methods. A purposive sample of the library management team and library employees from a South African higher education institution was carried out. The reliability of the questionnaire was tested that showed a high Cronbach’s alpha. The findings produced employees’ radar maps and concluded that knowledge management is not something to be neglected in the digital age that is associated with continuous change primarily because it ensures that knowledge is created, shared, retained, and disseminated in the library. Librarians are encouraged to use technologies such as social media, big data, and virtual reality in their day-to-day work to sustain the library’s relevance in the digital age.

BIBLIOTEKA ISTORIJSKOG ARHIVA ŠUMADIJE KRAGUJEVAC

Libraries in the 21st century have the goal and task to preserve the wealth of spiritual culture, taken over from ancient times when books and literacy played a very important role in creating the history, not only of monastery libraries but also of rulers and intelligent people, whose role was from of crucial importance for their creation. Libraries in cultural institutions represent historical places due to the specificity and historical layering preserved in them, thanks to which they shape the cultural identity of the local community, including the intellectual and educational spectrum of its readers. In addition to influencing the education of new young generations of readers, they also create contemporary history. Modern technology has replaced the written word with an electronic record, so everything is "at our fingertips" via the Internet and search engines, which applies especially to electronic editions of certain books. Nevertheless, there is a certain number of researchers and users who look for books in the library, and the advantage of such a way of working with users is reflected in the ability to see and define the needs of users and to provide them with assistance in the way of accessing and searching for data when using the library and archive materials. Such a way of working contributes to the improvement of services and records of library users. To find spiritual culture in librarianship among the many books of all kinds, from precious and decorative manuscripts, through newspapers and ordinary writings, to diplomatic works, postcards, and much more, represents a real skill in terms of choice of specialization, both in work and in the protection of library material. Library employees protect the library material that connects literary, artistic, and scientific creativity. Protection is inextricably linked to the scientific organization of libraries. The book is a unique document that represents tradition and culture that we should preserve.

Training, Support, and Connection for Student Library Employees in a Tiered Reference Service Model

Student employees at circulation desks are the first points of contact for many library users with research questions, but they are challenged to respond or refer when librarians are unavailable. In an attempt to cultivate student employees’ reference skills, confidence, and connection to the library’s values and mission, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Division of the UC Berkeley Library developed an outcomes-based training program consisting of an interactive session and a dynamic online reference manual. Student employees completed pre-training and post-training assessments of their reference skills and self-efficacy. Qualitative feedback was analyzed to identify ongoing challenges and intangible benefits for student employees engaged in reference work. Challenges observed include user expectations, infrequent questions, and the complex information landscape; benefits observed include community building and student growth. Implications of these challenges and benefits for student training programs are discussed.

Relationship Between Academic Library Workers’ Outlooks on Life, Personality, and Goal-Setting Behavior and Achievement

A Review of: Lo, L.S. & Anderson, A.M. (2020). Personal goal setting behavior and professional outlooks of academic library employees. Journal of New Librarianship, 5, 204-236. https://doi.org/10.33011/newlibs/9/21 Abstract Objective – To identify a correlation between academic library employees who set New Year’s resolutions and goal-setting behavior in professional contexts, and to explore practices, personal attitudes, and outlooks that influence goal-setting and goal-achievement Design – Non-experimental multiple choice questionnaire Setting – Online Subjects – 308 adult participants (over 21 years old) who work in academic library settings including staff, librarians, and administration Methods – The authors designed an online, non-experimental multiple choice questionnaire through Qualtrics. The authors distributed study invitations to multiple professional library listservs, though it is unclear which listservs were included and what geographic location was covered. The survey was available for roughly a month from February 1-26, 2016. The survey screened participant demographics to omit those under 21 years of age and all identifying information was removed in order to protect participant privacy. All participation was voluntary and participants who were interested in contributing to a follow-up research study were asked to share their contact emails. Main Results – Most participants (n=182, 59%) set no New Year's resolutions in 2015 and half (n=155, 50%) set no resolutions in 2016. When asked to explain, 23% noted that they hadn't considered setting resolutions in 2016, 9% did not prioritize setting goals, and 5% felt that they could not achieve their goals. Additionally, over 50% articulated other reasons including not prioritizing goal-setting for New Year’s, noting that setting goals around the academic year was timelier, and that some participants already had enough goals to achieve. In 2016, half of participants (n=153, 50%) set New Year’s resolutions. By far the most common resolution was physical fitness and healthy eating (n=64, 42%). About 19% set occupational goals including skill building, and 15% set emotional goals including cultivating optimism and mindfulness. When asked about goal-setting practices, 36% of the 2016 resolution setters described writing or typing out their goals, 59% shared their goals with others, and nearly 90% enacted changes in their daily routines in order to achieve their goals. 26 participants used all of the goal setting practices above. This group prioritized their top goals and felt confident about reaching those goals. Four participants did not practice goal-setting techniques, and also felt less confident about achieving their goals. 49% of 2016 resolution setters had somewhat optimistic outlooks, and 24% had very optimistic life outlooks. Of those with pessimistic life outlooks, nearly all believed it would be difficult to accomplish goals. Respondents who claimed to be very ambitious were likely to set occupational goals as their top goal. 81% of those in dean and director positions reported being very ambitious and 85% also reported being optimistic. All deans and directors felt confident about accomplishing their goals. For middle managers, 75% felt ambitious and 72% felt optimistic. Professional librarians were 66% ambitious and 72% optimistic. Conclusions – This study's findings align closely with United States national averages about the percentage of Americans who set New Year’s resolutions and achieve their goals. Data suggests some relationship between academic library workers’ outlooks on life and confidence in achieving their goals, as well as a correlation between goal setting strategies and achieving goals. The authors express optimism that 20% of participants who set New Year's resolutions chose to list occupational goals as their top goals, especially considering that resolution-setting comprises an incredibly broad array of options. The authors suggest that data can be used by academic library administrators to increase worker job performance, improve worker wellness, establish mentorship programs, and train workers to set attainable goals.

Participation of Central Libraries of the Subjects of the Russian Federation in the Organization of Scientific Activity

activities (R&D) carried out by the central libraries (CL) of the subjects of the Russian Federation. The author carried out the study basing on the questionnaire survey conducted by the National Library of Russia on the assignment of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation in accordance with the decision of the Annual Meeting of the Heads of Federal and Central Regional Libraries of Russia in 2020. Central libraries, in accordance with their functions and priority goals, are the basis of the country’s library system. Their role as scientific, methodological and coordinating centres of the library system of the region is established at the level of federal and regional library legislation.The questionnaire survey revealed that most libraries have regulatory and legal grounds for conducting R&D. Employees of the central libraries are actively engaged in scientific-research work on a wide range of topics. At the same time, there should be distinguished two main areas of scientific activity of the central libraries: scientific support for the activities of libraries and historical and cultural research of regional nature based on library collections. Along with that, it is necessary to develop common approaches to solving organizational issues of R&D and its support from methodological centres and management bodies. One of the problems is to bring the results of scientific work to a wide range of users. The paper notes that it is expedient to do this by including electronic copies of scientific publications of the central libraries in the section “To Library Professionals” of the National Electronic Library; by compliance with the federal legislation in the area of legal deposit and legal deposit of printed publications in electronic form; by including scientific publications of the central libraries in the system of the Russian Scientific Citation Index with placement in the Scientific Electronic Library (eLibrary). The use of the scientific potential of the central libraries is a significant condition for achieving the goals set out in the “Strategy for the Development of Librarianship in the Russian Federation for the period up to 2030”.

Lessons learned: a meta-synthesis examining library spaces, services and resources during COVID-19

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the evolving ways library users engaged with services and resources and how library services adapted to meet their needs, in order to improve practice post-pandemic.Design/methodology/approachDuring Fall 2020 and Spring 2021, nine studies were conducted which examined the usage of space, services and resources; and employee and student perspectives. Findings from these studies were synthesized for this investigation through a process of qualitative meta-synthesis.FindingsThe themes from this meta-synthesis point to an ongoing need for streamlining services and processes, to improve efficiency as well as enable the Libraries to be prepared for the next crisis.Originality/valueWhile change takes time for large organizations, the existence of system-wide processes and services enabled library employees to continue assisting users across all Penn State campuses, demonstrating that the University Libraries could be considered a model for the “One Penn State” vision that the university strives to achieve by 2025.

The Management of Strategic Change in the Municipal Public Library

The Management of Strategic Change in the Municipal Public Library