“What about us?”: Wellbeing of higher education librarians

Susan Carter, Cecily Andersen, Michelle Turner, Lorraine Gaunt

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

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? 

Method: An 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. 

Results: Higher 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. 

Conclusions: The voices of librarians in the Higher Education sector have surfaced the need for inclusive wellbeing programs and strategies.

Original languageEnglish
Article number102619
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Academic Librarianship
Volume49
Issue number1
Early online date12 Oct 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2023

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of '“What about us?”: Wellbeing of higher education librarians'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this