Emotional labour in librarianship: an unpublished case study and postscript

Sandham, Mark and Steinberg, Carola Emotional labour in librarianship: an unpublished case study and postscript., 2010 (Unpublished) [Report]

[thumbnail of EMOTIONAL_LABOUR_IN_LIBRARIANSHIp.pdf]
Preview
 PDF
EMOTIONAL_LABOUR_IN_LIBRARIANSHIp.pdf
Download (150kB) | Preview

English abstract

University students are increasingly disregarding library rules, leading to emotionally demanding rule-enforcement in library reading rooms. A librarian at the University of the Witwatersrand kept a record of the incidents that evoked his emotions during twelve episodes of rule-enforcement. He then interviewed ten other librarians with regard to rule-enforcement. The investigation confirmed that misbehaviour is widespread and that where librarians oppose this with rule-enforcement they perform much emotional labour. Nonetheless, the majority of librarians claimed it did not affect their job satisfaction seriously.

Item type: Report
Keywords: Emotional labour; Higher education libraries; Rule-enforcement in libraries; Librarian-patron relations; Noise in libraries
Subjects: G. Industry, profession and education. > GE. Staff.
C. Users, literacy and reading. > CB. User studies.
Depositing user: Fatima Darries
Date deposited: 31 May 2010
Last modified: 02 Oct 2014 12:17
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10760/14600

References

Birdi, B., Wilson, K., & Cocker, J. (2008). The public library, exclusion and empathy: A literature review. Library Review, 57(8), 576-592. Retrieved from Emerald database.

Department of Education. (2003). Overview [of] National Curriculum Statement. Pretoria.

Hochschild, A. R. (1983). The managed heart: The commercialization of human feeling. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Kiesler, C. A. & Kiesler, S. B. (1969). Conformity. Reading: Addison-Wesley.

Kniffel, L. (2004, January). May be we should shush [Editorial]. American Libraries, 34(11), p. 46.

Lacey, S. (1979). Library vandalism and textual mutilation. Birmingham Library School Co-operative.

Lin, S. P. (2000). A study of the development of emotional labour loading scale. Sun Yat-Sen Management Review, 8(3), 427-447.

Lombard, A. (2007). Sensory intelligence : Why it matters more than IQ and EQ. Welgemoed, South Africa : Metz Press.

Lyall, S. (2008, May 4). Mind the generation gap: Rowdy youngsters with different ideas of what constitutes an interesting text are crowding the hallowed halls of the British Library in London. Sunday Times (Suppl. Travel & Food), p. 19.

Nussbaum, M. C. (2001). Upheavals of Thought, The Intelligence of Emotions. CUP.

Sinclair, B. (2007). Commons 2.0: Collaborative spaces designed for collaborative learning. Educause Quarterly, 4, 4-6.

Strongman, K. & Wright, S. (2008). The emotional labour of accountancy. Pacific Accounting Review, 20(2), 102-106.

Theodosius, C. (2008). Emotional labour in health care: The unmanaged heart of nursing. London: Routledge.

Topper, E. F. (2007). Stress in the library workplace. New Library World, 108(11/12), 561-564.

Turner, J. H. & Stets, J. E. (2005). The sociology of emotions. Cambridge: CUP.

University of the Witwatersrand. (2006). Code of conduct. Retrieved 6 November 2008, from http://intranet.wits.ac.za/Support/HumanResources/PolicyIndex.htm

Van Gelderen, B., Heuven, E., Van Veldhoven, M., Zeelenberg, M., & Croon, M. (2007). Psychological strain and emotional labor among police-officers: A diary study. Journal of Vocational Behaviour, 71, 446-459. Retrieved from ScienceDirect database.

Waxman, L., Clemons, S., Banning, J. & McKelfresh, D. ( 2007). The library as place: Providing students with opportunities for socialization, relaxation and restoration. New Library World, 108(9/10), 424-434.

Weiten, (2007). Psychology: Themes and variations.(7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson, Wadsworth.

Williamson, J. M., Pemberton, A. E. & Lounsbury, J. W. (2008). Personality traits of individuals in different specialities of librarianship. Journal of Documentation, 64(2), 273-286. Retrieved from Emerald database.

Wolfe, T. (2005). I am Charlotte Simmons. London: Vintage.

Yagil, D. (2008). When the customer is wrong: A review of research on aggression and sexual harassment in service encounters. Aggression and Violent Behaviour, 13, 141-152.

Yang, F.-H., & Chang, C.-C. (2008). Emotional labour, job satisfaction and organizational commitment amongst clinical nurses: A questionnaire survey. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 45(6), 879-887. Retrieved from ScienceDirect database.


Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item
Contact us
Send email Sponsors
Sponsor: AIMS Sponsor: D&P Sponsor: UniNa CAB Get connected
Facebook Facebook Twitter Twitter Linkedin LinkedIn RSS RSS