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The study sought to explore and compare the current levels of job stress among academic library staff at the University of Botswana (UB) and the University of Zambia (UNZA). The accessible populations consisted of library staff (n=19) at the University of Botswana and (n=25) at the University of Zambia.The purpose of this paper is present the identified perceived sources of and levels of job stress among the librarians at two universities.

This study used a survey method with the questionnaire as the main data collection instrument. Two groups randomly constituted from both universities in the main campuses were purposively selected using non-probability sampling. Gender and status of the sample selected were also carefully considered in the choice of the sample so as to have the perceptions from every gender and category of staff. The main hypothesis of this study is that there is no significant difference in job stress experienced by library staff in the two African universities.

From the findings, it was concluded that library staff at the University of Botswana and University of Zambia were not in an overall state of stress compared with norm data. However, salary-related issues were found to be the highest source of stress among both library staff samples followed by workload related issues. Low stress items among library staff fell into two broad categories namely conflict-related and management-related items.

Similar to other empirical studies, this study is not without its limitations. The sample consisted of two public universities in Botswana and Zambia. This may limit the generalization of the results. The study also employed non-probability sampling in the selection of participants. The study can be strengthened by increasing the sample size as the data analysis results and findings may vary substantially when the sample size is increased or decreased.

Most studies in library and information science focus on collection development, information retrieval and information seeking behavior of users. Few studies have been undertaken in this area particularly in Southern Africa. It is therefore, hoped that the findings of this study may provide both a starting point for further research in the topic of stress among librarians in Southern Africa. The study may also bring management attention to various issues related to stress among library staff.

The purpose of this paper is to explore stress among reference library staff in academic and public libraries in one of the European countries. The study has been conducted to ascertain whether members of the reference staff undergo stress, whether they consider the reference work stressful, how often they are exposed to stress, which situations are most stressful and how they cope with stress in the workplace and in their private lives.

A semi-structured interview is applied as a data collection technique so that interviewees are able to express their opinions on stress and to describe stress as an individual experience. A convenience sample of members of the reference library staff in ten academic and ten public libraries is prepared.

The reference library staff in the academic and public libraries is aware of stress causing damage to one’s health and work performance. The reference staff in the public libraries is more frequently exposed to stress than those in the academic libraries. The users are considered the main stressor owing to their complex reference questions, vague information needs and requests, wanting information and materials immediately, not following the library rules, etc.

The sample is small and not representative, including only two types of libraries. The research may serve as a preliminary study, as it offers insights into the work-related stress among the reference staff in the academic and public libraries.

This is the first research on the stress of the reference library staff in the academic and public libraries in the country. It contributes to the understanding of the work-related stress in the libraries. Identifying stressful situations can help the reference staff and employers take appropriate strategies to cope with stress.

In a previous editorial I talked about statistics and what you could make of them (The Electronic Library, 3, 5, Dec 1985, pp. 303–4) — now here's another statistic of dubious value. “Miners endure greatest job stress, librarians least” screams the headline (headlines always scream) in a recent issue of the International Herald Tribune. On a scale from 10 to 0 miners were rated 8.3 for occupational stress endurance with librarians rated 2.0. Librarians rate lower than clergymen and beauticians (3.5); astronomers (3.4); nannies (3.3) and museum workers (2.8). Higher up the scale are farmers and diplomats (4.8); bus drivers (5.4); stockbrokers (5.5); doctors and tax collectors (6.8); politicians (7.2); dentists (7.3); journalists, construction workers, civil aviation pilots and prison officers (7.5); and police (7.7). Now some of these you wouldn't want to quibble with — although stress may not be present all of the time. Even police can have an easy day on the beat and pilots can switch on the automatic pilot for a while. However, if you are continually faced with the possibility of potentially dangerous and demanding situations — as police, miners, prison officers, pilots and construction workers are — then your stress level is bound to be higher. Farmers, while in no physical danger like the preceding categories, nevertheless have variables in their lives (the weather!) which cause them to worry about possible loss of livelihood.

The purpose of this study is to assess the training needs on emotional intelligence (EI) of librarians serving in the university libraries of Pakistan.

A structured questionnaire was used to gather data from a randomly selected sample of Pakistani university librarians. A paired sample t-test was used to examine the significance of difference between the four indicators of EI. Further, descriptive statistics were used to assess the training needs on EI.

The difference between all indicators of EI was found to be significant. The results showed less than 50 per cent of deficit, more than 50 per cent of surplus and 20 per cent of job best fit in terms of EI of university librarians. Further, results illustrated that librarians require training to cover the skill deficiencies. Similarly, top-down allocation of tasks is required to produce more person-job fit and control surplus or over utilisation of the skills.

Findings of this study have several implications for university librarians, such as designing of training programs, incorporation of EI in the performance evaluation to investigate the causes of deficit and surplus in EI, etc.

This study is a first attempt that extended the scope of EI towards librarianship in Pakistan. The findings probably motivate university librarians to improve the current level of their EI.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on describing the experience of occupational psychosocial stress among librarians in Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa. It further seeks to identify the various psychosocial stress components and how they interact to determine the stress level of librarians.

Using the Effort-Reward Imbalance scale, this descriptive study employed a web-based data collection tool (Google Form) to design and solicit data from respondents. Convenient sampling technique was used to employ 153 librarians from Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa with at least a diploma in any library-related programme, who work in either academic, public or special libraries.

This study established the prevalence of occupational psychosocial stress among librarians from Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa. It was realised that gender, country of residence of respondents, age, work experience, workers with children under 13 years of age and work roles were the main factors that influenced the occupational stress among the respondents.

The response rate for this study was low. As a result, undertaking any inferential statistics to explain relationships was not possible.

The value of this study lies in the depth of narrative data collected and the insight it affords with regards to contemporary work within libraries in Africa and beyond. The results presented may provide both a starting point for further discussion and may also promote an increased openness about issues of employee safety in the library environment.

The purpose of the present study is to measure levels of burnout among Greek academic librarians and to assess its relation with certain background characteristics.

The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) was administered to 136 academic librarians across Greece.

Findings suggested that respondents experienced low levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization and moderate levels of personal accomplishment. Of the background characteristics, age, number of years as a librarian and participation in decision‐making were found to be independent of experienced burnout. Direct contact with library users seemed to enhance feelings of personal accomplishment. In addition, employees with short‐term contracts reported higher levels of emotional exhaustion in comparison to their colleagues holding lifetime positions.Research limitations/implications – Future research can focus on different types of libraries where the predominance of different organizational characteristics might have a different impact on individual burnout. Another direction for future research is the study of the specific job conditions that might contribute to burnout.

Provides valuable results concerning burnout among library professionals in Greece.

They say Eve tempted Adam with an apple. But man I ain’t going for that. Pink Cadillac – Bruce SpringsteenAll through history, individuals have spent considerable effort attempting to influence the behaviors and beliefs of others. As a principal issue in psychology (Forgas & Williams, 2001), social influence processes have been the subject of inquiry for a considerable length of time (Sherif, 1936) while Peterson (2001) argued that the manner in which individuals manipulate others represents the very core of social psychology. Extensive reviews of the social influence literature (e.g. Cialdini & Trost, 1998; Forgas & Williams, 2001) elucidate its powerful role in virtually all work and non-work domains.

This study aims to identify the causes of mental health issues faced by university librarians, to investigate the impact of mental health issues on the job performance of university librarians, and to know about the health activities to maintain mental and physical health.

The systematic literature review was applied as the research methodology. Forty-three research papers published in peer-reviewed journals were selected to conduct the study.

The findings of the study revealed that several factors including socio-economic conditions, work stress, stigma, constant fear, lack of self-efficacy, negative thinking, job security problems, strict organizational climate, poor human relations, lack of required job skills, chronic diseases and global pandemics cause mental problems in library professionals. Mental health issues have a negative impact on the job output of librarians. Different activities including emotional health training sessions, physical and mental exercises, social connections, membership of mental health centres, continuing professional development, and self-care training assist in the stability of the physical and mental fitness of librarians.

The study has a societal impact through the identification of different activities for maintaining mental health. It has offered theoretical implications for the investigators to further conduct studies in the area of mental health and librarians. It has also provided managerial implications for management bodies to take fruitful measures for the sound mental health of librarians so that they might carry out innovative library services.

The purpose of this paper is to use the sociology of time to understand how time is perceived by academic librarians who provide reference and information service (RIS).

This study is a qualitative secondary analysis (QSA) of two phenomenological studies about the experience of RIS in academic libraries. The authors used QSA to re-analyze the interview transcripts to develop themes related to the perception of time.

Three themes about the experience of time in RIS work were identified. Participants experience time as discrete, bounded moments but sometimes experience threads through these moments that provide continuity, time is framed as a commodity that weighs on the value of the profession, and time plays an integral part of participants’ narratives and professional identities.

Given that the initial consent processes vary across organizations and types of studies, the researchers felt ethically compelled to share only excerpts from each study’s data, rather than the entire data set, with others on the research team. Future qualitative studies should consider the potential for secondary analysis and build data management and sharing plans into the initial study design.

Most discussions of time in the literature are presented as a metric – time to answer a query, time to conduct a task – The authors offer a more holistic understanding of time and its relationship to professional work.

The methodology taken in this paper makes sense of the experiences of work in RIS for librarians. It identifies commonalities between the experience of time and work for RIS professionals and those of other professionals, such as physicians and software engineers. It suggests revising models for RIS, as well as some professional values.

This paper contributes a better understanding of time, understudied as a phenomenon that is experienced or perceived, among RISs providers in academic libraries. The use of secondary qualitative analysis is an important methodological contribution to library and information science studies.

A survey of 170 part‐time librarians reveals a variety of employment issues: rates of pay, benefits, professional development, commitment to parent institutions, education, geographical factors, motivation, career plans, and peer and administration perceptions.