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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.

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 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.

This paper seeks to analyse the results of a case study conducted in 2008/2009 investigating workplace stress in a further education college library service.

Results from questionnaires and a series of semi‐structured interviews held with library staff are analysed and discussed in the paper.

Librarians reported that interaction with students can be stressful or enjoyable, depending on context. The need to control noise levels, modify student behaviour and balance the needs of different user groups are cited as stressors. The results also show that the library staff exhibit a degree of humour and self‐awareness in their work and employ a range of methods to cope with stress.

Repeating the study more widely amongst a range of differing library services would add credibility to the findings.

This study shows that positive stress may motivate librarians to engage actively with students and thus create job satisfaction. Negative stress may be managed by measures such as zoning and flexible governance.

The study contributes to knowledge and understanding of stress in the library profession by contributing a case study of stress in the college sector.

This article aims to help people understand the impact that stress has on library employees and the library as an organization.

This article is based on literature reviews and commentary on this important topic that is not frequently addressed in the library as workplace.

Library workers are under stress and the library as an organization needs to provide training in how to deal with this issue. Strategies for reducing stress are outlined.

This article identifies stress in the library workplace and the importance of stress on employees and will be of interest to those that work within that field.

The purpose of this paper is to interrogate the relationship between self-reported levels of acute stress, perceived social support and interactions with robot animals in an academic library. The authors hypothesized that (1) participants would report lower stress and higher positive affect after their interaction with a robot support animal and (2) perceived supportiveness of the robot support animal would positively predict the amount of stress reduction the participants reported.

The authors hosted a robot petting zoo in the main library at a mid-sized Midwestern university during finals week. Participants were asked to rate their stress level prior to interacting with the robot pets (T1) and then after their interaction they were asked about their current stress level and the perceived supportiveness of the robot animal (T2). Data were analyzed using paired samples t-tests for the pretest and post-test scores.

The results showed a significant decrease in acute stress between T1 to T2, as well as a significant increase in happiness and relaxation. Participants reported feeling less bored and less tired after their interactions with the robot support animals. The findings also reveal that the degree to which individuals experienced a reduction in stress was influenced by their perceptions of the robot animal's supportiveness. Libraries could consider using robot pet therapy.

This study reveals the benefit of robot support animals to reduce stress and increase happiness of those experiencing acute stress in a library setting. The authors also introduce the concept of socially supportive contact as a type of unidirectional social support.

This chapter explores what managers in the library and information science workplace can do to keep stress and burnout levels low. The literature on stress and burnout in human services, or the helping professions, is surveyed and the differences between the two phenomena are explained. Research is clear that keeping stress levels low and burnout at bay in the workplace benefits both employees and the organization. Even so, managers are given little training on how to identify and deal with stress and often fail to notice that their employees are chronically stressed. When managers become aware that they do have employees who are seriously stressed or burned out, they are often unsure whether they should address the problem and how to handle it. The author explains the differences between stress and burnout and clarifies how managers can minimize their negative impact by monitoring six areas in which workers are most likely to experience them: (1) the demands of the job which include the quantity of work and the knowledge required to perform; (2) the amount of control employees are permitted to exercise in the workplace; (3) the amount of the social support employee’s feel they have from managers and colleagues; (4) the quality of workplace relationships; (5) the clarity of one’s role on the job; and (6) support and honest communication during times of change. The practical implication of this information aimed at managers is to help them create a better workplace and mentally and physically healthier staff members.

Concern over stress and burnout in library service has grown, as librarians have had to deal with increased publishing, decreasing budgets, and new technologies. Stress is seen to take its toll on the physiology and behaviour of the individual, resulting in decreased job performance, and reduced effectiveness of the organization. Over 500 scientific research studies, conducted by 211 universities and other research institutions in 24 countries, indicate that the detrimental effects of stress in all areas of life can be significantly reduced through the regular practice of the transcendental meditation (TM) programme of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Not only are life‐damaging effects of stress reduced through TM, but there are strong indicators that this simple mental technique produces a more integrated and self‐actualized personality. When many individuals in an organization are developing their full potential, while eliminating stress, the library organization as a whole should benefit as well.

Library assistants were originally considered to be professional librarians in the making, and were trained accordingly. With the expansion of libraries and librarianship, Britain's “apprenticeship” system of qualification gave way to formal library school education, and a new category of “non‐professional staff” was created, of people who were unwilling or unable to proceed to graduate‐level qualification. The development of non‐professional certificates of competence in the UK is described against parallel developments in the US, Canada and Australia; the COMLA training modules are also examined. The theoretical and practical issues surrounding training are discussed, training schemes and qualifications in the four countries analysed, and the relative merits of in‐house training and external certificate programmes argued.

Discusses factors responsible for inappropriate levels of stress, symptoms of distress and techniques for managing it, with specific reference to library and information work. Recommends what individuals and employees can do to manage stress.