A survey of circulation librarians' emotional labor and emotional exhaustion: The case of difficult patron service in university libraries
Journal
Journal of Educational Media and Library Science
Journal Volume
50
Journal Issue
1
Pages
5-40
Date Issued
2012
Date
2012
Author(s)
Abstract
At the front line of library service, circulation librarians devote considerable efforts to performing "emotional labor", i.e., maintaining a pleasant manner while dealing with difficult patrons. Using questionnaires, this study examines frequency of encountering difficult patrons, emotional labor, and degree of emotional exhaustion among university circulation librarians in Taiwan. Meanwhile, the current study also analyzes effects of circulation librarians' personal background factors on these three variables, and the correlation between them. The results suggested that university circulation librarians "scarcely" or "occasionally" encountered difficult patrons, among whom the most frequently encountered types were the "externally attributive" and "critical" ones. Nevertheless, circulation librarians were found high emotional labor workers who mostly performed emotional labor along the dimensions of "dealing with others' negative emotions" and "expressing one's positive emotions". Besides, circulation librarians "scarcely" or "occasionally" felt emotionally exhausted. In general, a positive correlation was found between librarians' frequency of encountering difficult patrons and degree of emotional exhaustion, while a negative correlation was found between librarians' emotional labor and degree of emotional exhaustion.
Type
journal article