How happy are you? How happy are you with your job? How happy, for that matter, are your colleagues?
You might be surprised to learn that over the years, librarians have been the subject of dozens of surveys to measure their job satisfaction levels. Some of these surveys have been quite broad, calling upon librarians from all types of libraries to answer questions on satisfaction levels in their various work places. Other surveys have been more specific, measuring the job satisfaction levels of, among others, academic librarians from Greece to South Carolina, African-American female librarians, library workers in Louisiana, librarians in English- language universities in Quebec, librarians in Nigerian universities, and so on. (1) And what have all these surveys concluded about our situation? Are we happy as a group?
As it turns out, we are happy enough, according to the American publication, Library Journal. It published the results of three such job satisfaction surveys – in 1994, (2) 1999, (3) and again in 2007. (4) Librarians of many types participated, including those employed in public, academic, school, government, and business libraries. The results confirmed that librarians saw their work as important and necessary, something which is key to job satisfaction. At the same time, they had severe misgivings about their salaries, the perception of their work by the public, and what they adjudged to be incompetent or inflexible management. So, overall, the news is good: library workers are, on the whole, fairly satisfied with their work. As always, however, there is much that can be improved.
Similar surveys over the decades present similar findings. Indeed, Bonnie Jean Loyd Glasgow, in a thesis (5) based on her extensive study of job satisfaction among academic librarians in the U.S., found that “the most important predictor of job satisfaction among the academic librarians surveyed was librarians’ perception of their work.” The implication here is that if librarians get a lot of intrinsic satisfaction from their work, it is because they believe it is meaningful. But other important factors included opportunities for promotion, rank in the library hierarchy, and, of course, salary.
Another 1991 study of job satisfaction among U.S. academic librarians (6) confirmed this overall satisfaction of librarians with their jobs. Interestingly enough, the size of library (the smaller, the better) and positive relationships with co-workers were seen as the major indicators of satisfaction in this survey. Conversely, inept supervision and lack of opportunities were both factors most likely to contribute to dissatisfaction.
Older and more experienced librarians seemed to be more satisfied with their jobs than more recent entrants to the field, according to a later survey of American librarians in 1998. (7) Those with library science degrees were also more satisfied than those without. But the most noteworthy finding in this survey was that those who worked directly with patrons, especially reference librarians, were the most satisfied (though, also high on the scale were department heads). Curiously enough, working with “patrons” is cited, in other studies, as more a source of stress than of satisfaction. But perhaps the most surprising finding here is this: although library workers were fairly satisfied with their jobs, they came out with slightly lower satisfaction scores than average American workers surveyed in a cross-workplace study.
As for Canadian surveys: one of the relatively few was conducted by Gloria Leckie and Jim Brett in 1997. (8) They took great pains to replicate an earlier U.S. study so that they might accurately compare results between the two countries. Once again, they discovered that as a whole, librarians were quite satisfied with their jobs. Academic librarians were slightly more satisfied than other types of librarians, although workload and salary were still concerns. Yet, paradoxically, librarians who performed largely administrative tasks were more satisfied than those who dealt more with the traditional functions of the library. On the surface, this might seem at odds with Glasgow’s report that meaningful work (e.g., dealing with patrons) is the path to satisfaction. But administrative librarians found satisfaction in being involved in fundamental planning and decisions regarding the library. In other words, meaningful work can take many forms; the bottom line is that the work must be perceived as useful and valuable.
A 2003 survey conducted by Donna M. Millard (9) also focused on Canadian academic librarians. Millard, like others, found that academic librarians on the whole enjoyed their work and tended to stay in their jobs for long periods of time. Unhappiness was often attributed to problems in management and leadership (or the lack of it). Personal factors, such as salary and location, had less of an impact on job satisfaction.
On the other hand, English-language academic librarians in Quebec ranked supervision quite highly in a survey conducted by Eino Sierpe. (10) These librarians were quite satisfied overall, but indicated misgivings about the communication and operating procedures within their institutions. Pay and promotion were ranked neutrally, whereas the work itself ranked as a high source of satisfaction.
Finally, librarian burnout was the subject of a study by David P. Fisher. He tried to ascertain the situation by analyzing past surveys. (11) His conclusion was that while libraries might not be particularly stressful workplaces, previous studies were too disparate to be accurately compared, and even their methodologies were suspect. In effect, while the results did not appear to show that librarians were particularly stressed, no indisputable conclusions could be drawn. He made the obvious point: stressors can be particularly individual, and so dealing with patrons might be a source of satisfaction to some, and a major annoyance to others. Yet he felt it was significant that workload and management were almost universally indicated as sources of stress for library workers.
The overall finding of these surveys over the years seems to be that while, on the whole, librarians are satisfied with their jobs, all is not well. Concerns regarding salary, administration, and workload are too recurent to be ignored. These major causes of dissatisfaction crop up in various libraries, and across the various locations sampled. John Berry, in Library Journal (October 2007) aptly sums up the results of years of surveys thus: “Great Work, Genuine Problems.” If we were to pose to him the question, How happy are we as a group? he might well answer: happy enough.
Notes
1 See: A. Togia et al., “Job Satisfaction among Greek Academic Librarians,” Library & Information Science Research 26, no. 3 (2004): 373-83; E. O. Merwin, “Uptight in Library Land: A Confirmation of Stress in South Carolina Academic Libraries,” Against the Grain 15, no. 1 (February 2003) : 28-34; J. K. Thornton, “African American Female Librarians: A Study of Job Satisfaction,” Journal of Library Administration 33, no. 1/2 (2001): 141-64; D. Goetting, “Attitudes and Job Satisfaction in Louisiana Library Workplaces,” Louisiana Libraries 67, no. 1 (summer 2004): 12- 17; E. Sierpe, “Job Satisfaction among Librarians in English- language Universities in Quebec,” Library & Information Science Research 21, no. 4 (1999): 479-99; U. S. Edem et al., “Job Satisfaction and Publication Output among Librarians in Nigerian Universities,” Library Management 20, no. 1 (1999): 39-46.
2 Evan St. Lifer, “Are You Happy in Your Job? LJ’s Exclusive Report," Library Journal 44 (1 November 1994).
3 Rachel Singer Gordon and Sarah Nesbeitt, “Who We Are, Where We’re Going: A Report from the Front,” Library Journal 36 (15 May 1999).
4 John N. Berry III, “Great Work, Genuine Problems,” Library Journal 26 (October 2007).
5 Bonnie Jean Loyd Glasgow, Job Satisfaction among Academic Librarians (Denton, TX: North Texas State University, 1982).
6 Mohammad Mirfakhrai, “Correlates of Job Satisfaction among Academic Librarians in the United States,” Journal of Library Administration 14, no. 1 (1991): 117.
7 Johann Van Reenen, “Librarians at Work: Are We as Satisfied as Other Workers?” Information Outlook
8 Gloria J. Leckie and Jim Brett, “Job Satisfaction of Canadian University Librarians: A National Survey,” College & Research Libraries 58, no. 1 (January 1997): 31.
9 Donna M. Millard, “Why Do We Stay? Survey of Long- term Academic Librarians in Canada,” Portal: Libraries and the Academy 3, no. 1 (January 2003): 99.
10 Eino Sierpe, “Job Satisfaction among Librarians in English-language Universities in Quebec,” Library and Information Science Research 21, no. 4 (1999): 479.
11 David P. Fisher, “Are Librarians Burning Out?” Journal of Librarianship 22, no. 4 (October 1990): 216.
2, no. 7 (July 1998): 23.
Nicole Eva (neva@uwo.ca) is a student in the MLIS program at the University of Western Ontario. Nancy McCormack (nm4@queensu.ca) is Head of the Lederman Law Library at Queen’s University.
This article first appeared in Access, Ontario Library Association, Summer 2008, v. 14, no. 4, pp. 16-17.