Renewals Reach: High Impact Practices & Student Employment

Liz Vine’s invited paper for the 2021 Association of College & Research Libraries’ conference discusses the role of High Impact Practices through the lens of experiential learning, and with an eye towards equity and learner-centered pedagogy. The 2019 low morale study (done with Ione T. Damasco) is noted in discussions of BIPOC experiencing a dearthContinue reading “Renewals Reach: High Impact Practices & Student Employment”

Report: Low Morale at Unionized Library Workplaces – Part 2 (August 2022)

In an earlier post, I shared the latest quantitative data from my data collection project on the role/impact of library/organization unions during low-morale experiences. This post shares quantitative data from the project (n=26). (52% of respondents did not report instances of abuse or neglect to their union rep). If you did not report the abuse,Continue reading “Report: Low Morale at Unionized Library Workplaces – Part 2 (August 2022)”

Report: Low Morale at Unionized Library Workplaces – Part 1 (August 2022)

Throughout my studies, librarians mentioned that either they were working in an organization with a union – or that their library’s workforce were contemplating starting a union. Additionally, there has been increased efforts from library workers who seek (or have successfully gained) labor organizing and/or collective bargaining rights and recognition. My previous studies also hintedContinue reading “Report: Low Morale at Unionized Library Workplaces – Part 1 (August 2022)”

Renewals Reach: Technical labor

Lischer-Katz discusses the invisible labor of technical service work in libraries, specifically digitization work. He chronicles the mental and physical labor that is required for this work, highlighting the significant coordination required of both faculties to complete such work. The original low morale study is highlighted in Lischer-Katz’s discussion on expanding his study, noting thatContinue reading “Renewals Reach: Technical labor”

Renewals Reach: Library employee engagement

Jason Martin shares the results of his study on engagement levels in library employees. He applied the Utretcht Work Engagement Scale to discern factors of engagement, which is defined as “the opposite of burnout: energy, involvement, and high efficacy” (Martin 2019). The 2017 low morale study is cited in Martin’s literature review, along with Ettarh’sContinue reading “Renewals Reach: Library employee engagement”

Renewals Reach: burnout beginnings in LIS

Jade Geary and Brittany Hickey reveal the goals, methodology, and results of a unique study focusing on the relationship between working in libraries while pursing an MLIS (or equivalent) in  graduate school and the development of burnout once “formal” library work is obtained.  the 2017 low morale study is mentioned for positing burnout as aContinue reading “Renewals Reach: burnout beginnings in LIS”

Renewals Reach: Social justice, archives, and low morale

Aaisha Haykal deftly intertwines gaps and biases of historical record-keeping and preservation and the work that should (and continues to be) done to correct such gaps and oversights. She links these ideas to a summary of sessions presented at the 2018 Society of American Archivists Annual Meeting and injects established research into how archivists canContinue reading “Renewals Reach: Social justice, archives, and low morale”

Renewals Reach: Documentation and practice

The 2017 low morale study was mentioned as a resource in Mirza and Currier’s Digital Libraries Forum presentation, “Towards a praxis of library documentation.” The information was shared last October. The study is noted in connection to their discussion of the American Library Association’s Code of Ethics, specifically, Principles V and VIII, which focus onContinue reading “Renewals Reach: Documentation and practice”

Renewals Reach: DLF Working Group on Library Labor Value

The Digital Libraries Federation (DLF) has a Working Group (WG) on Labor in Digital Libraries, Archives, and Museums. The WG’s sub-group, Valuing Labor, met in Fall of 2017 and discussed several aspects of their charge, including  faculty status of librarians, Workplace climate tools, Student employees, Impacts of strategic planning on employees, and  Labor right-sizing TheContinue reading “Renewals Reach: DLF Working Group on Library Labor Value”

Renewals Reach: Affective Experiences in Archives

The Society of American Archivists’ Issues & Advocacy Section crafted a blogpost covering labor models for archival work.  The post covers recent literature linking affect and library work; it summarily applies such literature to the environment of archives and in particular, temporary employment in that field. Read more.