July 2001

This bibliography is the first step in a research project investigating not only the facets of job satisfaction but also the reasons behind why professional librarians stay so long in this career. The focus of the research project is on English language, Canadian academic librarians who have been in this particular career field for 15 years or more. The bibliography is divided into librarian-related research, other related library research and dissertations. Specific focus on peripheral Canadian literature was intentional to find national material. Most articles found were English language items but other languages were included if an English abstract or summary was provided.

An excellent introduction to the topic of job satisfaction and librarians can be found in Peter Jordan and Noragh Jones’ book, Staff Management in Library and Information Work, 3^rd ed., 1995. Chapter 2 is entitled "Motivation and job satisfaction."

Throughout the bibliography, several existing questionnaires/surveys are mentioned (ie. Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) and the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ)). For further details on these questionnaires and others, please see Paul Spector’s 1997 work Job Satisfaction Surveys: Application, Assessment, Causes, and Consequences or specific manuals that deal with the various job related questionnaires.

Through the Decades:

The Sixties and Earlier Years—The Beginning

The Seventies—New Tests, New Ideas

The Eighties—We Want More Than Just a Job!

The Nineties—Survival of the Fittest? Or Just Survival?

The Turn of the Century—2000 and Beyond

The Sixties and Earlier Years—The Beginning:

Herrick, Mary D. " Status of Worker Morale Among College Cataloguers," College and Research Libraries, January 1950, p. 33-39.

Herrick writes one of the very first articles examining job satisfaction of cataloguers finding that the general level of satisfaction with this group is high. However, need to increase efficiency and comfort of physical working conditions needed improvement. Interesting view of what originally were seen as dissatisfying aspects of this career.

Mary Herrick, Assistant Librarian, Boston University

Nourse, Louis M. "Speaking for the Dissatisfied Young Assistant," American Library Association Bulletin, v. 31, 1937, p. 629-634.

Nourse points out five major causes of dissatisfaction: monotony of routine work, limited scope for initiative and development, lack of promotion, low salaries with too few increases and lack of a practical code of ethics.

Louis Nourse, Assistant to the Librarian, Brooklyn Public Library

Related Works:

Hoage, Annette L. "Resignations in Two University Libraries," College and Research Libraries, January 1950, p. 28-32, 39.

Hoage surveys two university libraries to study employee turnover. Resignations due to low salaries and lack of chance for advancement are specifically investigated. However, these two issues were not found to be significant in regards to employee turnover. Interesting views on why women were quitting—child-care and marriage—are developed.

Annette Hoage, Instructor at School of Library Service, Atlanta University

The Seventies—New Tests, New Ideas:

Chrisman, Larry G. "Job Satisfaction and the Academic Library Cataloguer," Southeastern Librarian, Summer 1976, p. 69-73.

Chrisman compares cataloguers and reference librarians and other professional librarian positions in three academic libraries (one as a pretest site) in regards to their levels of job satisfaction. Using the Brayfield-Rothe job satisfaction index, Chrisman found that cataloguers were less satisfied with their jobs than the other librarian groups.

Larry Chrisman, Assistant Professor of Library Science, University of Mississippi

Chwe, Steven Seokho. "A Comparative Study of Job Satisfaction: Cataloguers and Reference Librarians in University Libraries," The Journal of Academic Librarianship, vol. 4, no. 3, 1978, p. 139-43.

Chwe searches for possible job satisfaction differences between catalogue and reference librarians using a version of the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire. No significant differences are found. Reference librarians are slightly more satisfied with creativity and variety aspects of the job as well as giving service to the public.

Steven Chwe, Assistant Professor, School of Library Science, University of Southern California,

D’Elia, George P. "The Determinants of Job Satisfaction among Beginning Librarians," Library Quarterly, vo. 49, no. 3, 1979, p. 283-302.

D’Elia, one of the original researchers on job satisfaction for librarians, presents findings that amongst beginning librarians, factors relating to job environments especially the supervisory climate, and the intrinsic characteristics of the job are most related to job satisfaction. Using the Minnesota Job Description Questionnaire, the Minnesota Importance Questionnaire and the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire, he finds that job satisfaction is not related to sex, type of library or vocational needs. While not directly dealing with the topic being researched, this is an interesting paper to compare the difference between entry level and long term librarians.

Jones, Noragh. Continuing Education for Librarians. Leeds: School of Librarianship, Leeds Polytechnic, 1977.

In Chapter 7 "Job Satisfaction", Jones explores the relationship between job satisfaction and factors such as seniority, number of staff supervised and continuing education practices. Academic and public librarians were treated as two separate groups, however, the findings were similar for both groups. Eighty-one percent of academic librarians were satisfied with their jobs. Job satisfaction was not found to be related to subject specialization, mobility or continuing education. It was found to be related to the number of staff supervised and seniority. Jones points out that the recession in the early seventies had definitely made an impact on job satisfaction for both public and academic librarians.

"Based on a thesis submitted to and accepted by the University of Bradford for their M.Sc. Degree."-cover page

Plate, Kenneth H. and Elizabeth W. Stone. "Factors affecting Librarians’ Job Satisfaction: A Report of Two Studies," Library Quarterly, v. 44, no. 2, 1974, p. 97-110.

Plate and Stone compare American and Canadian librarians to see if job satisfaction is related to motivation. Both Maslow and Herzberg’s theories are discussed. The experiment supports Herzberg’s theory that motivators such as achievement and recognition are the primary cause of satisfaction.

Prybil, Lawrence D. "Job Satisfaction in Relation to Job Performance and Occupational Level," Personnel Journal, February 1973, p. 94-100.

Prybil surveys both professional and support staff to find that job performance levels are only somewhat better in satisfied versus non-satisfied staff. Clerical staff was only slightly more satisfied than service staff but not significantly different.

Lawrence Prybil, Instructor, University of Iowa

Sandhu, Roop K. and Harjit Sandhu. "Job perception of university librarians and library students," Canadian Library Journal, Nov/Dec. 1971, p. 438-445.

As a librarian and a faculty member in sociology, the Sandhus surveyed two Canadian university’s librarians and one library school’s senior students to find that mid-level librarians are most satisfied with their jobs. Findings also showed that with age, librarians tend to outgrow status conflict/consciousness.

Vaughn, William J. and J.D. Dunn. "A Study of Job Satisfaction in Six University Libraries," College and Research Libraries, May 1974, p. 163-177.

Vaughn and Dunn use the Job Descriptive Index to evaluate job satisfaction in areas of pay, promotion, supervision, work and people on the job. The six university libraries were ranked for overall satisfaction; departmental rankings were also completed.

William Vaughn, Department of Management and Marketing, Hardin-Simmons University

J. Dunn, Professor of Business Administration, North Texas State University

Wahba, Susanne Patterson. "Job Satisfaction of Librarians: A Comparison between Men and Women," College and Research Libraries, January 1975, p. 45-51.

Wahba uses the Need Satisfaction Questionnaire reflecting Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, to compare gender differences in job satisfaction. Both men and women attached the same level of importance to security, social and self-esteem needs in relation to job satisfaction. However, women were more dissatisfied with need issues such as security, esteem, autonomy and self-actualization.

 Susanne Wahba, Assistant Professor, City University of New York

Wahba, Susanne Patterson. "Motivation, Performance and Job Satisfaction of Librarians," Law Library Journal, v. 71, 1978, p. 270-278.

Wahba reviews the motivation, performance and job satisfaction literature and the related survey instruments. She surveyed librarians in 23 academic libraries and found that the work done was most satisfying for this group while pay and promotion were least satisfying. Findings linked motivation to the work done, supervision and promotion. A very low correlation was found to exist between job satisfaction and performance.

Susanne Wahba, Assistant Professor of Management, Graduate School of Business, Pace University

Related Works:

Dodge, L. Delf and V. Jean Ramsey. "Employee Motivation: Expectancy Theory at Work," Journal of Library Administration, v. 1, no. 3, Fall 1980, p. 43-54.

Dodge and Ramsey explore four variables of the expectancy theory—effort, performance, outcomes and valences (amount of satisfaction expected to experience from reward). According to the authors, this fairly complex theory of motivation can be used by managers on a practical level.

L. Dodge, Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior and Design, Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Michigan

V. Ramsey, Assistant Professor of Management, Western Michigan University

Slater, Margaret. "Career patterns and mobility in the library/information field," Aslib Proceedings, v. 30, no. 10/11, October/November 1978, p. 344-351.

Slater investigates career patterns and mobility of librarians and finds that women were more mobile and had shorter professional careers than men. Women, however, were more likely to stay in the library/information profession while men more readily ventured outside the profession.

Margaret Slater, Deputy Head, Aslib, R&D Department

The Eighties—We Want More Than Just a Job!:

Bengston, Dale Susan and Dorothy Shields. "A Test of Marchant’s Predictive Formulas Involving Job Satisfaction," The Journal of Academic Librarianship, v. 11, no. 2, 1985, p. 88-92.

Bengston and Shields test Marchant’s research on participative management and job satisfaction using librarians from 22 major U.S. academic libraries. Management style was found to be the best predictor of librarian satisfaction.

Dale Bengston, graduate student in statistics, Brigham Young University

Dorothy Shields, Associate Professor, School of Library and Information Sciences, Brigham Young University

Burgess, Susan Fay. "Job satisfaction of reference librarians and cataloguers," Australian Academic & Research Libraries, v. 13, no. 2, June 1982, p. 73-81.

Burgess compares and finds that there is no difference between reference librarians and cataloguers with regards to job satisfaction. She does however find more similarities of job dissatisfaction especially with advancement, library policies and practices, and recognition. Less mobility is found to be a factor with dissatisfaction—an issue which needs addressing by management.

Susan Burgess, Lecturer, Department of Library and Information Studies, Kuring-gai College of Advanced Education

Chopra, Kamala. "Job Satisfaction among the Librarians of Lucknow City," Herald of Library Science, v. 23, July/October 1984, p. 156-161.

Chopra surveyed 100 librarians in Lucknow City to find that while most librarians were satisfied with the work, social conditions and recognition they receive, special librarians were also satisfied with working conditions, pay and promotion opportunities.

Hosel, Harold V. "Academic Librarians and Faculty Status: A Role Stress-Job Satisfaction Perspective," Journal of Library Administration, v. 5, no. 3, Fall 1984, p. 57-66.

Hosel reviews the literature concerning the role that stress plays in an occupation and provides a "conceptual basis for future analysis of the impact of faculty status on academic librarians."

Harold Hosel, PhD candidate, School of Library and Information Studies, University of California, Berkeley

Lynch, Beverly P. and Jo Ann Verdin. "Job Satisfaction in Libraries: Relationships of the Work Itself, Age, Sex, Occupational Group, Tenure, Supervisory Level, Career Commitment and Library Department," Library Quarterly, v. 53, no. 4, 1983, p. 434-447.

Lynch and Verdin survey library staff including librarians at three US university libraries. Four questions are used to measure satisfaction in the context of the work itself. Those least satisfied were under 25 years of age and had no supervisory responsibilities. Professional librarians’ job satisfaction was found to be related to career orientation and supervisory level.

Lynch, Beverly P. and Jo Ann Verdin. "Job Satisfaction in Libraries: A Replication," Library Quarterly, v. 57, no. 2, 1987, p. 190-202.

Lynch and Verdin replicate their 1983 study on job satisfaction corroborating the results found in the first study. Several interesting points made about the length of employment at a library and the level of satisfaction attained.

Marchant, Maurice. "Participative Management, Job Satisfaction, & Service," Library Journal, April 15, 1982, p. 72-784.

Marchant states that a library’s performance is very much related to the staff’s job satisfaction. Service is better in libraries that allow staff to participate in management decisions.

Maurice Marchant, Director of the School of Library and Information Sciences, Brigham Young University

Martell, Charles and Mercedes Untawale. "Work Enrichment for Academic Libraries," The Journal of Academic Librarianship, v. 8, no. 6, 1983, p. 339-343.

Martell and Untawale investigate two techniques for work enrichment: job enlargement (not helpful) and job enrichment (helpful) as strategies to improve job satisfaction. They strongly encourage participation in job enrichment at the administrative and staff levels for success.

Charles Martell, Reference Librarian, and Mercedes Untawale, Head, Processing Division, Acquisitions, both from the University of California at Berkeley

Nandy, Subodh Gopal. "Job Satisfaction of the Library Professionals," Herald of Library Science, v. 24, October 1985, p. 295-300.

Nandy reports on job satisfaction studies within the library field and elaborates on methods of increasing job satisfaction including job enrichment, job enlargement and job rotation.

Nzotta, Brigg C. "Factors Associated with the Job Satisfaction of Male and Female Librarians in Nigeria," Library and Information Science Research, v. 7, 1985, p. 75-84.

Nzotta uses the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire to find that female librarians are more satisfied with aspects of independence, social status, security, ability utlization and working conditions while males in the profession were more satisfied with the variety of tasks involved. Overall females were found to be more satisfied than men in this career.

Briggs Nzotta, Department of Library Studies, University of Ibadan, Nigeria

Nzotta, Briggs C. "A Comparative Study of the Job Satisfaction of Nigerian Librarians," International Library Review, v. 19, 1987, p. 161-173.

Nzotta uses an adapted form of the MSQ again to examine what extent functional divisions (public service, technical services and administration) affect job satisfaction for librarians. Overall administrative librarians were more satisfied with their jobs especially in the areas of independence, variety, responsibility and creativity. Public services librarians were next most satisfied as they have more social contact than technical services staff.

Rockman, Ilene F. "Job Satisfaction Among Faculty and Librarians: A Study of Gender, Autonomy, and Decision Making Opportunities," Journal of Library Administration, v. 5, no. 3, Fall 1984, p. 43-56.

Rockman uses the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire to see if gender, autonomy or decision making affect job satisfaction among faculty (male dominated field) versus librarians (female dominated field). Findings conclude that generally males, regardless of occupation, are more satisfied than females. Autonomy and decision making were most highly associated with satisifaction.

Ilene Rockman, Associate Librarian, California Polytechnic State University

Saunders, Carol Stoak and Russell Saunders. "Effects of Flexitime on Sick Leave, Vacation Leave, Anxiety, Performance, and Satisfaction in a Library Setting," Library Quarterly, v. 55, no. 1, 1985, p. 71-88.

Saunders and Saunders study a specific work variable—flextime—and its effects on various work performance factors including satisfaction. Using results from a Job Descriptive Index, the authors find that flextime had no sigificant effect on perceived performance in any of the factors considered.

Scamell, Richard W. and Bette Ann Stead. "A Study of Age and Tenure as it Pertains to Job Satisfaction," Journal of Library Administration, v. 1, no. 1, Spring 1980, p. 3-18.

Scamell and Stead survey 64 professional librarians to analyze the relationship between age, tenure and job satisfaction. The three categories of age/tenure were found to have relatively constant levels of job satisfaction.

Richard Scamell and Bette Ann Stead, faculty members, University of Houston

Sherrer, Johannah. "Job Satisfaction Among Colorado Library Workers," Colorado Libraries, v. 11, June 1985, p. 17-21.

Sherrer surveyed professional and non-professional library staff listed as Colorado Library Association members to find at over 67% were more than somewhat satisfied with their jobs. Fifty-eight percent had over 11 years of service. Most of the respondents enjoyed a higher level of job satisfaction if they were allowed to work collaboratively on projects. Dissatisfaction was noted with both performance evaluations and promotion/advancement opportunities.

Johannah Sherrer, Director of Public Services, University of Northern Colorado

Smith, Howard L. and Frank Reinow. "Librarians’ Quality of Working Life," Journal of Library Administration, v. 5, no. 1, Spring 1984, p. 63-76.

Smith and Reinow created a survey to investigate job satisfaction, job tension, organizational commitment and organizational climate all in relation to quality of working life. Once again, librarians were found to be satisfied overall.

Howard Smith, Associate Professor, School of Management, University of New Mexico

Frank Reinow, management consultant, Albuquerque

Stead, Bette Ann and Richard W. Scamell. "A Study of the Relationship of Role Conflict, the Need for Role Clarity, and Job Satisfaction for Professional Librarians," Library Quarterly, v. 50, no. 3, 1980, p. 310-323.

Stead and Scamell study job satisfaction and role dynamics for the professional librarian using a combination of the Job Descriptive Index, and the Rizzo, House and Litzman scale for role dynamics. Role ambiguity and role conflict were found to be related to overall job satisfaction while role clarity was found not to influence job satisfaction.

Washington, Nancy. "Focus on the Academic Librarian: Job Satisfaction and Continuing Education Needs," The Southeastern Librarian, Fall 1989, p. 103-105.

Washington surveyed 200 librarians at 20 ARL libraries to find out first if they were satisfied with their work and second, to see what continuing education requirements they needed. Most of these academic librarians appreciated working in an "intellectually stimulating environment." Many also enjoyed providing service to their patrons. Others also mentioned a third aspect of organizing and preserving knowledge as being very satisfying. Most had needs for continuing education in the areas of computers and computer applications while others wanted further development with management skills.

Nancy Washington, Assistant Director, Library Processing Center, University of South Carolina

Waters, David. "New Technology & Job Satisfaction in University Libraries," LASIE, v. 18, no. 3, January/February 1988, p. 103-108.

Waters studied the impact of new technology and its relationship to job satisfaction for professional and non-professional staff at four university libraries. He found that non-professional staff expressed a much higher level of dissatisfaction finding that both interest and challenge in their positions were very low. Both professionals and non-professionals felt that the nature of their work had not changed much as a result of automation. Technology was not seen as a major cause of dissatisfaction.

David Waters, Senior Lecturer, School of Librarianship, University of Tasmania

Willingslow, George E. and Barrie Mitcheson. "Job Satisfaction Among Library Staff," Journal of Library Administration, v. 5, no. 4, Winter 1984, p. 61-69.

Willingslow and Mitcheson survey Australian academic librarians at one university library. Findings were similar to other countries in that they found most staff to be satisfied with their jobs overall. Professionals librarians and non-professional workers were found to have higher levels of job satisfaction than library officers.

George Wittingslow, Lecturer in Psychology, and Barrie Mitcheson, Institute Librarian, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

Related Works:

Martell, Charles. "Improving the Effectiveness of Libraries through Improvements in the Quality of Working Life," College and Research Libraries, Sept. 1981, p. 435-446.

Martell provides an overview of work system design in libraries and its application related to quality of working life.

Charles Martell, Head, Acquisitions, University of Illinois at Chicago

Roberts, Norman. "Graduates in Academic Libraries: a survey of the Post-Graduate School of Librarianship and Information Studies, Sheffield University, 1964/65-1970/71," Journal of Librarianship, v. 5, no. 2, April 1973, p. 97-115.

Roberts surveys and finds that most graduates of Sheffield’s library school are satisfied with their work. He also finds that this satisfaction increases as the librarian settles into the job and becomes more familiar with the work involved.

Norman Roberts, Senior Lecturer, Postgraduate School of Librarianship and Information Science, University of Sheffield

Rubin, Richard. "Employee Turnover among Full-Time Public Librarians," Library Quarterly, v. 59, no. 1, 1989, p. 27-46.

Rubin examines employee turnover at 31 libraries in the American Midwest finding that librarians have a lower turnover rate than most other service occupations. It is also noted that librarianship is seen as a later career choice.

Richard Rubin, School of Library Science, Kent State University

Simmons, Neil. "The Effects of professional stagnation on the individual," in John Hall, ed., Fighting Professional Stagnation: Staff development in a period of low mobility. Leeds: Leeds Polytechnic School of Librarianship, 1982, p. 17-25.

Simmons sees mobility as only one of the factors affecting job satisfaction. Two groups are discussed: "locals" who are will to stay in their position mainly due to being more family rooted in the community versus "cosmopolitans" who are not.

Neil Simmons, Branch Librarian, Libraries Department, London Borough of Islington

The Nineties—Survival of the Fittest? Or Just Survival?:

Alao, I. A. "Job Satisfaction among University Library Cataloguers in Nigeria," World Libraries, v. 7, Spring 1997, p. 68-77.

The Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire is used to determine satisfaction levels of library cataloguers to see if certain aspects—age, sex, marital status, and length of service as a librarian or as a cataloguer—had any influence on their job satisfaction. No significant relationships were found. However, more dissatisfied cataloguers were noted than satisfied ones.

Applegate, Rachel. "Deconstructing Faculty Status: Research and Assumptions," The Journal of Academic Librarianship, v. 19, no. 3, 1993, p. 158-164.

Applegate refutes the commonly held belief that academic librarians want to be compared with faculty, not administrators. Research to date does not support this belief related to faculty status and she presents alternative approaches to faculty status.

Rachel Applegate, Reference/Online Librarian and Assistant Professor, College of St. Scholastica

Benedict, Marjorie A. "Librarians’ Satisfaction with Faculty Status," College and Research Libraries, November 1991, p. 538-548.

Benedict gathered evidence through a questionnaire determining that having faculty status does provide satisfaction for professional librarians. Those best satisfied are ones in institutions which best adhered to the ACRL Standards for Faculty Status for College and University Librarians.

Marjorie Benedict, Associate Librarian, Collection Development Department at the University of Albany

Bloom, Arvid J. and Christina W. McCawley. "Job Satisfaction in the Library Profession: Results and Implications from a Pennsylvania Survey," Library Administration & Management, v. 7, no. 2, Spring 1993, p. 89-93.

Bloom and McCawley surveyed the Pennsylvania Library Association’s membership to find that 61% are generally satisfied with their jobs. Dividing the membership into Directors, Supervisors and Specialists, Supervisors were found to be the least satisfied overall. Very few (18%) in any of the three groups were satisfied with their pay. Most librarians felt that their skills were being utilized on the job and that their particular library had a bright future. Interesting aspect of communication was revealed in this survey. Seventy-five percent of directors felt that communication was good between management and staff. However, both supervisors and specialists disagreed with this statement. Need for more two-way communication was obvious.

Arvid Bloom, Assistant Professor of Industrial/Organizational Psychology, West Chester University

Christina McCawley, Associate Professor and Serials and Acquisitions Librarian, West Chester University

Carson, Paula Phillips et al. "An Investigation of the Effects of Empowerment on Librarians’ Attitudes Toward Their Jobs, Organizations and Careers," Technical Services Quarterly, v. 14, no. 1, 1996, p. 1-13.

Carson and her co-authors, surveyed members of the Medical Library Association to find that empowerment is related positively to greater job satisfaction and weaker job withdrawal. Empowerment was also found to be related to greater organizational commitment by individual staff members.

Paula Carson, Associate Professor of Management, University of Southwestern Louisiana

Edem, U.S. and Olu Olat Lawal. "Job satisfaction and publication output among librarians in Nigerian universities," Library Management, v. 20, no. 1, 1999, p. 39-46.

Edem and Lawal randomly sampled 202 librarians working at 22 Nigerian university libraries to test the relationship between six dimensions of job satisfaction and publication output. Results indicate that only the achievement, responsibility and recognition had any influence on their publication output.

U. Edem, Senior Librarian and Head of the Research Library Division, and Olu Lawal, University Librarian, both at the University of Calabar, Nigeria

Estabrook, Leigh et al. "Job Satisfaction: Does Automation Make a Difference?" Journal of Library Administration, v. 13, no. 1 / 2 , 1990, p. 175-194.

Estabrook, Bird and Gilmore report on a study conducted at four academic libraries to determine if job satisfaction was affected by changes brought by automation. They found that overall, professional librarians were significantly more satisfied with their jobs than support staff. However, the use of technology for automating the library alone did not have either a positive or negative effect of the staff’s level of job satisfaction.

Leigh Estabrook, Dean and Professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Science

Chloe Bird, Research Assistant, Department of Sociology

Frederick Gilmore, Research Assistant, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, all are from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Garg, B.S. "Determinants of Job Satisfaction of Librarians: A Multivariate Analysis," Journal of Library & Information Science, v. 24, no. 2, December 1999, p. 108-126.

Garg investigates general job satisfaction of professional librarians at three university libraries in Delhi. Significant relationships were found to exist between personal background and job satisfaction. While very little research has been done on the relationship between personality and job satisfaction, Garg that these two variables did not have a significant correlation.

B. Garg, Head, Department of Library & Information Science, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur

Horenstein, Bonnie. "Job Satisfaction of Academic Librarians: An Examination of the Relationships between Satisfaction, Faculty Status, and Participation," College and Research Libraries, May 1993, p. 255-269.

Horenstein presents another study relating satisfaction with faculty status, and, in this case, participation. Best predictors of overall satisfaction were found to be perception of participation, salary and academic status. Those with faculty status were most satisfied with relations with users and peers, duties and the variety of tasks performed. Questionnaire is appended.

Bonnie Horenstein, Coordinator of Catalog Services and Assistant Professor of Library Science at Adelphi University

Houdyshell, Mara et al. "What were you thinking? If you could choose librarianship again, would you?," Information Outlook, v. 3, no. 7, July 1999, p. 19-24.

Houdyshell, Robles, and Hua present the results of an informal email survey regarding selecting this career again. Results were a resounding Yes!

Hovecamp, Tina Maragou. "Unionization and Job Satisfaction among Professional Library Employees in Academic Research Institutions," College and Research Libraries, July 1995, p. 341-350.

Hovecamp uses the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire and Porter’s Organizational Commitment Questionnaire to determine that there is a significant negative relation between job satisfaction and union presence especially related to job content or growth.

Tina Hovecamp, Library Instruction and Public Services Librarian, Western State College of Colorado

Koenig, Michael et al. "Faculty Status for Library Professionals: Its Effect on Job Turnover and Job Satisfaction among University Research Library Directors," College and Research Libraries, May 1996, p. 295-300.

Koenig, Morrison and Roberts investigate the relationship between length of time and satisfaction as a library director, and faculty status given to the professional library staff. A positive relationship between job satisfaction for the director and faculty status for staff was noted. No relationship was found between satisfaction and turnover.

Michael Koenig, Professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Rosary College, Illinois

Morrison, Manager of Network Services, Inflight Phone

Roberts, Elmhurst College Library

Kreitz, Patricia A. and Annegret Ogden. "Job Responsibilities and Job Satisfaction at the University of California Libraries," College and Research Libraries, July 1990, p. 297 - ?

Kreitz and Ogden compare satisfaction levels and responsibilities of professional and support staff in the library system. Significant differences in the levels of satisfaction were found especially dealing with promotion, job development and influence. Questionnaire based on Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire format used by Chwe in his 1976 dissertation.

Patricia Kreitz, former Head of General Reference, and Annegret Ogden, both from University of California at Berkeley

Lanier, Patricia et al. "What Keeps Academic Librarians in the Books?," The Journal of Academic Librarianship, v. 23, no. 3, May 1997, p. 191-197.

Lanier, Carson, Carson and Phillips survey a small group of academic librarians in a southeastern library association to measure satisfaction and organizational entrenchment. Four profiles are created: Mobile-Contents, Mobile-Discontents, Immobile-Contents and Immobile-Discontents. This paper is probably the only research done on why librarians stay in academic environments.

Patricia Lanier, Carson and Carson, all faculty members of the Department of Management, University of Southwestern Louisiana

Phillips, Serials/ILL Librarian, Delta State University

Leckie, Gloria J. and Jim Brett. "Job Satisfaction of Canadian University Librarians: A National Survey," College and Research Libraries, January 1997, p. 31-47

Leckie and Brett present the findings of a national survey of Canadian academic librarians finding that overall, librarians are satisfied with their jobs. However, those librarians in administrative positions are most satisfied overall. Faculty/academic status librarians are most satisfied with involvement in university affairs, promotion and tenure, and least satisified with workload and pay. This is the article that first sparked an interest in this topic by including the statistic that in Canada over 62% of academic librarians have over 15 years of experience in the field.

Gloria Leckie, Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Western Ontario

Jim Brett, Coordinator, Document Delivery, University of Guelph,

Manley, Will. "The Truth about Reference Librarians," American Libraries, February 199?, p. 96.

Manley, in his regular column, surveyed reference librarians about their likes and dislikes of their positions. Included in this is a list of the "Top Four Sources of Job Satisfaction" of which two are "Thank you"s.

Mirfakhrai, Mohammad H. "Correlates of Job Satisfaction Among Academic Librarians in the United States," Journal of Library Administration, v. 14, no. 1, 1991, p. 117-131.

Mirfakhrai uses the Job Descriptive Index on a random sample of 150 academic librarians to find that this group derives most satisfaction from their co-workers and least satisfaction with promotion policies. Those librarians in smaller academic institutions were more satisfied. A negative correlation between age and overall satisfaction was also found.

Mohammed Mirfakhrai, Business Reference Librarian, University of Utah

Pascoe, Celina. "The Impact of an Integrated Information Management System on the Job Characteristics, Satisfaction and Motivation of Library Staff," Australian Library Review, v. 13, no. 2, May 1996, p. 135-46.

Pascoe uses the Job Diagnostic Survey and found a number of factors which affect job satisfaction when new technology is introduced. Included in these factors are health and safety issues, and skill devaluation.

Celina Pascoe, lecturer in the Faculty of Communication at University of Canberra

St. Lifer, Evan. "Are You Happy in Your Job? LJ’s Exclusive Report," Library Journal, November 1, 1994, p. 44-49.

St. Lifer summarized the findings of a four section survey covering "Your Career," "Your Worth," "Your Outlook," and "Your Library." While over half of the respondents state that they are unhappy with pay and advancement, over 85% are satisfied with their jobs mainly due to the fact that they are helping people. Interesting and relevant statistic that average age of respondent was 46 years with 16 years of experience in the profession can be useful for this research paper.

Evan St. Lifer, Senior Editor/News for Library Journal

Schneider, Margaret S. "Stress and Job Satisfaction Among Employees in a Public Library System With a Focus on Public Service," LISR. v. 13, 1991, p. 385-404.

Schneider compares public service and technical service employees of a large public library with regards to stress and job satisfaction. Public service staff were found to have a heavier workload but were more satisfied with their jobs, supervisors and co-worker relationships.

Margaret Schneider, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

Sierpe, Eino. "Job Satisfaction among Librarians in English-Language Universities in Quebec," Library and Information Science Research, v. 21, no. 4, 1999, p. 479-499.

Sierpe conducts a survey at the three English language universities in Quebec using Spector’s Job Satisfaction Survey. The 81 respondents were generally satisfied with their jobs with the exception of communication and operating procedures. Those librarians with between 10 and 20 years of experience attained the highest overall satisfaction score.

Eino Sierpe, McGill University

Siggins, Jack A. "Job Satisfaction and Performance in a Changing Environment," Library Trends, v. 41, no. 2, Fall 1992, p. 299-315.

Siggins explores the concept that to ensure a high level of performance, a high level of interest and job satisfaction must be maintained. Suggestions for improving job satisfaction such as enriching jobs and redesigning work are put forward.

Jack Siggins, Library, Yale University

Spang, Lothar and William P. Kane. "Who Speaks for Academic Librarians? Status and Satisfaction Comparisons between Unaffiliated and Unionized Librarians on Scholarships and Governance Issues," College and Research Libraries, September 1997, p. 446-462.

Spang and Kane survey unaffiliated and unionized librarians to reveal a wide disparity of satisfaction levels in regards to opportunities for publishing and tuition for further education, and participation in governance as is laid out by ACRL standards. Large proportion of librarians in either group do not have the opportunities to meet either of these requirements.

Lothar Spang, Reference Librarian, Wayne State University

Squire, Jan S. "Job Satisfaction and the Ethnic Minority Librarian," Library Administration & Management, Fall 1991, p. 194-203.

Squire reviews the literature on job satisfaction for ethnic minority librarians in the United States and finds that four areas need addressing to improve job satisfaction for this group: planning, recruitment, hiring and staff acceptance, and retention.

Jan Squire, Reference Librarian and Assistant Professor of Library Science, University of Northern Colorado

Thapisa, A.P.N. "The Motivation Syndrome: Job Satisfaction Through the Pay Nexus," International Library Review, v. 23, 1991, p. 141-158.

Thapisa looks specifically at pay satisfaction for library assistants at 13 UK university libraries. Thapisa creates the Job Content Analysis Index to measure assistants’ perceptions and attitudes towards their jobs finding that assistants were not satisifed with pay or promotional opportunities.

A. Thapisa, Lecturer, Department of Library and Information Studies, University of Botswana

Van Reenen, Johann. "Librarians at Work: Are we as satisfied as other workers?," Information Outlook, July 1998, p. 23-28.

Van Reenen uses 6 satisifaction questions from an Inc/Gallup survey. Concludes that library workers as a group do not feel challenged. He provides an excellent summary of what library satisfaction surveys have found to date.

Johann Van Reenen, assistant professor and director, Centennial Science and Engineering Library, University of New Mexico

Whitlatch, Jo Bell. "Automation and Job Satisfaction among Reference Librarians," Computers in Libraries, v. 11, September 1991, p. 32-34.

Whitlatch relates how automation can be used to eliminate many of the mundane library tasks and thereby maximizing job performance and increasing job satisfaction.

Jo Bell Whitlach, interim University Library Director, San Jose State University

Related Works:

Baker, Betsy and Beth Sandore. "Motivation in Turbulent Times: In Search of the Epicurean Work Ethic," Journal of Library Administration, v. 14, no. 4, 1991, p. 37-50.

Baker and Sandore focus on changes in libraries that have affected motivation and attitudes about work and productivity. They relate both Maslow’s and Herzberg’s motivation theories to staff’s motivation during times of technological changes. Understanding one’s own role in the organization and how this relates to the organizational goals are seen as imperative to motivating staff.

Betsy Baker, Head of Reference, Northwestern University Library

Beth Sandore, Assistant Automated Services Librarian, University of Illinois Library at Urbana-Champaign

Detlefsen, Ellen Gay and Josephine E. Olson. "The Librarian and the Leaver: Who Leaves the Profession?" Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, v. 31, Spring 1991, p. 275-294.

Detlefsen and Olson surveyed the 1973 to 1984 MLS graduates from the University of Pittsburgh’s program to find what the motivating factors are for leaving or staying with the profession of librarianship. Men were found to be more likely to leave librarianship for another profession. The chief motivating factor for leaving was higher salaries. They also found that most of the leavers also had another advanced degree in either business, law or science. The field of librarianship was seen to attract and keep women with humanities degrees, those who had previous library experience and knew what the job entailed, and those wishing to provide service for others.

Ellen Detlefsen, Associate Professor, School of Library and Information Science, University of Pittsburgh

Josephine Olson, Professor, Business Administration and Economics, Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh

Franklin, Jonathan A. "Why Let Them Go? Retaining Experienced Librarians by Creating Challenging Internal Career Paths: Introducing the "Executive Librarian"," Law Library Journal, v. 88, no. 3, 1996, p. 352-381.

Franklin argues that libraries should try to keep experienced librarians from leaving their institution by creating "continuously challenging career paths with equivalent rewards." Using academic law librarians as an example, he sees the need for librarians to have individual job content, a voice in the organization’s decision making and the option for administrative responsibility. To be truly satisfied with their jobs, librarians must be given guidance and autonomy, comfort and challenge, structure and room for innovation.

Jonathan Franklin, Reference Librarian and Foreign Law Selector, University of Michigan Law Library, Ann Arbor

Harris, Roma and Victoria Marshall. "Reorganizing Canadian Libraries: a giant step back from the front," Library Trends, v. 46, no. 3, Winter 1998, p. 564-580.

Harris and Marshall discuss the changes that have occurred in the 1990’s with emphasis on downsizing of libraries and the replacement of librarians with non-professional staff. Librarians need to focus on managerial skills to maintain their careers altering the traditional work place roles. Interesting point about librarians having less direct contact with public while other studies have stated that this is one of the most rewarding and satisfying parts of an academic librarian’s job.

Roma Harris, Professor of Library and Information Studies, University of Western Ontario

Hoffman, Sandra and Anne-Marie Belanger. "Canadian Academic Libraries and Cross-Divisional Assignments: A Survey," LIBRES: Library and Information Science Research, v. 9 no. 1, March 1999 (ejournal).

Hoffman and Belanger investigate how widespread cross divisional assignments occur in academic libraries. This practice appears to be quite common and appears to work well for the libraries. Perhaps this is one way job satisfaction or interest can be maintained.

Sandra Hoffman, Reference/Selection Librarian, and Anne-Marie Belanger, former Head, Database Maintenance and Receiving, both from Concordia University

Leckie, Gloria J. and Jim Brett. "Academic status for Canadian university librarians: an examination of key terms and conditions," Canadian Journal of Information and Library Science, v. 20, no. 1, April 1995, p. 1-28.

Leckie and Brett review the contents of Canadian university librarians agreements regarding either faculty or academic status. No unified version of academic librarianship in Canada found.

Gloria Leckie, Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Western Ontario

Jim Brett, McLaughlin Library, University of Guelph,

Loughridge, Brendan, Julie Oates and Simon Speight. "Career development: follow-up studies of Sheffield MA graduates 1985/1986 to 1992/1993," Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, v. 28, no. 2, June 1996, p. 105-117.

Loughridge, Oates and Speight follow up on Robert’s initial study on Sheffield graduates (see below) to find that the majority of graduates are still working in library/information science careers and are generally satisfied with their jobs.

Brendan Loughridge, faculty member at the School of Librarianship, University of Sheffield

Julie Oates, Assistant Librarian, Sheffield Hallam University

Simon Speight, Assistant Subject Librarian, University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd.

Oberg, Larry R. "Why I Chose to Work in a College Library: A Subversive Account," College and Undergraduate Libraries, v. 5, no. 1, 1998, p. 59-66.

Oberg, University Librarian, Willamette University, writes an anecdotal article on the positive aspects of working in a small college library.

Pederson, Molly R. "Sermon from the Stacks," American Libraries, October 1999, p. 56-57.

Pederson, a reference librarian at Concordia College, Minnesota, writes an anecdotal article about the reason librarians have chosen this profession—so we [librarians] can help people.

Preston, Cynthia. "Perceptions of Discriminatory Practices and Attitudes: A Survey of African American Librarians," College and Research Libraries, September 1998, p. 434-445.

Preston completed a survey to find out if personal and observed racial discrimination influenced job satisfaction focussing on relationships with supervisors, patrons, co-workers and management. No significant correlation between job satisfaction and perception of racism and discrimination was found.

Cynthia Preston, Reference/Collection Development Librarian, Ohio State University

Siess, Judith A. "Flying Solo: Librarian, Manage Thyself," American Libraries, February 1999, p. 32 –34.

Siess provides a brief article on the satisfying and not so satisfying aspects of running a one person special library. Both autonomy and responsibility are seen as the main reason for wanting this type of occupation.

Judith Siess, President, Information Bridges International

Williams, Wilda W. "You Can Take Your MLS Out of the Library," Library Journal, November 15, 1994, p. 43-46.

Williams, Associate Editor, LJ, gives alternatives to traditional career paths for individuals with an MLS degree.

The Turn of the Century—2000 and Beyond:

Bartlett, Chrystal. "Supervisory communication and subordinate job satisfaction: the relationship between superiors’ self-disclosure, offers of help, offers of cooperation, frequency of contact, trust and subordinates’ job satisfaction," Public Library Quarterly, v. 18, no. 1, 2000, p. 9-30.

Bartlett’s work, based on a master’s thesis in liberal studies at NCSU, finds a significant relation between four of the communication behaviours listed in the title of this article with the exception of self-disclosure.

Landry, Marie B. "The Effects of Life Satisfaction and Job Satisfaction on Reference Librarians and Their Work," Reference & User Services Quarterly, v. 40, no. 2, Winter 2000, p. 166-177.

Landry finds a positive relationship between job satisfaction and life satisfaction. Those librarians who are satisfied with their lives are also satisfied with their jobs and the content of the work. Similar results are found with other relatively similar occupations in the United States.

Marie Landry , Visiting Assistant Professor, School of Library and Information Studies, University of Oklahoma

Thornton, Joyce. "Job Satisfaction of Librarians of African Descent Employed in ARL Academic Libraries," College and Research Libraries, May 2000, p. 217-232.

Thornton surveys librarians of African descent for their job satisfaction. Over 51% of respondents had observed racial discrimination in the workplace. Areas of satisfaction and dissatisfaction are reported.

Joyce Thornton, Director for Specialized and Distance Library Services, Texas A&M University

Related Works:

Howland, Joan. "Beyond Recruitment: Retention and Promotion Strategies to Ensure Diversity and Success," Library Administration & Management, v. 13, no. 1, Winter 1999, p. 4-14.

Howland finds that while recruitment of librarians with diverse backgrounds in found across the United States, a problem remains that often this diverse group does not achieve the same level of job satisfaction or success as their white counterparts. She discusses the possible creation of a work environment that does promote job satisfaction and success for all librarians. This includes the need for equity in the workplace for promotion, professional development opportunities, a proper tenure process and a mentoring program.

Joan Howland, The Roger F. Noreen Professor of Law and Director of Information and Technology, University of Minnesota Law School

Munde, Gail. "Beyond Mentoring: Toward the Rejuvenation of Academic Libraries," The Journal of Academic Librarianship, v. 26, no. 3, May 2000, p. 171-175.

Munde foretells of the lack of professional librarians in the next ten to 20 years. She calls for proper recruitment methods as well as mentoring—an esteemed method of staff development in private enterprise. Mentoring has been shown to have a positive effect on pay, promotion, overall career satisfaction and satisfaction with the organization.

Gail Munde, Assistant Professor and Associate Director, Academic Library Services, East Carolina University

Job Satisfaction and Libraries—Dissertations:

Due to the time and financial restrictions of the study leave granted for this project, dissertations were not located and researched. The following list of titles were found through searching Dissertation Abstracts International; abstracts for these items can be found through that service.

Azad, Asadollah. Job satisfaction of paraprofessional librarians: A Comparative study of public and technical services departments in selected university libraries. PhD. University of Pittsburgh, 1978.

Chwe, Steven Seokho. A Comparative study of librarians’ job satisfaction: Cataloguers and reference librarians in university libraries. PhD. University of Pittsburgh, 1976.

Dakshinamurti, Ganga B. Human resouces development of academic librarians in post-secondary institutions in Manitoba. PhD. University of Manitoba, 1992.

Glasgow, Bonnie Jean Loyd. Job satisfaction among academic librarians. PhD. University of North Texas, 1982.

Green, Claude Willis. An Investigation of the relationship between communication satisfaction and job satisfaction among librarians in higher education. EDD. Peabody College for Teachers of Vanderbilt University, 1982.

Hamshari, Omar Ahmad Mohammad. Job satisfaction of professional librarians: A Comparative study of technical and public service departments in academic libraries in Jordan. PhD. University of Michigan, 1985.

Hegg, Judith Larwood. Relationship of continuing education to job satisfaction of academic librarians in four midwestern states. PhD. University of Missouri, 1982.

Hook, Carolyn Ann. Intrinsic job satisfaction of library managers at selected academic libraries. PhD. University of Southern California, 1981.

Hovecamp, Tina Maragou. Unions and work attitudes: Job satisfaction, work values, and organizational commitment of professional librarians. PhD. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1993.

Kazlauskas, Diane Welch. Leadership practices and employee job satisfaction in the academic libraries of the State University System of Florida. EDD. University of Florida, 1993.

Kem, Carol Ritzen. The Relationship between Herzberg’s Motivator/Hygiene theory and work behavior of types of academic librarians in Florida. PhD. University of Florida, 1994.

Landry, Marie Broussard. Perceptions of public library directors regarding job satisfaction of reference librarians. PhD. Florida State University, 1999.

Lindstrom, William Emil. Job satisfaction: A Study of community college librarians as measured against college/university librarians. DLS. University of Southern California, 1980.

McCormick, Catherine A. A study of the job attitudes (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and career commitment) and career adaptability of members of the library and information science profession. PhD. George Mason University, 2000.

Miniter, John Joseph. An Analysis of job satisfaction among public, college or university, and special librarians. PhD. University of North Texas, 1975.

Murray, Richard A. Job Satisfaction of Professional and Paraprofessional Library Staff at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Master’s Paper. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1999.

Porter, Exa Lynn. Participative management and job satisfaction among community college librarians. EDD. University of Houston, 1994.

Rockman, Ilene Frances. The Influence of gender, occupation, ecological status, autonomy, an decision making opportunity on job satisfaction (higher education, librarians, faculty, California). PhD. University of California, Santa Barbara, 1985.

Rodriguez, Ketty. Job characteristics, motivation and job satisfaction of academic catalogers: A diagnostic approach (academic libraries). PhD. Indiana University, 1991.

Sheih, Chen Su-may. The effect of perceived leadership behavior on the job satisfaction of subordinates in Taiwan’s university libraries. PhD. University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1998.

Swasdison, Neena. Job satisfaction of university librarians in Thailand: An Analysis of selected factors with a focus on superior-subordinate relations (librarians). PhD. Ohio University, 1989.

Swe, Thein. Job satisfaction in academic libraries: Differences between bibliographers and other librarians. PhD. University of Michigan, 1981.

Wahba, Susanne Patterson. Librarian job satisfaction, motivation and performance: An Empirical test of two alternative theories. PhD. Columbia University, 1973.

Welmaker, Roland Bernard. The Relationships of perceived management systems and job satisfaction of public librarians. PhD. University of Michigan, 1984.

Prepared by Donna Millard, Reference Librarian, Mills Memorial Library, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Email: millard@mcmaster.ca

Telephone: 905-525-9140 ext. 22070

Contact: millard@mcmaster.ca
Last Reviewed: August 2, 2002
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