Joanne Rodger, Norene Erickson

Leadership Perspectives on Emotional Labour in Large Urban Public Libraries

Introduction

Leadership perspectives on emotional labour in large urban public libraries. Explore how leaders in large urban public libraries manage their own emotional labor, support staff, and grapple with systemic challenges. This study reveals the personal cost of authentic leadership and the critical need for proactive organizational support.

Abstract

The demands of public library work have intensified, placing strain on both frontline staff and the leaders responsible for supporting them. Emotional labour—the regulation of emotions required in daily work—remains underexplored in library and information sciences research, particularly regarding how leaders manage their own emotional labour while supporting frontline staff. This study examines what library leaders know about emotional labour and how that knowledge influences their leadership and support for staff. Interviews with 27 leaders from three large Canadian public libraries reveal that leaders play a crucial role as middle managers, balancing staff well-being with organizational expectations. As authentic leaders, they strive to build meaningful emotional connections with their teams—often successfully—but at a personal cost. Despite their dedication, they have limited power to address systemic challenges such as precarious work, chronic understaffing, and the increasing pressure of societal issues, all of which intensify emotional labour demands. Addressing these challenges requires a collective effort. Libraries must adopt a proactive approach to emotional labour, emphasizing leadership development, shared responsibility, and comprehensive organizational support.

Review

This study provides a timely and important exploration into the often-overlooked dimension of emotional labour from the perspective of public library leaders. Addressing a notable gap in Library and Information Science research, particularly concerning how leaders navigate their own emotional demands while supporting frontline staff, the authors effectively illuminate a critical challenge facing contemporary libraries. Through in-depth interviews with 27 leaders across three large Canadian urban public libraries, the research meticulously uncovers that leaders serve as pivotal middle managers, striving to balance staff well-being with pressing organizational expectations. A key finding reveals their commitment to authentic leadership and building meaningful team connections, which, while often successful, comes with a significant personal cost. The strength of this paper lies in its focus on the nuanced and often challenging experiences of library leaders themselves, offering a counter-narrative to solely focusing on frontline staff emotional labour. The revelation that leaders, despite their dedication, possess limited power to address deeply embedded systemic challenges such as precarious work, chronic understaffing, and escalating societal pressures—all of which exacerbate emotional labour—is particularly insightful. This highlights a critical structural barrier, suggesting that the burden of emotional labour cannot be solely managed at the team or middle-management level. The study adeptly illustrates how the pursuit of authentic leadership in such constrained environments can lead to personal strain, underscoring the need for broader organizational awareness and support mechanisms. While the qualitative approach offers rich, in-depth perspectives, the findings implicitly call for further research into specific interventions and their effectiveness in mitigating these systemic issues beyond leadership development. The study's clear call for a collective effort and a proactive organizational approach to emotional labour is a vital recommendation, emphasizing leadership development, shared responsibility, and comprehensive support as essential next steps. Overall, this paper makes a significant contribution to the literature by providing a crucial leadership lens on emotional labour, offering valuable insights for library administrators, policymakers, and researchers striving to foster healthier and more sustainable work environments in public libraries.

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