In Your Feelings: Let's Talk About Emotional Labour in Public Libraries

In the fall of 2018, Kyla conducted a pilot study at the University of Alberta School of Library and Information Studies to learn more about how emotional labour manifests in public library workers’ interactions with difficult patrons. This session will begin with a brief history of the research on emotional labour, and then go over the pilot study and its findings. Through the stories of the anonymous public library workers we can better understand the emotional labour demands of public library work. Ultimately, emotional labour will never disappear from library work, but together we can find a way to recognize its existence and value.
Learning Objectives:

• Understand what emotional labour is.
• Discover how emotional labour manifests in frontline public library workers’ interactions with difficult patrons.
• Learn how organizational issues play a role in emotional labour.