Workplace Incivility and Bullying in the Library: Perception or Reality?

Recent media reports have increased awareness of workplace incivility and bullying. However, the literature regarding workplace incivility and bullying in academic libraries is under reported and under researched. This study examines the current state of librarians’ perceptions on workplace incivility and bullying and evaluates the effects of bullying from organizational and individual perspectives. Bullying was measured based on the librarian’s responses to the Negative Acts Questionnaire, including both experienced bullying and witnessed bullying. The authors introduce a conceptual framework to understand the motivating structures, precipitating circumstances, and enabling structures that lead to bullying in the library. A statistical analysis using a regression model revealed several factors that influenced bullying, including a librarian’s ethnicity, the number of years worked in the library, the type of institution, and a librarian’s academic status. The findings can be useful for discussions of improving workplace climate, increasing retention and recruitment for academic librarians, and helping early career librarians throughout the promotion and tenure processes.