Two Center for Social Science Innovation (CSSI) researcher affiliates, Megan Gilster, associate professor at the School of Social Work in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Iulian Vamanu, associate professor at the School of Library and Information Science in the Graduate College, recently published a study exploring how collaborations between social work students and public libraries can support library staff’s professional and personal needs.

Today, libraries no longer just loan books; they have become community hubs that commonly help patrons struggling with mental health conditions, substance use, and housing or food insecurities. Because of the reimagined role of libraries, some library staff increasingly seek partnerships with social workers to better serve their patrons enduring crises.

Although prior research has shown that these collaborations reap success by connecting patrons to necessary resources and programs, little research has been conducted to understand the impact social work partnerships have on the library staff themselves.

To address this gap, Gilster and Vamanu surveyed 23 staff of five public libraries in a Midwestern state. The libraries were located in both urban and rural areas and attracted diverse populations.

Library staff completed a survey before three social work students began their semester-long practicums – hands-on learning outside of the classroom – at all five libraries. After the practicum concluded, library staff answered the same survey once more.

The survey measured five dimensions of library staff’s professional and personal well-being: 1) psychological empowerment, 2) career resilience, 3) burnout, 4) attitudes towards library social work, and 5) self-efficacy in whole-person librarianship, or the idea that library staff should meet all needs of their patrons, including social and emotional.

The researchers explored whether the efforts of the social work students, which included organizing social work training workshops for library staff and creating community social service guides, would lead to improvements in the dimensions of staff well-being.

The researchers discovered that library staff reported higher levels of psychological empowerment and efficacy in whole-person librarianship after the social work practicum had occurred. On the other hand, the team found the practicum did not lead to a change in career resilience, burnout, or attitude towards library social work amongst library staff.

Gilster sees potential for expanding the study objectives.

“We need additional studies with comparison groups of libraries without social work students to better understand the impact students do have,” she says. “Additionally, because social work support must look different in rural areas’ libraries, another step would be to examine the models of social work support that are specifically designed to meet rural library needs.”

The study titled, “Evidence for Social Work Practicum in Public Libraries: Improved Staff Well-Being and Attitudes,” was published in Public Library Quarterly and was funded by the university’s past Jumpstarting Tomorrow Seed Grant Program.

Other study authors included three researchers from the School of Social Work: Megan Ronnenberg, assistant professor, Saige Addison, PhD student, and Sarah Witry, clinical assistant professor, and one researcher from the School of Library and Information Science: Kara Logsden, assistant professor of instruction.

To learn more about CSSI’s researcher affiliate program and ways to become involved, click here.

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