Analyzing Changes in Work-From-Home Policies for Academic Medical and Health Science Librarians

Objectives: In early 2022, researchers surveyed senior administrators in Association of Academic Health Science Libraries (AAHSL) member libraries to examine work-from-home employment policies. In this follow-up project, researchers survey faculty and staff at AAHSL libraries probing whether those libraries still allow remote or hybrid work and assessing whether faculty/staff perceptions of work-from-home policies are similar to or different from the previously surveyed administrators. Researchers wish to discover if/how work from home (WFH) policies have evolved over the last year and whether those policies appear to influence morale, recruitment, and retention of library faculty and staff.

Methods: Researchers constructed a 25 question survey in Qualtrics and sent it electronically to several email lists and online communities frequented by academic health sciences library employees (e.g., AAHSL-all, medlib-l, various MLA caucus and chapter lists). Questions focused on current WFH policies, staff satisfaction with the policies, and the effect of these policies on morale, recruitment, and retention. The survey also included some questions about respondent demographics, geographic region, and type of institution. An open-ended question was included for library staff to make additional comments.

Results: Results were tabulated in Qualtrics and analyzed. There were 410 results, of which 383 met inclusion criteria. Respondents represented public and private institutions, various position lines (e.g. administration, librarian, library staff), and all regions of the United States. Results showed that remote/hybrid work options continue to be available in many academic health science libraries, and that this feature is important to employees. Additional findings indicated the difficult task of implementing a successful remote/hybrid work policy for all library employees. In the future, researchers will compare the survey's results with the AAHSL Library Director’s survey from early 2022.

Conclusions: Researchers believe the data will be useful to leaders in academic health sciences libraries who are developing or reviewing WFH policies in their libraries.