Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic, in conjunction with the Fourth Industrial Revolution, has shifted how employees perform their work, and many employees have had to adapt to working remotely (from home) and providing online services to contain the spread of the virus. In the past, the role of librarians as custodians of information was restricted to the boundaries of the library building. The information delivery landscape has since improved through fewer physical barriers, reaching a wider audience through technological advances.
The purpose of this study is to understand the emerging work identity of academic library staff members, considering the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the COVID-19 pandemic, firstly by understanding how library staff view their roles and work in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Fourth Industrial Revolution and secondly how the COVID-19 pandemic and the Fourth Industrial Revolution influenced the work identity of library staff members.
A qualitative study was employed, using an abductive approach. Purposive sampling was used to select 11 participants who work at a university in Gauteng. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, and data analysis was done through thematic and content analysis using the Atlas.ti Version 9 software package.
Findings indicate that COVID-19 and its social and economic effects left many participants facing abrupt changes to their work identities on the social, individual, and structural dimensions. While many were able to cope well with the circumstantial and identity change, and many even embraced it, some struggled to adapt to how they perceived themselves. Participants were allowed to work remotely when possible. Within a very short period of time, librarians adapted to new work environments to meet the demand for digital library services and resources. Most librarians were able to connect with their users and mostly maintain business as usual with the help of digital communication tools like Zoom and Microsoft Teams.
Academic libraries have transformed from using traditional information management techniques to using technological platforms. The emergence of working online has
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required that librarians learn new ways of performing their work and adapt rapidly to using various digital tools to meet their job deliverables.
KEYWORDS:
Work identity, librarianship, COVID-19, the fourth industrial revolution, technology, professional identity, and social identity.