Promotion File for Lindsey Reno: Basic Information

I am interested in studying the motivations of fellow librarians and the emotional aspects of our profession in order to develop greater empathy, insight, and innovation among our ranks.  Librarianship as a profession may attract certain personality types and, either despite this or because of it, we still often find ourselves (or perceive ourselves to be) in conflict.  By uncovering what motivates us, we can build greater understanding among librarians. My previous research projects have built a strong foundation for this work.  My co-authored book Examining the Emotional Dimensions of Academic Librarianship: Emerging Research and Opportunities detailed the many gaps in the literature that exist in these areas.  I have started to fill these gaps by writing my forthcoming book chapter, To Err is Human: Academic Librarians and the Fear of Making Mistakes, which sought to gauge the prevalence and severity of the fear of making mistakes among academic librarians.   Also within this topic of interest, I would like to research the changing paradigms of acquisitions and collection development within the framework of individual and institutional motivation.  I want to explore what inclines librarians to choose a particular purchasing model over another.  My recent book chapter Purchasing Models for Streaming Film: Attitudes and Motivation explored the impetus for a move toward streaming film in academic libraries despite the higher cost of the model.  Ideas for future research projects include an exploration of the reasons for supporting open access models and a study on the prevalence of so-called “boreout,” or burnout resulting from a lack of challenging work.   Librarianship is overall a highly cooperative profession and I hope that my research will only help to increase awareness and strengthen our congruity.