Research-2

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Edited Books

Training Library Instructors, Vol 1: A Guide to Training Graduate Students
Matthew Weirick Johnson (Ed.). ACRL.
Training Library Instructors, Vol 2: A Guide to Training Librarians
Matthew Weirick Johnson (Ed.). ACRL.

Peer-reviewed Articles

Academic instruction librarians' feelings of job control: quantitative analysis of responses to a job control inventory
2024. Matthew Weirick Johnson. The Journal of Academic Librarianship.
Open Access DOI

Job control encompasses a range of dimensions that reflect the extent to which employees have the freedom and discretion to make decisions about their work. Job control includes control over tasks, scheduling, work pacing, physical environment, decision-making, interaction, and mobility. A web survey was administered to academic librarians with instruction responsibilities. The survey included a previously developed scale for measuring job control and several key demographic and job characteristic questions that were hypothesized to impact job control. 307 academic instruction librarians completed the job control scale. Analyzing each item in the job control scale, teaching workload, status, income, years at institution and in libraries, teacher training, union representation, and tenure status have statistically significant effects on responses to at least one question in the scale. Through analysis of the average response among academic instruction librarians in the sample, control over decision-making, including allocation of resources and salaries, and interactions appear to be two places where managers and library leaders may focus improvements. Control over the amount of money academic instruction librarians earn and over how their work is evaluated were the lowest across the 22 items in the job control scale. As library leaders and managers consider the practical implications of job control research on their work, earnings, evaluation processes, and interactions or interruptions may be key areas to enact changes or provide further transparency and shared decision-making.
The burden of proving burnout in academic library workers
2024. Matthew Weirick Johnson, Sylvia Page. Canadian Journal of Academic Librarianship.
Open Access
Collaborative research services: a peer-led cohort approach
2023. Matthew Weirick Johnson, Estéfani Bowline, Diana Leigh King, Antonia Osuna-Garcia, Sylvia Page, Alohie Tadesse, Maggie Tarmey, Matthew Vest. Reference Services Review.
Open Access
Job control and its impacts on burnout in academic instruction librarians
2023. Matthew Weirick Johnson. Journal of Library Administration.
Open Access DOI

Librarians have been grappling with the issue of burnout for decades, at least. This study uses the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) and Job Control Inventory to show how job control impacts burnout. Using the CBI, academic instruction librarians, on average, have high work-related burnout and even higher personal burnout compared to other jobs. However, librarians have low client-related burnout, similar to other “caring” or “helping” professions. The findings point to key factors that impact job control and burnout to help consider ways of mitigating burnout and increasing job control.
Job control, library instruction, and burnout: a quantitative analysis of academic instruction librarians’ experiences of job control while teaching
2025. Matthew Weirick Johnson. College & Research Libraries.
Open Access
The limits of inclusion in open access: accessible access, universal design, and open educational resources
2023. Matthew Weirick Johnson, Salma Abumeeiz. Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication.
Open Access DOI

Introduction: The impacts of open educational resources (OER) are both well-documented and far-reaching. Without mitigating the positive outcomes of OER—including reduced textbook costs, readily available knowledge platforms, and open research—we problematize the commonly held assumption that open resources are necessarily more accessible and inherently good. Description of Program: Drawing on writing from antiracist, feminist disability researchers and advocates, we critically examine the UCLA Library online open educational initiative known as Writing Instruction + Research Education (WI+RE). In doing so, we (1) demonstrate how open access (OA) is often framed as an end, when in fact it is just the beginning; (2) encourage readers to resist evangelizing the OA movement such that it is beyond critique; and (3) advocate for the centering of disability justice within and beyond our OA efforts. Next Steps: We discuss both general and specific approaches for centering accessibility in creative processes, advocate for expanded definitions of OERs (beyond simply being “free”), and caution against evangelizing OERs without acknowledging the structural factors that contribute to inaccessibility. We outline four strategies and recommendations for other practitioners, educators, and designers seeking to build accessibility and dis-ability justice into OER design and OA initiatives more broadly. We approach OER both practically and theoretically to present an argument and path forward for designing more accessible resources and expanding OA through accessible access and universal design.
Use of the Copenhagen burnout inventory among US academic librarians: examining construct validity through factor structure and model fit
2024. Matthew Weirick Johnson. The Journal of Academic Librarianship.
Open Access DOI

Burnout is a pervasive problem in libraries; however, little empirical evidence exists to demonstrate burnout's extent and to assist in identifying evidence-based solutions. As far as quantitative analysis of burnout is concerned, the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) has been a primary tool for measuring burnout among human services workers. However, the tool is proprietary and can be cost-prohibitive for large samples or small/non-existent budgets. As we consider the measurement of burnout as a field, open tools are better aligned with the values of librarianship, and free tools are better aligned with the resources available for conducting research or internal assessments. The Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) is a non-commercial, free, and easy-to-administer tool for measuring burnout across three dimensions: personal, work-related, and client-related. The CBI presents a cost-effective alternative to the MBI which may be particularly enticing for academic library leaders and researchers. This study assesses the psychometric properties, including factor structure and scale reliability, to contribute to demonstrating construct validity of the CBI among academic librarians in the United Studies using a probability sample stratified by institutional Carnegie classifications and geographic region. Confirmatory Factory Analysis (CFA) is used the examine the factor structure and model fit of five models for the CBI: a correlated three factors model, a correlated two factors model (using work-related and client-related burnout), and three single factor models for each of the three independent subscales (personal, work-related, and client-related burnout). The factorial validity and model fit for the five models demonstrated in the study are reasonable, suggesting that the items in the three scales are successfully measuring the latent constructs (personal burnout, work-related burnout, and client-related burnout), which contributes to construct validity. The expected relationship between the observed variables (the items in the measurement model) and the latent constructs is supported by the CFA analyses. While other examinations of validity, including other aspects of construct validity, should also be examined, the findings support the use of the CBI for measurement of burnout among academic librarians.