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The Canadian journal of information and library science - La Revue canadienne des sciences de l’information et de bibliothéconomie (CJILS-RCSIB)Vol. 48, No. 2 (2025)DOI: 10.5206/cjils-rcsib.v48i2.22897Research ArticleLeadership Perspectives on Emotional Labour in Large Urban PublicLibrariesJoanne Rodger1and Norene Erickson21 University of Alberta2 MacEwan UniversityThe demands of public library work have intensif i ed, placing strain on both frontline staf f andthe leaders responsible for supporting them. Emotional labour—the regulation of emotionsrequired in daily work—remains underexplored in library and information sciences research,particularly regarding how leaders manage their own emotional labour while supporting front-line staf f . This study examines what library leaders know about emotional labour and how thatknowledge inf l uences their leadership and support for staf f . Interviews with 27 leaders fromthree large Canadian public libraries reveal that leaders play a crucial role as middle managers,balancing staf f well-being with organizational expectations. As authentic leaders, they striveto build meaningful emotional connections with their teams—often successfully—but at apersonal cost. Despite their dedication, they have limited power to address systemic challengessuchasprecariouswork,chronicunderstaf f i ng,andtheincreasingpressureofsocietalissues,allofwhichintensifyemotionallabourdemands. Addressingthesechallengesrequiresacollectiveef f ort. Libraries must adopt a proactive approach to emotional labour, emphasizing leadershipdevelopment, shared responsibility, and comprehensive organizational support.Keywords: emotional labour, library leadership, public libraries, authentic leadership, middlemanagement, organizational supportIntroductionThe experiences of emotional labour among leaders inurban public libraries, along with their responsibility to sup-portstaf f throughthisprocess,formacriticalyetunderstudiedareainlibraryandinformationsciences. Thisstudyexamineshow leaders at three large, urban public libraries in Canadaexperience emotional labour - both individually and throughthe experiences of their staf f . Leadership has a signif i cantimpact on the employee’s experience and for the purposesof this study, we look specif i cally at how leaders facilitateemotional labour support for their teams at individual andorganizational levels.Emotional labour—the regulation of emotions required aspart of one’s daily work (Hochschild, 1983)—has receivedlimited attention within the context of library work. More-over,littleresearchhasexaminedhowlibraryleadersperceivethe need for organizational support for emotional labour. Toaddress this gap in the literature, the current research inves-tigates the primary question: “What do library leaders knowabout emotional labour and how does that knowledge inf l u-Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed toNorene Erickson: ericksonn7@macewan.caence their work with, and support of, library staf f members?”This paper reports on some of the f i ndings from a larger qual-itative study and focuses on public library leaders’ individualknowledge, experiences, and leadership approaches in rela-tion to emotional labour. Specif i cally, the paper explores theway in which library leaders conceptualize emotional labourin the context of their work, how their approaches to leader-ship align with the culture of the organization, and the waysin which leaders feel supported in managing the emotionaldimensions of their roles. A second paper explores furtherf i ndingsrelatedtoorganizationalsupportforemotionallabourfrom this study.Literature ReviewEmotional Labour TheoryEmotional labour, most often associated with customerservice roles including public-facing library work, involvesmanaging emotions to align with organizationally def i neddisplay rules, often at odds with inner feelings (Mattesonet al., 2015). For instance, adhering to a ‘service with asmile’ philosophy can create cognitive dissonance, leading toemotional exhaustion, burnout, and job dissatisfaction (Edel-man & van Knippenberg, 2017; Grandey, 2003; Matteson &Miller, 2013). This emotional regulation is an expectationof the organization in library work and is often ingrained