Burnt Ends: An Examination of Academic Librarian Burnout Using the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory after COVID-19

Abstract

The authors conducted a survey containing the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory to explore the degree and type of burnout experienced by academic librarians in the spring of 2023. The average burnout score of the respondents (N = 267) was found to be middling (M = 45.68142). When subtypes of burnout were explored, academic librarians showed the most personal burnout, followed closely by work-related burnout. Client-related burnout was low. Analyses were conducted to explore differences due to demographic or workplace characteristics; however, the only significant relationship observed was between the duration of a librarian’s career and their degree of client-related burnout.

Keywords:

• Academic librarian
• burnout
• Copenhagen Burnout Inventory

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge and thank the librarian who alerted them to the error in their survey.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. This work was not supported by any internal or external funding.