Impact of ideological conflict on the mental health of library workers in the United States: A systematized scoping review.

This systematized scoping review aims to identify whether and to what extent the literature addresses mental health impacts of ideological challenges toward library workers in the United States. Library staff have experienced increased ideological challenges to their collections and programming, often the result of real or perceived differences in political, religious, or moral ideologies and personal beliefs on matters of race, gender, sexuality, and the concept of “obscenity.” The intensity of these challenges ranges from social media name-calling and organized protests to legislation and challenges for public office, and even physical violence in some cases. Databases including library science, business, and psychology topics were searched for peer reviewed articles, editorials, conference proceedings, theses, and dissertations among academic and trade titles published in English from 2020-2024, with additional resources identified by hand searching specific journal titles and references. Results show that the literature is somewhat scarce regarding the mental health impacts of ideological challenges on library workers, despite a fuller body of discussion regarding general workplace mental health challenges and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Available literature shows that library staff are indeed at risk for various types of moral injury and poor mental health outcomes following ideological challenges and related aggressive behavior, in addition to physical symptoms of the mental burden. However, there are also multiple reports of library staff reacting to these challenges with a renewed sense of personal vigor and motivation toward their work, illustrating key differences in outcomes that should be further explored in future research.