Workplace technology as a threat to worker identity: Evidence from Public Libraries

A library worker’s sense of who they are at work is the result of a dynamic and complex construction. These work identities serve several functions, including the cultivation of a sense of belonging, self-esteem, meaning, and competence. While a significant amount of research has considered the role of other human actors in the construction of work identity, including its impact on salient identity functions, less research has considered the role of nonhuman actors. One nonhuman actor likely to play a pivotal role is workplace technology. In this study, 52 public library workers with identities they considered to be underrepresented, minoritized, and/or stigmatized recorded a series of audio diaries and participated in interviews about the frustrations they experienced during the workday. Findings reveal the ways in which library technology is perceived by these workers as a source of identity threats that devalue an identity, change the meanings they associate with an identity, or prevent them from enacting an identity. These threats introduced obstacles to a worker’s competence-based, worth-based, and authenticity-based self-esteem. Workers responded to these threats by redefining, reasserting, or reassessing the threatened identity. This study contributes to growing research on professional identity in librarianship by considering the role of nonhuman actors, like technology. Findings have implications for both current and future implementations of technology within libraries.