Since times immemorial, work related stress is widely recognized as a major challenge to employees’ health and hindrance to their work motivation and performance. This is because employees who are stressed turn to be unhealthy, unhappy, less satisfied, less motivated, less involved and less productive at work. Such work stress or what we call as Organizational Role Stress (ORS) may have positive effects to some extent making the work life more challenging and charming; but beyond a certain level, it generates adverse effects, leading to a state of unhappiness. This holds true even for Library and Information Science (LIS) professionals – ideally one of the strongest pillars of any premier academic setup, but ironically the much ignored cadre of professionals, especially in the digital era. Given the multitude of roles being played by these LIS professionals and considering the ever increasing importance of multifaceted evaluation of quantitative and qualitative aspects of library in institutional ranking at the national and international level, the institutions of higher education will have to create congenial work culture for the LIS professionals. In this context, taking care of the stress level of the LIS professionals has emerged as the central concern. The present study examines the ORS among the LIS professionals and the impact of demographic variables on it. Primary data was collected from 100 LIS professionals of various Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) in the vibrant state of Gujarat by using the standardized ORS scale developed by Udai Pareek. The analysis revealed that ORS is at an alarming level of burnout limits among the LIS professionals; and Inter-Role Distance (IRD), Role Overload (RO), Resource Inadequacy (RIn) and Personal Inadequacy (PIn) are found to bse the prominent role stressors. The demographic variables of experience and age are found to be closely associated with the ORS

Digital Era, Digital Library, Institutional Ranking, Library and Information Science (LIS) Professionals, Motivation, Organizational Role Stress (ORS)

The aim of this study was to assess the Organizational Role Stress among the LIS professionals working in HEIs of Gujarat State of India and suggest measures to overcome/reduce the same. This study found that the overall ORS in terms of Total ORS score is 123.39, which is at an alarming level of burnout limits. Hence, the prevalence of ORS among the LIS professionals needs to be taken seriously to ensure their happiness at the workplace and consequently quality service to all the stakeholders. Hence, steps must be initiated for helping the LIS professionals to overcome the four prominent role stressors namely the Inter-Role Distance (IRD), Role Overload (RO), Resource Inadequacy (RIn) and Personal Inadequacy (PIn)

Mehul G. Thakkar and Kailash D. Tandel (2024). Empirical Investigation of ORS Among Library and Information Science Professionals in India. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 16(9): 168-174