Study of Occupational Stress among Iran Public Libraries Foundation's Librarians and Managers (Case Study: Tehran City)

The present research was carried out with the purpose of studyingoccupational stress among librarians and managers of public libraries undersupervision of National Institution of Public Libraries in Tehran in 2010. This study is of survey type. The population under studyconsisted of 103 librarians and managers of public libraries in Tehran whichwere chosen by simple random sampling. We also used Osipow OccupationalStress Inventory. Among the population under study, 23 persons (33.22%) werelibrary managers and 79 (70.76%) of them were librarians. Mean occupationalstress in this sample was 194.20; considering the scoring table of Osipow scalefor occupational stress, total occupational stress was normal. So, occupationalstress was not observed in the sample. Also, the highest mean value amongdimensions of occupational stress belonged to the role workload, whereas thelowest mean value among these dimensions related to physical environment.Besides, no significant relationship existed between occupational stress anddemographic features (age, work experience). In addition, no significantdifference was observed among work environment conditions, job experience,reward, and financial income of groups under study concerning occupationalstress.Originality/Value: We identified the level of occupational stress among librarians of public libraries in six dimensions including role workload, role incompetency, role dichotomy, range of role, responsibility, and physical nvironment. As the result, the current research revealed that for the imension of role workload, which is related to how an individual responds to demands in work environment, paying more attention is necessary for programming with the purpose of minimizing the stress. Additionally, through intervening in these six dimensions, managers can control the level of stress among their employees.