Technostress In The Bionic Library Analysis

University of California
Peer Reviewed Title: Technostress in the Bionic Library Author: Kupersmith, John Publication Date: 01-01-1998 Publication Info: Postprints, UC Berkeley Permalink: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/1hc8s95x Citation: Kupersmith, John. (1998). Technostress in the Bionic Library. UC Berkeley: Retrieved from: http:// escholarship.org/uc/item/1hc8s95x Additional Info: John Kupersmith, "Technostress in the Bionic Library" . Originally published in Cheryl LaGuardia, ed., Recreating the Academic Library: Breaking Virtual Ground, (New York: Neal-Schuman, 1998), pp. 23-47. Original Citation: John Kupersmith, "Technostress in the Bionic Library." Originally published in Cheryl LaGuardia, ed., Recreating the Academic Library: Breaking
Most modern stress theory is based on the work of Hans Selye, who defined three stages of reaction to "stressors" in the environment: alarm, resistance, and (in extreme cases where stress is serious and prolonged) exhaustion. [2] While stressors can be pleasant or unpleasant and stress can have positive effects—energizing a person, focusing attention, and stimulating behaviors of engagement and constructive adaptation—generally speaking it is the negative aspect of "distress" that merits our attention here. Symptoms of stress may be physical (e.g., muscle tension, rapid heartbeat, dry mouth and throat, shallow breathing, headaches, gastric problems), cognitive (mental fatigue, inability to concentrate, poor judgment), affective (irritability, anxiety, mental fatigue, depression), or behavioral (impulsiveness, avoidance, withdrawal, loss of appetite, insomnia). Other researchers have emphasized the importance of the individual's appraisal of a potential stressor (a charging rhino thus eliciting a stronger reaction than a balky hypertext link), the degree to which the individual perceives that he/she can control the situation, personality differences and social support mechanisms that affect individuals' reactions and adaptability, and the additive and cumulative effects of multiple stressors, including both negative and positive "life events." [3] Compounding the effects of
If they are new or infrequent users of the system, they may have special difficulties in understanding its structure and procedures. These users may also suffer from feelings of isolation as well as from the lack of information and feedback they could gain in a physical library through direct contact with other users or staff. [28] Whether they are dialing in from home, connecting from a computer lab, or sitting at an OPAC terminal, people face a number of problems in using the complex of information systems that make up the bionic library. Most fundamental is the need to locate and identify the "library" itself. While it is generally easy to find the library building on a college or university campus, the corresponding electronic library may have several components (including a dial-up catalog/database system, a CD-ROM network, standalone page-image workstations, gopher and World Wide Web sites), each with a different point of contact and some not linked with the rest. In a sense, end-users in the 1990s are going through what library staff began to experience in the 1980s, adapting to one new system after another—and often to several at once. 2008: The mix of ingredients has changed somewhat, but the virtual library still remains fragmented. Even with most access being