Call for participation: Patron-Perpetrated Sexual Harassment in Libraries Survey

September 22, 2020

Please consider participating in a survey on patron-perpetrated sexual harassment in Canadian libraries. We would also appreciate it if you would consider sharing this with other library workers.

The Patron-Perpetrated Sexual Harassment in Libraries (PPSH) research project is being conducted by Dr. Danielle Allard, Dr. Tami Oliphant, and Angela Lieu to investigate the issue of sexual harassment of library workers by their patrons. Danielle Allard and Tami Oliphant are faculty members at the School of Library and Information Studies, University of Alberta. Angela Lieu is a public librarian in Alberta and an MA student in the Gender and Social Justice Studies program at the University of Alberta.

We are conducting this research because we want to collect a wide range of perspectives on this issue from persons across Canada working across all sectors of the library, in a variety of roles, and who have a variety of experiences. Responses to this survey will help us understand the nature and frequency of patron-perpetrated sexual harassment in order to provide support, scholarship, and related recommendations on this topic.

Participation in the survey is voluntary. All responses will be kept strictly anonymous and confidential. Participants will not be asked to provide any personally identifiable information, and any personally identifiable information provided in long-form answers will be anonymized and assigned pseudonyms where appropriate. This survey does not request the names or locations of library institutions nor will we share any identifying information about library institutions.

The survey will take approximately 20-40 minutes to complete. Please be warned that some of the questions on this survey contain coarse language and potentially upsetting descriptions of sexual harassment. You may answer as many or as few questions as you like, and you may stop the survey at any time.

Please click or copy and paste this link to visit the survey: http://bit.ly/PPSHlibraries

In appreciation of their time, participants will be entered into a draw for a $100 gift card to Glass Bookshop.

If you have any comments, questions, or concerns about this survey, please reach out to us at allard@ualberta.ca, toliphan@ualberta.ca, or angela.lieu@ualberta.ca.

For more information about our project please visit our project website at https://shal.ualberta.ca/

The plan for this study has been reviewed for its adherence to ethical guidelines and approved by the Research Ethics Board at the University of Alberta. If you have any questions or concerns regarding your rights as a participant, or how this study is being conducted, you may contact the University of Alberta’s Research Ethics Office at 780-492-2615. This office has no affiliation with the investigators.

We would be most grateful if you can fill out the survey by November 1st, 2020.

Sincerely,

Danielle Allard
School of Library and Information Studies
University of Alberta

Tami Oliphant
School of Library and Information Studies
University of Alberta

Angela Lieu
MA student, Gender and Social Justice Studies
University of Alberta