What Would You Do Tomorrow? A Scenario-Vignette Study of Library Workers’ Responses to Intellectual Freedom Challenges
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Authors
Washburn, Hillary
Date
2026-03
Type
Dissertation
Language
en_US
Keywords
Alternative Title
LIBRARY WORKERS AND INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM
Abstract
This mixed-methods exploratory study examines how library workers reason through realistic intellectual freedom challenge scenarios and identifies the factors that shape their responses. A national sample of 149 library workers across public, school, and academic settings completed an online scenario-vignette survey featuring a forced-choice decision item and open-ended reflection prompts. Twenty participants were purposively selected for semi-structured interviews. The quantitative results revealed a near-unanimous forced-choice consensus: 88.6% of respondents selected the policy-aligned response. However, qualitative analysis of 3,107 coded segments across 102 analytic codes revealed that workers who selected the same action arrived through markedly different reasoning, moderated by symbolic capital, administrative support, and organizational readiness. Seven findings emerged: the divergence between knowledge and feasibility, the structural nature of preparedness, the mediating role of symbolic capital, policy as both a tool and point of failure, scenarios as reflective triggers, the under-resourced emotional dimension of challenge work, and setting-specific authority structures. Overall, the findings indicate that the library workforce largely knows what to do but faces uneven organizational conditions for doing it. This study provides a diagnostic foundation for evidence-based training programs that address the organizational environment, professional capacity building across all staff levels, and setting-specific preparation.