188 Emotional Intelligence in Library Disaster Response Assistance Teams: Which Competencies Emerged? Frances C. Wilkinson Frances C. Wilkinson is Deputy Dean of University Libraries and Professor of University Libraries and Learning Sciences in the University Libraries at the University of New Mexico; e-mail: fwilkins@unm. edu. © 2015 Frances C. Wilkinson, Attribution-NonCommercial (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc/3.0/) CC BY-NC This qualitative study examines the relationship between emotional intelligence competencies and the personal attributes of library disaster response assistance team (DRAT) members. Using appreciative inquiry protocol to conduct interviews at two academic libraries, the study pres- ents findings from emergent thematic coding of interview transcripts, documents, and artifacts as well as through the application of prede- termined concept choice mapping of the data. Study findings suggest a strong relationship between emotional intelligence competencies and attributes exhibited by DRAT members as they dealt with the disasters at their respective institutions and may inform library leaders who appoint and provide training for team members. he academic library workplace is in a state of rapid change on many levels; however, few events create more instability and change than a sudden disas- ter. Library disasters come in many forms, including such events as floods, fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, vandalism, workplace violence, and so forth, with damage from water or moisture being among the most frequently experienced.1 Since the infamous library fire that destroyed much of the Alexandria Library in Egypt in approximately 48 BCE, numerous other disasters have befallen libraries—and they seem to be increasingly prevalent.2 Librarians are very likely to have to respond to a disaster during their careers. One survey of college libraries found that 75 percent of respondents had experienced an emergency, and several reported multiple disasters.3 Library organizations recover from disasters to varying degrees, at various speeds, and the process is always emotionally charged. The larger and more widespread the disaster, the more individuals will be affected, and everyone involved will be experienc- ing a rush of emotions. Library leaders must meet the fiscal, physical, and emotional challenges and seize opportunities both during the initial emergency response and later during the disaster recovery phases. To accomplish these tasks, they appoint library disaster response assistance teams (DRATs). The individuals comprising these teams will have varying backgrounds and expertise (administrative, communications, IT, facilities, collection management, preservation, public services, and so forth) and will have the responsibility to quickly and appropriately respond to any disaster that doi:10.5860/crl.76.2.188 crl14-608 Emotional Intelligence in Library Disaster Response Assistance Teams 189 befalls their library, regardless of its type or severity. Clearly this challenge requires knowledge and skill within the team, but it also requires understanding the role emo- tional intelligence (the ability to assess and regulate emotions) plays in the process. Daniel Goleman popularized the concept of emotional intelligence in his blockbuster book, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ.4 Emotional intelligence has been called “the sine qua non of leadership”—absolutely indispensable or essential.5 To better understand emotional intelligence in the workplace, Goleman developed a “Framework of Emotional Competencies,” initially with five domains.6 Later, based on an examination of more than 600 managers in a variety of settings, Goleman refined his framework to four domains: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management, with 20 emotional competencies.7 Problem Statement Organizations are becoming increasingly aware of the dynamic of teams, the emotional intelligence of team members, and the effect that emotional intelligence can have on team performance.8 Both scholarly and popular literature are filled with information on the relationship between emotional intelligence and effective leadership in a wide variety of situations. The impact and relationship of leadership and emotional intel- ligence have received considerable discussion and research.9 Regardless of the many quantitative and qualitative studies that have been con- ducted on emotional intelligence in the workplace, including a few that were done in libraries, no previous study has posed a research question that explores the rela- tionship between emotional intelligence competencies and the personal attributes of academic library DRAT members who responded to and led their library in its recovery from a disaster. Specifically, no previous research has been undertaken to determine which emotional intelligence competencies emerged in DRAT members during the disaster response and recovery process and which competencies are most common among DRAT members. Further, no previous research design has used appreciative inquiry—which comprises a 4-stage protocol to ask positively phrased interview questions that focus on discovering, designing, dreaming, and destiny in an organization—to examine the connection between emotional intelligence and the personal attributes of library DRAT members.10 Strengths and Limitations of the Study The researcher is an academic librarian who has experienced several library disasters. One of the sites of the study is the library where the researcher is employed. Having directed disaster team members during disasters and having knowledge of the roles they assume during a disaster provided the opportunity for heightened insight, but also the potential for bias. The researcher provided an emic account describing the data concerning the human behavior as “one of them” at her home institution, but she remained keenly aware of the issue of bias and therefore employed self-monitoring throughout the process, a well-established practice in qualitative research. Extra care was taken when a participant’s response was not completely clear not to assume what that person meant, but instead to use techniques such as asking for examples or restating/paraphrasing responses to either obtain confirmation or to gather different perspectives from the researcher’s own. Literature Review General Writings Most of the literature on the topic of library disasters was written in the last twenty years and consists of informative and useful experience-based practitioner literature, 190 College & Research Libraries March 2015 but these books and articles are generally not based on empirical research. Most of this practitioner literature focuses either on appointing a disaster response team and developing a comprehensive disaster plan or on specific aspects of emergency response and recovery such as what emergency supplies should be maintained and documenting where in the library building they are located; which books, journals, and equipment have the greatest priority for rescue; how to handle insurance claims; and so forth. Although the mechanics of planning for and responding to library disasters are important factors, the emotional intelligence of the DRAT members has major impact on the response and recovery process. In the last decade, librarian research- ers have begun to conduct compelling studies on the relationship between emotional intelligence and library leaders.11 Library Literature Studying Emotional Intelligence Hernon, Giesecke, and Alire wrote about academic librarians as emotionally intelli- gent leaders, considering various leadership theories, issues, and traits in light of the increasing trend of academic libraries to be organized into teams involved in man- aging change. Throughout their book, the authors persuasively made the point that emotionally intelligent library leaders are better equipped to manage change in their organizations.12 Although they did not specifically address the change brought about by disasters, many of their points about managing change in libraries are pertinent to managing the changes that disasters bring. In addition, two research studies specifically addressed the library leader’s emotional intelligence. Hernon and Rossiter conducted research to identify which of the traits that comprise emotional intelligence are of greatest importance for library directors to possess. The authors stated, “previous research has explored the traits of successful academic and public library directors…no study has recast those traits in terms of EI.”13 Using Goleman’s original five domain emotional intelligence model, their quantitative study consisted of two steps: a content analysis of job advertisements for library direc- tor positions and a survey of directors of Association of Research Libraries member libraries to determine which EI attributes were most desirable for library directors. They found that, among all the most frequently mentioned traits, being “visionary” had the greatest consensus; however, the survey rankings of most desirable director traits did not match the job advertisements. Kreitz drew on that earlier study, conducting research that explored the ideal emotional intelligence traits of academic library directors; however, her study also included these directors’ senior management teams.14 She reorganized and remapped the study instrument that Hernon and Rossiter used in their study to conduct a quantitative study using the revised four domains of emotional intelligence model. Six library directors and 21 senior management team members from eight academic libraries were asked to identify the top emotional intelligence traits for an ideal library director and the top traits for an ideal senior management team member as well as the most important shared ideal leadership traits. Kreitz stated that her findings “… suggest that her study results …create a foundation of leadership skills that may be useful in a number of venues” and that library directors and senior management team members can use her lists of ideal emotional intelligence traits “…to analyze the traits they collectively possess and those they might need to acquire…[and] to help them recruit and hire to balance their team’s overall EI traits.”15 Although Kreitz’s study focused on academic library senior management teams rather than academic library DRAT members, it supported the need to look beyond the top leader—the library dean/director—when studying the relationship between emotional intelligence and leadership. Emotional Intelligence in Library Disaster Response Assistance Teams 191 Combining Emotional Intelligence and Appreciative Inquiry Concepts In qualitative research, interviews are especially useful to uncover the story behind participants’ experiences because they seek to describe the meaning of central themes in the life world of the subjects.16 Appreciative inquiry, when used as a process of interview questioning, involves interviewing and storytelling “to draw out the best of the past, to understand what one wants more of, and to set the stage for effective visualization of the future.”17 Further, appreciative inquiry sets a positive, apprecia- tive tone when questioning participants rather than using a deficit analysis approach, which could invite distress when recalling a traumatic event such as a library disaster. Emotional intelligence and appreciative inquiry are both still relatively new con- cepts, dating back only two decades. Although rigorous research studies involving each approach are becoming increasingly plentiful in many disciplines, little research has been conducted that combines the two. One notable researcher who combined the two concepts conducted a qualitative phenomenological study using a research design that integrated the technique of appreciative inquiry with the topic of emotional intelligence to explore “the relationship between organization climate and emotional intelligence in identifying a ‘leaderful’ community college.”18 When considering the three key concepts of emotional intelligence (discovering the emotional reality, visualizing the ideal, and sustaining emotional intelligence) and appreciative inquiry’s 4-D cycle, a natural connection between the two constructs can be observed.19 For example, “discovery” is the first “D” of appreciative inquiry questioning and dovetails with the emotional intelligence concept of “discovering the emotional reality” of an individual or an organization. Another key concept of emotional intelligence is “visualizing the ideal,” which touches upon “dreaming” and envisioning what might be as well as “designing” and determining the ideal. The third key concept in emotional intelligence is “sustaining emotional intelligence,” which fits with the fourth D of appreciative inquiry, “destiny” and sustaining what will be based on empowerment, adjustment, and improvisation. The similarities between the three emotional intelligence key concepts and the ap- preciative inquiry 4-D cycle further supports the appropriateness of the questioning protocol used in this and other studies. Figure 1 depicts the concordance between emotional intelligence key concepts and appreciative inquiry questioning, suggesting a natural blending of the two concepts. Research Design and Methods This constructivist qualitative case study examined the relationship between emo- tional intelligence competencies and the personal attributes of academic library DRAT members who led their libraries to recover from a disaster. Two libraries were selected FIGURE 1 Concordance between Emotional Intelligence and Appreciative Inquiry Disc overing the Emotional Reality Visualizing the Ideal Sustaining Emotional Intelligence EI Key Concepts AI 4 -D Cycle Discovery (Appreciating) Dreaming (Envisioning) Design (Determining the Ideal) Destiny (Sustaining) 192 College & Research Libraries March 2015 for the study, with each sharing some similar characteristics but also exhibiting some significant differences. The two cases studied are examples of academic libraries at public research universities that had recovered from disasters: a flood at the University of Iowa Main Library in Iowa City, Iowa in 2008 and a fire at the University of New Mexico Zimmerman Library in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2006. These institutions were selected because floods and fires are among the most frequently reported disasters and, therefore, should be most relevant to the consumers of this research. Sampling Methods The population sampled consisted of members of the DRATs and other library employ- ees who participated in the disaster process from two of the libraries. The participants in the study were representative of the various roles and responsibilities assumed by disaster response assistance team members. Although there is no ideal number of individuals needed to participate in qualitative research, the study employed purpose- ful criterion sampling to select 27 individuals who volunteered to contribute to the research.20 Both individuals who were still employed at the library and those who left subsequent to the disaster (when they could be located) were invited to participate in the study. An appreciative inquiry 4-D questioning protocol, which employs a posi- tive approach and is based on postmodern constructivist theory that reality is socially constructed, was used to conduct semistructured open-ended individual interview questions framed around discovery, dreaming, designing, and destiny. Each of these four themes was explored with three questions, for a total of twelve questions (see Appendix for Interview and Focus Group Questions). Ten individuals were interviewed initially and participated in a follow-up interview a few days later. In preparation for their follow-up interviews, participants were asked to jot down ideas, feelings, and stories as they remembered them between the two interviews. They were also asked to bring any documents or artifacts that they felt were important to the follow-up interview. Each interview was digitally audiorecorded and transcribed. Each study participant had the opportunity to review and correct interview statements (member checking) before the final analysis to ensure accuracy of the transcripts. This process added trustworthiness to the study.21 Four focus group interviews, using the same questions, recording techniques, and transcription protocols as the individual interviews, were conducted with 17 total par- ticipants. An advantage to focus groups is that a group setting can make participants more willing to share their insights, and this interaction often leads to spontaneous reactions as well as memory triggers that might not occur during individual inter- views.22 Keeping the number of participants in each of the focus groups small (they ranged from three to six participants) was essential to ensure that each person had the opportunity to fully express opinions. Like individual interviewees, focus group participants were asked to provide any documents or artifacts from the disaster that they felt were important. Document analysis of related secondary data was conducted using snowball sampling, also known as chain referral sampling, beginning by reviewing known documents, archival records, and physical artifacts and adding new materials as their existence became known either from study participants or through references in the initial documents that were reviewed. Several hundred items were identified by the end of the study, including written material such as published articles and chapters about the library’s disaster, internal unpublished documents, memoranda, e-mail, agendas, and disaster plans as well as any available photographs, poems, drawings, and other ephemera such as a handmade book of remembrances, decorated hard hats, and a com- memorative quilt. The provenance of the documents was carefully checked to avoid Emotional Intelligence in Library Disaster Response Assistance Teams 193 incorrect data being included in the study. Documents, archives, and artifacts about the disaster and the process of responding to and recovering from it proved useful in providing a behind-the-scenes look at some aspects of the disaster that were forgotten or not mentioned by the interviewees and/or focus group participants. Both individual and focus group interviews took place during summer 2011. Member checking of the transcripts occurred during fall 2011. Document and artifact analysis was conducted during the summer and fall 2011 and winter 2011/2012. Data Analysis Methods Data analysis is one of the least developed aspects of the case study method.23 Since there is no prescribed approach for analyzing case study data, this study engaged two types of analysis to code the data gathered from the individual and focus group interview transcripts: emergent thematic coding (a constructivist approach) and predefined concept choice mapping of emotional intelligence competencies (a more positivist approach). Only emergent thematic coding was used when reviewing docu- ments and other materials, since the nature of the documents did not lend themselves to mapping emotional competencies. Data analysis took place during fall 2011 and winter 2011/2012. Thematic analysis is commonly used with many methodologies of qualitative re- search and serves to summarize issues emerging from the data.24 Emergent thematic coding is a general method for qualitative analysis of transcripts or other similar text data sources, using “…a process of segmentation, categorization, and relinking of aspects of the [data] prior to the final interpretation.” 25 The text from the transcripts was initially coded into meaning groupings using a block and file approach to keep fairly large chunks of data, representing a category, intact.26 To find these chunks, the data were scrutinized line by line, phrase by phrase, and by single words.27 Next, each data grouping was assigned a word or brief phrase to represent its category for ease in later tracking and organization. Some phrases included several themes and were coded accordingly. The second type of analysis applied to the data was a form of mapping similar to conceptual mapping, which uses either a few words or brief summaries of the issues that emerged in the study.28 In the mapping part of this analysis, a predefined con- cept choice system was employed, meaning coding was done only from a predefined set of emotional intelligence categories. To accomplish this part of the analysis, the categories and themes found in the data were mapped against Goleman’s model of emotional intelligence. The model uses a framework to define the construct of emo- tional intelligence, which he divides into four behavioral groups or domains with twenty emotional competencies. Table 1 depicts Goleman’s framework of emotional competencies. Summary of Findings Emergent Thematic Coding The themes that emerged from study participants’ stories and from the documents and artifacts tell a rich, complex story about the relationship between emotional intelligence competencies and personal attributes of the DRAT members. The overarching theme that emerged was one in which DRAT members created a culture of camaraderie, sharing responsibility to cope with the disaster, exemplified through five dominant emotional intelligence competencies: teamwork, communications, trust/trustworthi- ness, adaptability, and initiative. A more striking finding involved the realization that leadership during the disaster was largely carried out through teamwork and initiative, not predominantly emanating 194 College & Research Libraries March 2015 from a single, top leader. Even more unanticipated was the discovery that, although leadership was clearly exhibited by the traditional top leader(s) in these libraries, it was most often manifested through the initiative of other individuals on the DRAT or by the team as a whole. These DRAT members took responsibility for various aspects of the recovery process at different times, adapting and making quick decisions in the moment, as opposed to waiting for the dean or another senior administrator to make those decisions. The participants at both libraries, including the deans themselves, were adamant about the notion that leading the disaster could not be a top-down process, that leadership and communication was shared, and that everyone needed to leave their egos at the door, step up, and trust one another. Discovering a Tapestry of Themes The goal of this investigation was to understand the complex world of the individual’s lived experiences and behaviors from their point of view as well as the emergent themes revealed in the collective patterns of activity and emotions they experienced. To better achieve this goal, the interview and focus group questions were specifically crafted to engage people to think about themselves and their whole system in a positive framework.29 Each person interviewed, either individually or in a focus group, shared emotion-laden, informative, and interesting recounts of their experiences. Sometimes their stories were sad, sometimes humorous, and occasionally heroic; some were shared with passion and some with deep introspection, but they were always insightful and told with conviction. Each participant spoke not only from a somewhat different personal perspective, but from a different organizational perspective because each was responsible for a distinc- tive aspect of the process. As expected, there were differences in individual outlooks, perceptions, and emotions, but there were many more striking similarities than differ- ences, not just among the staff at the separate libraries, but across the two libraries—at times the words used and the feelings expressed by participants in the two settings were indistinguishable. Although a DRAT member’s role and the specific situation being shared in his or her story might differ, how the participants themselves were af- fected by the disaster and the emotional attributes they drew upon were quite similar. TABLE 1 Framework of Emotional Competencies Self (Personal Competence) Other (Social Competence) Recognition Self-Awareness • Emotional self-awareness • Accurate self-assessment • Self-confidence Social Awareness • Empathy • Service orientation • Organizational awareness Regulation Self-Management • Emotional self-control • Trustworthiness • Conscientiousness • Adaptability • Achievement drive • Initiative Relationship Management • Developing others • Influence • Communications • Conflict management • Visionary leadership • Catalyzing change • Building bonds • Teamwork and collaboration Source: The Emotionally Intelligent Workplace, ed., Cherniss and Goleman, 2001, 28. Emotional Intelligence in Library Disaster Response Assistance Teams 195 Further, the many documents and artifacts reviewed revealed strong themes of teamwork, communications, trust/trustworthiness, adaptability, and initiative. When interwoven, these stories, documents, and artifacts formed a rich, vivid tapestry depict- ing a culture of camaraderie that extended throughout the disaster process. During the crisis, people at both institutions exhibited this camaraderie by temporarily rising above their typical modes of behavior and self-interest to engage in extraordinary degrees of emotional intelligence not found at other times. One photograph in particular from the University of Iowa (UI) served as a highly evocative example of camaraderie, teamwork, and trust/trustworthiness. The photo showed a long line of very diverse individuals installing a sandbag wall to avert flood waters by the UI main library. These individuals were not just diverse in terms of gender, age, race, and/or ethnicity. Individuals in that line included campus faculty, staff, and students, community members, children, an Amish man, and someone in an orange jumpsuit, all cooperating with each other, standing together, passing sandbags hand-to-hand, stacking them, and seemingly performing this act without any prejudice or class distinction. The photograph spoke well of humanity, and it was one of the most hopeful and heartening photographs discovered regarding the UI flood. In a more formal setting, an interview participant at the UI Libraries observed, “So, as you are going through these things, you want, in one sense, to kind of cherish the moment because people were never more understanding of inconvenience than they are then…but I think you probably really can’t sustain that. I wish you could sustain that lack of complaining…and just that feeling of camaraderie…in the team.” A photograph taken at the University of New Mexico (UNM) depicted four disas- ter team members, two women and two men, all wearing hard hats with respirators covering the lower half of their faces. They were standing together, side by side, in the midst of the rubble in Zimmerman Library’s burned-out basement. In the background there were burned walls, floors, and ceilings as well as collapsed shelving due to the heat intensity of the fire. From what could be seen of their facial expressions, they were saddened by the enormity of the destruction but also determined and pleased to be doing the work to begin to restore the library even in such deplorable conditions. These people embodied the spirit of teamwork and exemplified the culture of camaraderie through the cooperation, collaboration, and trust in each other that they developed. This photograph powerfully demonstrates the cliché that “a picture is worth a thousand words,” starting with the word “camaraderie.” Why was this feeling of camaraderie so immediate and felt so strongly during the disaster recovery at UNM, and why does it fade as the months and years have passed? One focus group participant echoed this observation and mused that, “There is a certain camaraderie when people work together under stress. A bond forms and the trust piece is huge. It reminded me a little of how groups in the military work, the camaraderie and the trust was so strong then. It helped. I wish it could always be that way.” Some of the bonds formed within the DRAT teams at UI and UNM continued while some changed or were temporary. This phenomenon was discussed in various contexts and themes throughout participants’ interviews and focus group sessions at both institutions, often with a sense of regret that the camaraderie experienced during disaster response and recovery seems to be fleeting. During the disaster process, taken together, the many voices, documents, and artifacts speak strongly of this culture of camaraderie. This phenomenon can be seen as both an overarching theme that runs through every facet of the disaster response and recovery process as well as a theme that serves as the underpinning that supports all the activities, thoughts, competencies, and emotions of the disaster team members. 196 College & Research Libraries March 2015 Emergent Emotional Intelligence Competencies Teamwork The theme of teamwork, which can be described as a cooperative or coordinated effort on the part of a group of persons acting together as a team or in the interests of a com- mon cause, was by far the most common and arguably the most powerful theme that emerged in the interviews and focus groups as well as in the documents and artifacts at both institutions. Teamwork was mentioned 29 times by 10 participants from the UI Libraries and 46 times by 17 participants at the UNM Libraries, for a total of 75 times. Listening to the voices of the participants, it became clear that team leadership was supported and nurtured by the libraries’ top administrators at both institutions. As one participant at the UI Libraries noted, “So, I would say just teamwork in general from the library staff and you’d have to get that from the top, the dean and the folks around her.” A disaster team member from the UNM Libraries agreed, saying, “The Interim dean and the associate dean did not try to impose their leadership on the team. Sure they made decisions, especially big ones, but it was clear that they trusted everyone on the DRAT to make decisions, too.” An interview participant at the UI Libraries expanded on the concept of shared leadership during the disaster response and especially during its recovery by disclos- ing a story about the fluidity of leadership across the team. She said, “Well, I worked with several different teams because there were different structures. Everyone was willing to take their part and not worry about who was leading and who wasn’t.” Another focus group participant from that institution added, “But it was important for the usual leaders…to just show up and work together to do whatever was needed… Leadership might shift around in the team and that just happened.” While yet another focus group participant said, “It was one of those situations where everything is even on the team, we didn’t have to turn to a manager for every decision, and so there was nothing holding people back.” Focus group participants at the UNM Libraries agreed. One stated that “… there was not a lot of hierarchy in the team, it really was a team and worked that way.” Another team member noted, “We were able to make decisions just between us and with no disagreements. We all led things at different times as part of the team.” Yet another focus group member observed, “The team was formed and worked with equality, where everybody had equal authority within some parameters. It was more like who to go to for information than a strict hierarchy where you had to get permission. We knew what to do and just got on it.” Participants at both libraries shared a strong belief that disaster team members must “leave their egos at the door” to achieve their common goal. One interviewee at the UI Libraries summed this sentiment up well by emphatically stating, “There is absolutely no place for egos in a team with such an important goal. Park your ego at the door when you enter or don’t come at all!” Interviewees at the UNM Libraries continued the theme. One person said: “I think everyone checked their egos at the door on most days, and it was just, ‘all right, the team’s got to move eight thousand boxes of books today’…let’s get it done.” Person after person at both institutions spoke at length about the disaster team working together in a spirit of cooperation, collaboration, and closeness. These factors were echoed throughout the documents and artifacts and consequentially emerged as the essence of teamwork. Communications The theme of communications, which can be described as the imparting, transmitting, or interchange of thoughts; or information, views, or opinions by speech, writing, or Emotional Intelligence in Library Disaster Response Assistance Teams 197 signs, emerged as a common theme in the interviews and focus groups as well as in the documents and artifacts at both the UI Libraries and the UNM Libraries. Com- munications was mentioned 17 times by 10 participants from the UI Libraries and 32 times by 17 participants at the UNM Libraries, for a total of 49 times. Communication during disasters takes many forms and emerged in multiple ways. One very powerful concept surrounding communications is “turf.” Two participants, one for each university, spoke about turf issues in the context of communicating. An interview participant from the UI Libraries observed, “I think it’s in a catastrophe that people realize they have to let go of their turf battles. Everybody knows that you need to improve communications…[and] know who’s doing what…and sort of being less turfy.” A focus group member from the UNM Libraries, thinking along the same lines, asserted this: “Don’t even think about bringing your big ego to work. It’s not about you in a disaster, it’s about everybody. Your turf burned up in the fire, so forget about it and share what you know, communicate well, and just be a real team player.” Participants also spoke of the importance and urgency of communications dur- ing disasters from the top leaders at the two institutions, sharing the responsibility to communicate during this challenging time, and innovative ways to communicate during disasters as well as about successful communications, communication as an ideal attribute during disasters, positive change in the library, and the impact of com- munication as a disaster team quality. A focus group member from the UI Libraries also spoke about the special need for communications immediately after the disaster, saying, “As we were waiting for information, we just didn’t know, so the communication was so important to us. And it was there.” Even later, during the recovery process, communicating updates to employees remains crucial. One focus group member from the UNM Libraries talked of the ongoing need for regular information when observing, “It’s really important to communicate with people and tell them what is going on. They need information… If you told them what you knew and just communicated they would just calm down and be less stressed and work.” The documents reviewed at both the UI Libraries and the UNM Libraries supported the assertion that these libraries communicated often, sometimes in innovative ways, and did a good job of communicating. Trust/Trustworthiness The concept of trust/trustworthiness, which can be described as a reliance on or con- fidence in the integrity, strength, ability, or surety of a person or thing, was another common theme in the tapestry of themes that emerged in the interviews and focus groups at both the UI Libraries and the UNM Libraries as well as in some documents at the UNM Libraries. Trust/trustworthiness was mentioned 16 times by 10 partici- pants from the UI Libraries and 31 times by 17 participants at the UNM Libraries, for a total of 47 times. Some library administrators on the disaster team spoke about trusting and empower- ing others, while other team members commented on feeling trusted and empowered by top administrators as well as being trustworthy and trusting themselves and their colleagues. Still other participants commented on trusting in their colleagues’ knowl- edge when responding to and recovering from the disaster. Several top library administrators commented on the trust that they placed in the disaster team members who responded to the disaster and empowered them to take action. These concepts of trust and empowerment also emerged when participants discussed initiative. One interview participant at the UI Libraries commented, “The attribute that I was drawing on then was empowering people to take charge in their 198 College & Research Libraries March 2015 areas. In any disaster plan, you try to get it set up, but you have to trust the people to do things at the time because you can’t do it all yourself.” A different interviewee there echoed that sentiment: “Another attribute is trust. I really trusted these folks. I honestly did.” An interviewee at the UNM Libraries said, “I wanted to [en]sure that the DRAT knew they had my full trust and faith. They were empowered to do what was needed in the moment…I felt they were trustworthy.” A UNM interview partici- pant commented on being trusted to make decisions: “…all the library administrators gave us the latitude to make those decisions on the spot and trust our judgment…we were trusted to make the decisions and it made an onerous job easier to do. We were never second guessed or questioned about why we did this or that…And that was really helpful.” An interview participant at the UI Libraries ardently stated, “This situation certainly reminded me that sometimes you can discover new talents in your own staff if you are open and trusting. Just because you have never seen it, maybe it was your expec- tations of them, not their abilities.” An interview participant from UNM said, “Don’t let your ego get the better of you and make it a contest. Just trust that the person is in that job because th[ey] actually know something and may even know more about a thing than you do.” Having trust in the knowledge of colleagues was specifically mentioned in docu- ments, such as e-mails, between disaster team members. In one e-mail, a disaster team member at UNM wrote, “I’ll trust your judgment on this one since that is your area of expertise.” Adaptability The concept of adaptability (used by study participants synonymously with flex- ibility), which can be described as comfortable with risk and uncertainty, responsive to change, or susceptible to modification or adaptation, as well as being open to new information and letting go of old assumptions, emerged as another common theme in the interviews and focus groups as well as in documents at both UI and UNM. Adapt- ability was mentioned 14 times by 10 participants from the UI Libraries and 22 times by 17 participants at the UNM Libraries, for a total of 36 times. Participants’ stories made it clear that, no matter how well prepared disaster team members thought they were—regardless of the plan they developed or how many times they rehearsed possible disaster scenarios—team members would need to adapt their actions, views, and even their emotions throughout the emergency response and disaster recovery stages, sometimes minute by minute. As with other themes that emerged, adaptability was also modeled from the top. A focus group participant from the UI Libraries observed, “You need to be flexible to start with, play it by ear, and just work together. That needs to be exemplified from the top.” An interview participant at the UNM Libraries mirrored this opinion about top administrators setting a flexible tone stating, “Well the interim dean and the as- sociate dean were so flexible and just went with it, it helped me and us all to stay calm and focused and even be more flexible than we normally might be. That was good.” Adaptability was an important theme that was employed not only by administra- tors, but at all levels of the organization during the disaster and was pervasive among members of the disaster team. As one interviewee from UNM observed when asked what team qualities had the most impact, “Probably just the ability of everyone, espe- cially the disaster team, to be flexible and help others to be by their example.” Many interviewees talked about drawing on their personal ability to adapt—some- times hour by hour—during the disaster, about adaptability emerging for some mem- bers during the disaster as a new attribute, and about how successful this attribute Emotional Intelligence in Library Disaster Response Assistance Teams 199 was for them and for the DRAT as a whole. An interview participant from UI spoke of adaptability as a new, helpful personal attribute that emerged during the disaster, commenting, “I was able to adjust and adapt and work with totally new people and new problems.” Another interviewee there concurred, saying, “It was a different envi- ronment and I just think that my flexibility or ability to adapt in those situations was key.” An interviewee from UNM also spoke about adaptability being a new attribute that emerged, observing, “I don’t know if I mentioned…greater ability to adapt and shift roads and shift approaches with the methods in handling differen[t] audiences, dealing with the faculty vs. dealing with potential donors.” Participants from the two libraries considered adaptability/flexibility to be an ideal attribute, one that had real impact in the response and recovery process, and an at- tribute that would be important if another disaster struck their libraries in the future. They agreed that the theme of adaptability should continue after recovering from the disaster and that it should be incorporated more deeply into the library’s organizational culture and into the leadership philosophy. Several of the documents located at both IU and UNM pointed to adaptability and flexibility being a very important disaster team attribute. Numerous references to adaptability were found in the UI archives, in a blog, and in the June 14, 2008 You- Tube video Volunteers evacuate books from University of Iowa library. Documents from UNM also revealed evidence of adaptability. One e-mail from a UNM disaster team member to another contained a message about adaptability, saying, “I know things keep changing and it is frustrating, but we all just have to try to stay flexible about it and go with the flow. That’s what will get us through.” Another team member sent an e-mail confiding “…we all just have to adapt to survive all this and remember that we are in it together.” Initiative The concept of initiative, which can be described as the readiness and ability to initi- ate action, one’s personal, responsible decision to act on one’s own initiative, or an introductory act or step in leading action, emerged as another part of the tapestry of themes. As participants spoke about their experiences, the concept of empowerment and autonomy—either formally given or self-assumed—to make decisions and make them quickly was prominent when participants spoke about initiative. These two associated initiative themes—stepping up and doing it now—were discussed by participants at both institutions, in various contexts. Initiative was mentioned 10 times by 10 partici- pants from the UI Libraries and 22 times by 17 participants at the UNM Libraries, for a total of 32 times. Initiative was also found in some documents at the UNM Libraries. DRAT members told many stories about “stepping up and taking initiative” during the disaster response and recovery stages. Participants felt supported and empowered by their libraries’ top administrators to make decisions. Some of these participants la- ment that decision making was different and more direct during disaster response and has returned to a more traditional top-down process after the recovery was complete. An interviewee from the UI Libraries commented, “I wasn’t really sure what to do, but something had to be done at that point and I believed that it would be OK with the dean, so I just did it.” Another person said, “I felt empowered by the dean and others to make decisions without having to consult about every little detail.” A focus group member there added, “There was no hierarchy imposed, so we all took the lead on things when we needed to. Our initiative was stronger then because we felt it was OK.” An interview participant from the UNM Libraries said, “We somehow knew that it was OK to take initiative and assume some reasonable authority to do what needed to be done…We all felt trusted and we could be so creative and I remember so many 200 College & Research Libraries March 2015 times just taking the initiative to step in and take care of something…I guess that is just the way things go in crisis….” Participants not only shared stories and opinions about showing personal and team initiative, they spoke about taking action and making decisions quickly. They made it clear that during a disaster there is no “business as usual.” They also contrasted the speed at which action is taken and decisions are embraced during a disaster as opposed to the more traditional, slower, perhaps more methodical decision-making methods typically practiced outside disaster situations. Some participants wished that the way decisions were made during the disaster could become the norm. An interview participant at the UI Libraries noted, “People did not hesitate if they had to make a decision on the spot. That trust was there to do it.” A focus group mem- ber from UNM Libraries also spoke about quick decision making, observing, “…you have to give people the permission and authority make decisions on the spot because there is not time to wait for a meeting next week.” Although initiative was clearly evident in the interviews, several e-mail exchanges also exemplified initiative. One e-mail from a UNM DRAT stated, “…we really need to move on this and I can’t find [name deleted] to get authorization, so let’s just plan to meet at 3:30 and get a start on it.” In addition, several library employees at UNM took the initiative to nurture the healing process of fellow library employees through the creation of The Zimmerman fire: (re)collections commemorative book, which included interviews with, and artwork, photographs, poems, and humor submitted by, library employees. Another unique contribution, spearheaded by a library employee, was the construction of a quilt with each square made by different library employees represent- ing something about their fire recovery experience. Predefined Concept Choice Mapping The five major competencies—teamwork, communications, trust/trustworthiness, adaptability, and initiative—that were revealed as being most dominant in the emergent thematic coding analysis also emerged as the most frequently mentioned competencies in the predefined concept choice mapping analysis. In addition to these five emotional intelligence competencies, all twenty competencies were mentioned in the transcripts. The five major themes fall into two of Goleman’s four emotional intelligence behav- ioral groups or domains: teamwork and communications, which are included in the relationship management behavioral domain; and the remaining three themes—trust/ trustworthiness, adaptability, and initiative—which are included in the self-manage- ment domain. These five major themes were found in the transcribed interviews and focus groups a total of 239 times. Further, nearly all of the related and intertwined concepts discussed by the partici- pants are also emotional intelligence competencies. As expected in naturalistic inquiry, in some cases the exact word or words for a competency do not map verbatim. For example, a participant may not have said, “I engaged in accurate self-assessment”; instead, the respondent may have said, “I always thought that I would do [something] in a disaster, and I did.” In these cases, the judgment of the researcher was used to map the meaning of the response. Lofland and Lofland support this process, describ- ing “unarticulated meanings” as meanings that go unrecognized by respondents and are instead articulated by the researcher through the use of typifications that point to the same general theme (competency in this case) despite the variety of details.30 Emotional intelligence competencies were mentioned 152 times by the four inter- view participants and the six focus group participants at UI and 249 times by the six interview participants and eleven focus group participants at UNM, for a total of 401 times by the participants at both institutions. Emotional Intelligence in Library Disaster Response Assistance Teams 201 Table 2 shows how often each emotional intelligence competency was mentioned by the participants at the two institutions during either their initial one-on-one interviews, during their follow-up interviews, or during the focus groups. Emotional Intelligence Competencies and Domains Findings from this qualitative study revealed that DRAT members shared the re- sponsibility to recover from disasters using five dominant emotional intelligence competencies clustered in two of the four domains: teamwork and communication in the relationship management domain and trust/trustworthiness, adaptability, and initiative in the self-management domain. A previous study conducted by Hernon and Rossiter that looked at emotional intelligence competencies or traits (the terms are often used interchangeably in the literature) of library directors used Goleman’s original five domain model; therefore, those findings are not directly comparable with this study. A later study conducted by Kreitz used Goleman’s revised four-domain model but expanded the number of traits in each domain. Because of this expansion, the traits used in TABLE 2 Map of Emotional Intelligence Competencies from Interviews and Focus Groups Domain: Self-Awareness Competency: • Emotional self-awareness • Accurate self-awareness • Self-confidence UI UNM Total 3 4 7 2 4 6 5 6 11 Domain: Self-Management Competency: • Emotional self-control • Trustworthiness • Conscientiousness • Adaptability • Achievement drive • Initiative 6 8 14 16 31 47 5 8 13 14 22 36 4 7 11 10 22 32 Domain: Social Awareness Competency: • Empathy • Service orientation • Organizational awareness 5 8 13 5 7 12 5 3 8 Domain: Relationship Management Competency: • Developing others • Influence • Communications • Conflict management • Visionary leadership • Catalyzing change • Building bonds • Teamwork and collaboration 3 6 9 3 2 5 17 32 49 4 7 11 6 9 15 4 8 12 6 9 15 29 46 75 Grand total: 152 249 401 202 College & Research Libraries March 2015 Kreitz’s study are not directly comparable with this study; however, the domains can be compared. Kreitz found that the top-ranked emotional intelligence traits for “library directors” were grouped in the self-awareness and relationship management domains, while the top-ranked emotional intelligence traits for “senior management team members” and the “most important shared ideal leadership traits” were found in the self-awareness, social-awareness, and relationship management domains. The relationship manage- ment domain is the only top-ranked domain shared by leaders in all groups in Kreitz’s study as well as by DRAT members in this study. Kreitz posits that the reason for these differences in her study may be due to the fact that “different competencies are needed by individuals in each role, reflecting the primary tasks of that role.”31 Conclusion and Next Steps This research study sought to determine if a relationship between emotional intelligence competencies and personal attributes of academic library DRAT members exists. The study suggested that there is indeed a strong relationship between emotional intelli- gence competencies and DRAT member attributes; all twenty of Goleman’s emotional intelligence competencies, in all four domains, emerged in the transcripts of interview and focus group participants from the two university libraries in the study, with five competencies—teamwork, communications, trust/trustworthiness, adaptability, and initiative—being found most often. The study findings contribute to the existing body of knowledge about emo- tional intelligence in the workplace in general and in library disaster recovery in particular. The discoveries are a first step to raise awareness about the importance of emotional intelligence competencies, and they translate into suggestions for prac- tice in academic libraries. Library directors must appoint effective DRAT members who possess the right emotional intelligence competencies to effectively manage different aspects of the disaster response and recovery process. The results of the study will inform and aid library leaders as they select and appoint employees to serve on disaster teams. In addition, this research demonstrates the need for library leaders to support and reward teamwork and collaboration, initiative, and effective communications during disasters as well as to encourage development of an organizational culture that pro- motes trust and is nimble enough to adapt to change as a normal expected condition. Study outcomes lend credence to the need for library leaders to provide training op- portunities for individuals to learn or enhance emotional intelligence competencies as well as to practice them. Although a hallmark of qualitative research is that its findings cannot be generalized to other settings or situations, common sense indicates that the emotional intelligence competencies found to be important for disaster team members in this study may also be important to library employees in general and especially in times of crisis or stress not due to a disaster. For example, research might be conducted to determine what emotional intelligence competencies are most important during change management, especially if the change is rapid, forced, or undesirable to many employees. This change might include a reorganization, layoffs, building renovation/remodeling projects, violence in the library, and so forth. Further, the research points to new lines of quantitative and qualitative inquiry and raises many intriguing questions that have yet to find answers. For example, ad- ditional research should be conducted to determine why the emotional intelligence domain of relationship management is the only domain that is universally important to leaders in various groups, including library directors, senior management team Emotional Intelligence in Library Disaster Response Assistance Teams 203 members, and DRAT members. Research might also be conducted to identify what emotional intelligence competencies and/or domains are most important to other management levels, such as department heads and coordinators, and to other types of teams. Possibilities for future research are many and limited only by the creativity and imagination of the researcher. Appendix: Interview and Focus Group Questions Think back through your experience as you responded to and later as you helped to lead your library’s recovery from the [flood or fire]. 1. Tell me about a time during the disaster process when you felt most effective, in- novative, and/or engaged. a. What personal qualities and attributes did you draw upon? b. What new attributes emerged? c. Which were most successful? 2. Tell me about a time when the disaster team was functioning at its best. a. What team member attributes and competencies do you recall? b Which were most successful? c. What impact did they have? 3. Remembering the lessons learned about what worked well in the past, consider what would happen if another disaster struck your library in the future. a. What hopes and wishes do you have for a successful disaster response and recovery process? b. What would be happening if the disaster team was at its best? c. What ideal attributes and competencies would be evident? 4. Imagine that it is five years from today. You look around and see evidence of a suc- cessful disaster recovery and a thriving library. a. What is being said about how the positive change is being sustained to give vitality and life to the library? b. What qualities do you possess that contributed to the library’s postdisaster success and overall health? c. What team qualities and attributes had the most impact? Notes 1. “Heritage Health Index” (Heritage Preservation, March 2006), available online at www. heritagepreservation.org/hhi/execsummary.html [accessed 14 February 2012]. 2. Frances C. Wilkinson, Linda K. Lewis, and Nancy K. Dennis, Comprehensive Guide to Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Recovery (Chicago, Ill.: Association of College and Research Libraries, 2010), xi. 3. Emergency Response Planning in College Libraries: CLIP Note #40, ed. Marcia Thomas (Chicago, Ill.: American Library Association, 2009), 7. 4. Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ (New York: Bantam Books, 1995). 5. Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, and Annie McKee, Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2002), 5. 6. Daniel Goleman, Working with Emotional Intelligence (New York: Bantam Books, 1998), 26–27. 7. Daniel Goleman, “An EI-Based Theory of Performance,” in The Emotionally Intelligent 204 College & Research Libraries March 2015 Workplace, eds. Cary Cherniss and Daniel Goleman (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2001), 28. 8. Adrian Furnham, “The Importance and Training of Emotional Intelligence at Work,” in Assessing Emotional Intelligence: Theory, Research, and Applications, eds. Con Stough, Donald H. Saklofske, and James D.A. Parker (New York: Springer, 2009), 137–56. 9. Chris Dulewicz, Mike Young, and Victor Dulewicz, “The Relevance of Emotional Intel- ligence for Leadership Performance,” Journal of General Management 30 (2005): 71–86. 10. Appreciative Inquiry Handbook: The First in a Series of AI Workbooks for Leaders of Change, eds. David L. Cooperrider, Diana Whitney, and Jaqueline M. Stavros (Brunswick, Ohio: Crown Custom Publishing and San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2003), 85–175. 11. Academic Librarians as Emotionally Intelligent Leaders, eds. Peter Hernon, Joan Giesecke, and Camila A. Alire (Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited, 2007); Peter Hernon and Nancy Rossiter, “Emotional Intelligence: Which Traits Are Most Prized?” College & Research Libraries 67 (2006), 260–75; Patricia A. Kreitz, “Leadership and Emotional Intelligence: A Study of University Library Directors and Their Senior Management Teams,” College & Research Libraries 70 (2009), 531–54. 12. Hernon et al., Academic Librarians as Emotionally Intelligent Leaders. 13. Hernon and Rossiter, “Emotional Intelligence: Which Traits Are Most Prized?” 260–61. 14. Kreitz, “Leadership and Emotional Intelligence.” 15. Ibid, 547. 16. Steinar Kvale, InterViews: An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing (Thousand Oakes, Calif.: Sage, 1996), 30. 17. Cooperrider et al., Appreciative Inquiry Handbook, 4. 18. Debra Marie Yoder, “Organizational Climate and Emotional Intelligence: An Appreciative Inquiry Into a ‘Leaderful’ Community College,” Community College Journal of Research and Practice 29 (2004): 47. 19. Goleman et al., Primal Leadership, 218–22; Appreciative Inquiry Handbook: For Leaders of Change, eds. David L. Cooperrider, Diana Whitney, and Jaqueline M. Stavros (Brunswick, Ohio: Crown Custom Publishing and San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2008), 103–99. 20. Michael Quinn Patton, Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods (Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage, 2001), 12. 21. Yvonna S. Lincoln, “Emerging Criteria for Quality in Qualitative and Interpretive Research,” Qualitative Inquiry 1 (1995): 275–89, doi: 10.1177/107780049500100301. 22. Kvale, InterViews: An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing, 101. 23. Robert K. Yin, Case Study Research: Design and Methods (Newberry Park, Calif.: Sage, 2002), 109. 24. Carol Grbich, Qualitative Data Analysis: An Introduction (Los Angeles, Calif.: Sage Publica- tions, 2007), 16. 25. Ibid, 16. 26. Ibid, 32–34. 27. Amanda Jane Coffey and Paul Anthony Atkinson, Making Sense of Qualitative Data (Thou- sand Oakes, Calif.: Sage, 1996), 26. 28. Grbich, Qualitative Data Analysis, 33–35. 29. Marvin Faure, “Problem Solving Was Never This Easy: Transformational Change Through Appreciative Inquiry,” Performance Improvement 45 (2006): 22–31, 48. doi: 10.1002/pfi.4930450917. 30. John Lofland and Lyn H. Lofland, Analyzing Social Settings: A Guide to Qualitative Observa- tion and Analysis (Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 1995). 31. Kreitz, “Leadership and Emotional Intelligence,” 544.