Humor in the academic library classroom: A synthesis of scholarship & new implications for librarians

While humor's use in the higher education classroom has been widely studied, research on the use, implications, and impact of humor rarely include instruction librarians. In addition to the already subjective nature of humor, factors such as gender and library anxiety complicate the ways in which students might perceive a librarian's humor. Accordingly, opportunities for further research on librarians' use of humor are abundant. By synthesizing and contextualizing existing instructional humor research, this article seeks to highlight research opportunities on the use of humor among instruction librarians.