In lean academic library environments, role creep often produces overload, diluted authority, and blurred accountability—particularly in e-resources and serials work. This poster applies job crafting theory to Metadata & Collections practice, positioning it as a self-directed strategy for counteracting role displacement and restoring delegated authority. By comparing an original job description with current responsibilities and quantifying work through a time audit, the poster demonstrates how intentional adjustments to tasks, relationships, and cognitive framing restored role clarity. Outcomes included clearer documentation of continuing resource obligations, reduced duplication of effort, and improved supervisor clarity. The poster also explores the psychological dimension of role drift: when professionals are distanced from the work that defines their expertise and the rationale for evolving expectations is not clearly articulated, alignment between role and professional purpose can weaken. The poster argues that sustainable job crafting requires both individual agency and explicit leadership support and offers a transferable framework for technical services practitioners navigating role expansion and authority diffusion.
