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The Library & Information Science Professional's Career Development Center |
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How to Enjoy Being
an MLS: a Master of Library Stress |
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By the very nature of our profession, librarianship predisposes us to be constantly engaged in a precarious juggling act. Balancing a multitude of tasks - including answering ringing telephones, proliferating e-mails, and patron reference questions; planning, conducting and evaluating library programs/services; and conducting bibliographic instruction - can be hectic, to say the least. On top of this, add reports, statistics, acquisitions, cataloging, collection development and fundraising …you can easily find yourself feeling overcome by it all. Whatever your position in the library, whether you are working full-time or part-time, whether your library is big or small, everyone has to deal with stress and stressful situations. ADDITIONAL STRESS FACTORS At one time or another, we’ve all felt the pinch of staff shortages, the horror of being held responsible for tasks for which we lack experience and training, the strain of having to work miracles with a small budget, and the sting of having to surviving on a pittance of a salary. There are also many librarians who suffer from “technostress,” feeling the pressures of having to keep up with all of the new technology associated with our profession . Stress abounds when we are called upon to help without possessing the technological knowledge to perform the task. These fears of letting the patron down and making our library look bad increase our stress levels. ANALYZE THIS Never fear! If you are among the many who find yourself frazzled by stress, making a few life adjustments will go a long way toward not only lessening stress but also managing it. First of all, you need to take stock of what is stressing you out. Are you a perfectionist? Are you being asked to do the job of three people? Do you create your own stress? Does your work environment promote stress? When you are pushed too hard, any change can be a source of stress. Examine patterns in your life and to see if you are prone to over-commitment. Do you try to be everything to everyone by taking on too many responsibilities in the areas of library association work, clubs, meetings, and volunteering? STEPPING STONES ON THE PATH OF RECOVERY: SUCCESSFUL COPING Coping involves reconfiguring your life landscape. Take the time to downsize. Rearrange your priorities, tasks and activities. Use any combination of the strategies described below to create more balance and less stress in your life. MENTORING Making use of mentors is a giant step towards becoming a happy, stress-free librarian. Mentoring in the library field can come in many forms. Finding a mentor is easiest when your library already has a mentoring system in place. Having a colleague as a mentor will help you find answers in a very low-key, informal manner. Look to your local, state, and national library associations as well; many of these organizations have mentoring programs. Everyone can feel their stress dissipate when they find solutions to their work-related problems. ASKING FOR ADVICE If you work as a librarian long enough, chances are you will run across unfamiliar situations that you are not sure how to handle. Try posting your question on library-related listservs. You can receive responses from people of varying backgrounds and environments, which can give you more opinions and options. The sharing of information and stories among colleagues is a great way to make a stressed librarian feel like he or she is not alone. There is help out there; you don’t need to recreate the wheel to complete your task or tackle your source of stress. CREATING A NETWORK Learn when and how to delegate. It’s important to recognize what you have to do yourself and what you can allow others to do. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. Perhaps you can partner with someone or form a team to accomplish some tasks. Through sharing, your workload and stress load can be lightened. PRIORITIZING AND BEING SELECTIVE Being stressed will affect your job performance and your quality of life. Learn the power of prioritizing and being selective in your commitments. Learn to say NO and you will be one step ahead of the pack. No matter how much we love our work or want to stay on top of the growing paper piles on our desk, it is not healthy to spend all of our free time doing work, thinking about work, or worrying about work. MAKING HEALTHY LIFESTYLE CHOICES Engaging in healthy habits such as eating well, getting enough sleep, and exercising help form a solid base upon which to build stress-busting habits. Stress is dissipated when you do something that stimulates the mind or the body in an activity that is completely separate from work. By taking your mind off of work, you will be able to relax, your body will be less tense, and come the next workday, you will find yourself renewed, rested and ready once more to face the daily challenges of our profession. CONCLUSION All stress is not bad; the outcomes depend upon how you handle it. Stress is the pressure that chisels away at our feeling of well-being and, if left unchecked, at our health. The key to successful stress-busting is learning how to control our response to stressful situations and how to handle our jobs without letting the pressure escalate and overwhelm us. Information sharing and mentoring is a great avenue for seeking help when we come across a stumbling block, big or small. Limiting ones’ association and committee work to make sure that both our work time and free time will not be taken over by these commitments can be difficult, especially for someone dedicated to their profession. The solution is to learn how to say NO when you already have a full plate. Finally, remember to use some of your free time to exercise and relax. By dedicating time to rejuvenating your body and mind, recovery from the rigors of work are possible. If you do nothing else but follow these simple tips, you will attain the mastery of library stress. RELATED RESOURCES Caputo, Janette S. Stress and Burnout in Library Service. Phoenix, AZ: Oryz Press, 1991. Harrison, Lucy. “Stress Relief: Help for the Technophobic Patron from the Reference Desk”. The Reference Librarian, No. 69/70, 2000: 31-47. Nawe, Julita. “Work-related stress among the library and information workforce”. Library Review, Vol. 4 44, Issue 6, 1995: 30-37. Reinhold, Barbara. Toxic Work: Overcoming Stress, Overload, and Burnout and Revitalizing Your Career NY: Dutton, 1996. The Librarians Baird lead an extremely active and fast-paced life, both in and out of librarianship. Tim Baird, an Adult Services Librarian at the White Plains Public Library, is involved with many New York Library Association ventures, and enjoys playing bridge, tennis and golf. Zahra M. Baird, a Children’s Librarian at the Chappaqua Library, is heavily involved in the work of both the New York Library Association and the Westchester Library Association, enjoys watching movies, weight training and reading ravenously. The Librarians Baird are working on a book about stress and librarianship which will be published by Scarecrow Press. Article published December 2004 Disclaimer: The ideas expressed in LIScareer articles are those of their respective authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the LIScareer editors.
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Page last updated
10/03/2005
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