It’s been a minute since I put pen to paper. Here is why.
Every person experiences burnout. Whether it’s in a professional or corporate setting, a mother or father raising children at home, content creators who are passionate about what they create, or even workout junkies who hit the gym every day. Over time, the work becomes too much, and we shut down.
Burnout is the physical, emotional or mental exhaustion, accompanied by decreased motivation, lowered performance and negative attitudes towards oneself and others. Burnout often occurs for various reasons, and it depends on the person and work involved. Reasons for burnout can include: poor work/life balance, having an overwhelming workload, negative work environment, and unreasonable expectations. For librarians, burnout is a looming factor in our day-to-day lives, and I believe the number one cause of burnout in this field is the unreasonable expectations.
There is a term in librarianship called: vocational awe. Vocational awe refers to a set of beliefs and assumptions librarians have about the profession of librarianship and libraries themselves: that they are institutions without fault and inherently good and sacred. When a field is labeled as a “vocation” or “sacred” it is immediately viewed as something that deserves the utmost obedience and is beyond reproach. The first libraries in human history were in monasteries and churches, solidifying the belief that these places of refuge were sacred and all-knowing. Even today, librarians will refer to librarianship as a “calling”. This denotes a sense of “God-given” knowledge or sense of purpose. The libraries themselves are seen as the quiet, sacred place where you can seek knowledge and the answers to all of life’s questions.
This is a lot of pressure, and it’s perfectly false.
Librarians and libraries can be corrupt. They can do harm and wrong, whether knowingly or unknowingly. AND, this belief that librarians are gatekeepers to all knowledge, sent to educate and enlighten mankind, and, in today’s world, the protectors of democracy itself, only negatively affects librarians lives and their quality of work. Through burnout.
I recently felt this hard. The pressure to know all the books, to help every child, to be familiar with every aspect of librarianship (programming, collection development, outreach, data entry, coding, reference, makerspaces, etc.), to promote social justice, to protect democracy… it all became too much.
Although society values our profession: most individuals do not understand the inner-workings of the institution at large. Most do not know librarians need a Master’s Degree to land a job, resulting in more school and potential student loans for many. Most do not know we balance and navigate a wide range of tasks, and the “job creep”, the slow and subtle expansion of job duties, occurs rampant without any compensation on our end. For example, many librarians are now trained to manage and work automated external defibrillators (AED), a contention among many who believe we are not obligated to perform medication intervention, nor paid for this type of work. Finally, most people do not understand how grossly underpaid librarians are. Although librarians are here to save the world… we are not properly compensated for it.
This is a highly sensitive subject to some librarians, and one that is not easily voiced. The sense of duty to this noble cause of being a librarian, makes us feel like we do not have the right to voice our problems. The vocational awe prohibits us from feeling under-paid or disenfranchised.
‘One should not go into librarianship for the money’ should not be the explanation for low compensation to those who wish to join this field. If “libraries provide the essential function of creating an educated, enlightened populace, which in turn brings about a better society,” our society should value those who work to do this. A librarian is a unique job and a skilled professional. One that will vanish over-time if nothing happens.
We need to change the myth that librarians are here to “serve a higher purpose”. Through vocational stigma that express “sacrifice and struggle”, librarianship sustains itself through the work of librarians who only reap the commercial benefits of having “done good work” or service. Whether we make librarianship easily accessible through certification or years worked rather than the tens of thousands of dollars needed for a Master’s Degree, or we pay librarians the amount of money that fellow professors and educators receive, who have the same qualifications and skills, librarianship needs to be viewed as a legitimate profession in the 21st century, that employs people who live in the money-oriented, 21st century world. You cannot survive on passion alone.
I came out of my burnout feeling a bit angry and dispassionate. I love being a librarian. I love promoting education, social issues, and the idea that reading can solve many of society's issues. However, I felt taken advantage of. I felt like society did not value me, the worker. I deserve to be properly compensated for my work, skills, and knowledge of librarianship and early childhood education. It starts with librarians themselves, advocating for librarianship as a profession rather than a calling.
My Mother used to tell me as a child (and she still reminds me of it today): too much of one thing is not good for you. That includes our work. At the end of the day, I set boundaries for myself. If I start to become overwhelmed with my work or the obligations of being a librarian, I take a step back. I do things for me.
At the end of the day, shouldn’t our society value the lives of those who are here to “enlighten” and protect the rights of everyone else?
Vocational Awe and Librarianship: The Lies We Tell Ourselves
Comments