Is the Information Profession a stressful profession?
Changes, changes, changes. This is what our profession had to offer us last year. Or, at least, what it seemed like to someone that was dealing with a move, a change of job and a change in practice. Some people might think that being a librarian is one of the least stressful jobs (if you are a librarian, have a look at this article, or at this one, or even at this). Some of them are just opinions, some of them are somewhat scientifically accurate (sic), still, it is commonplace to hear here and there: oh, you are a librarian? It must be a nice job, reading books all day! Well, we are librarians and trust us, we do not always read the books we deal with (yes, we mean it). We work in front of a PC like many others, we deal with spreadsheets, we make loads of phone calls, we organise meetings, we plan budgets, we look at what’s coming up next in the publishing sector, whatever our kink is, we do research, and we are also socially involved in many many things.
Leaving the rant aside, we would like to talk about mental health in libraries. But this time, it will not be about one of the fantastic programmes that we deliver to help our patrons dealing with stress, anxiety or the like, great, fantastic, amazing work (see here, here or here). Cool, but let’s be selfish for once. Let’s change our focus. We would like to talk about mental health in library workers. It will be about us librarians, having to face an ever-changing environment and aspiring to a healthy life-work balance. We asked our readers and twitter followers their opinions. Here is what we learned and a bit about our experience too.
Our survey “Is it stressful to be an information professional?” was visualised by 120 people, 15 gave partial responses and 8 completed it. We’ll focus on the 8 complete responses. We asked about job titles and sectors to have a broad idea of what the respondents did in their jobs. A few of them seem to have a senior position in the organisation (presenting "head" in their job title) and other a medium managerial position. The sector most represented was school libraries, and you can see a fuller breakdown in the infographic.
When we asked about the stress in the profession, 25% of the respondents marked their job as being well balanced, while a whopping 75% responded that their job is somewhat stressful. The reasons for these figures were varied and often closely linked to the remit of the role. We then asked to “describe a time in which you had to deal with a difficult situation at work”, 3 out of 8 respondents gave the answer that a very stressful moment in their career was related to changes in the library structure. One respondent shared the experience of dealing with a difficult patron, a vulnerable individual who puts the staff in uncomfortable situations with challenging requests involving forms of discrimination. This causes stress for the library staff, because while they would like to be of some help, they also don’t want to go against the library code of conduct. In a similar way, another respondent said that stress is created in their workplace by responding to SAR (Subject Access Request) and FOI (Freedom of Information) requests and “the pressure to not be a blocker”, “to work with small resources to deliver a huge amount not only in compliance but also in helping to achieve the efficiency savings through improved information management”.
It has been pointed out how working in the area of Open Access can be stressful itself because of the “fast-moving [...] landscape” but also because of the aversion of other academics to the concept of Open Access. In line with this view, the other two responses have highlighted how colleagues offering “regular confrontation” as well as “conflicting information from supervisors and managers” is a source of stress. Lack of space and “multiple digital communication streams” are also other stress factors.
And how do people cope with all these stressful situations? We asked this question too and here is a summary of the answers. “How do you cope with stress at work? What are the techniques you use to recover from stressful situations?” People have different coping mechanisms, however, 3 out of 8 respondents have shared that they take regular breaks, including taking a break from a challenging situation . Communicating with colleagues and the team was another response; also making “sure senior stakeholders know what we are doing and what we aren’t able to do without de-prioritising something”. Walking was also mentioned as a way of coping with stressful situations. One participant said that they “escape by participating in Twitter” and another said that they ”keep busy, reading, crying and walking” (we are sending a virtual hug to you!). And another surveyee said that they “rant about it to my husband”, which sounds a fair way of decompressing from a difficult situation at work. Only one of the respondents said that they make sure not to work too many hours, while another shared that the organisation they are working for “provides all new members of staff with a mentor” and I believe this is remarkable of this organisation. Exercising and making time for hobbies is another way to cope with stress when outside work. We should all aim at maintaining a good life-work balance.
Laura is guilty of sometimes working extra hours and not even record them: she feels the pressure of deadlines, of people waiting for a reply from her and of things depending on her for progressing and she just wants to get everything done ASAP. However, at times she pauses and tells herself “your role is important and people rely on you, but are you a cardiac surgeon who has the responsibility of saving lives?” and that helps her to put things into perspective. These days, more than ever, are an opportunity to take a step back, look at our life, being grateful for all we have and value the time that we are given, remembering that life is more than just work.
Luca, on the other hand, is stressed because he moved into a totally new library sector sometimes 4 months ago. Mind you, the workplace is amazing and colleagues are very supportive (which is something he realises should be thankful for). Nonetheless, the perfectionist in himself causes him quite a few troubles: the more he works and learns stuff for the job, the more he realises that there are so many things he doesn’t know yet. And he beats himself down even if manager and colleagues keep saying he’s doing a good job. “How can they think it’s a good job if I make still so many mistakes?” sometimes he finds himself thinking. And he knows it is an automatic mechanism, and he’s evaluating therapy to overcome the situation. In the meantime, since everything seems to be on hold for you-know-what, he tries to exercise (his favourite is yoga), read his favourite fantasy novelist of the moment (Robin Hobb Farseer trilogy), playing videogames (Final Fantasy, but not the new one… yet), and watching cooking videos and putting them into practice!
The main sources of stress for Elena in this period are the adaptation to the new job (which involves a higher grade of managing her own workload) and also the work on the (dreaded) Chartership (which is taking big chunks from her personal time). But she’s making sure that at least two hours per day are dedicated to do things she enjoys, like practicing yoga and watching episodes of her favourite TV series (i.e. The Good Place). She also has her beautiful cat Violet that helps take the mind off the stressful stuff.
Poor managerial and leadership skills at management level can definitely be a source of stress: line managers who have not received proper training or, even when they have, seem to show poor organisational, planning, interpersonal skills, may hinder workflows and lower the morale of the team. We had various jobs and dealt with a wide array of managing styles: it is remarkable how much more motivated and rewarded you feel when the person who should guide, lead and evaluate your work shows respect, appreciation, competence and is confident in leading the team and making decisions. On the other hand, you deal with people who hide in vaults to avoid interacting with colleagues, complain 24/7 of the workplace, belittle every single thing you do, tell you that “No, you are definitely not ready for that job, I am actually surprised they even offered you an interview” (and then, of course, you get that job) and working is not that easy anymore, you feel upset most days and lose interest.
In conclusion, there are different factors of stress, as we have seen above, but librarians have always been part of a resilient profession, and we have so many interests and hobbies that help us cope with tight budgets, poor managerial decisions and unreasonable workload. Sure, resilience is not something we should be proud of, but for the time being, until a major change in the work practice happens, it is something we have to treasure: so, stop thinking about work, do some meditation, cook, do yoga, run, eat and cry, even. We are sure we are doing the best we can.
Leaving the rant aside, we would like to talk about mental health in libraries. But this time, it will not be about one of the fantastic programmes that we deliver to help our patrons dealing with stress, anxiety or the like, great, fantastic, amazing work (see here, here or here). Cool, but let’s be selfish for once. Let’s change our focus. We would like to talk about mental health in library workers. It will be about us librarians, having to face an ever-changing environment and aspiring to a healthy life-work balance. We asked our readers and twitter followers their opinions. Here is what we learned and a bit about our experience too.
Our survey “Is it stressful to be an information professional?” was visualised by 120 people, 15 gave partial responses and 8 completed it. We’ll focus on the 8 complete responses. We asked about job titles and sectors to have a broad idea of what the respondents did in their jobs. A few of them seem to have a senior position in the organisation (presenting "head" in their job title) and other a medium managerial position. The sector most represented was school libraries, and you can see a fuller breakdown in the infographic.
When we asked about the stress in the profession, 25% of the respondents marked their job as being well balanced, while a whopping 75% responded that their job is somewhat stressful. The reasons for these figures were varied and often closely linked to the remit of the role. We then asked to “describe a time in which you had to deal with a difficult situation at work”, 3 out of 8 respondents gave the answer that a very stressful moment in their career was related to changes in the library structure. One respondent shared the experience of dealing with a difficult patron, a vulnerable individual who puts the staff in uncomfortable situations with challenging requests involving forms of discrimination. This causes stress for the library staff, because while they would like to be of some help, they also don’t want to go against the library code of conduct. In a similar way, another respondent said that stress is created in their workplace by responding to SAR (Subject Access Request) and FOI (Freedom of Information) requests and “the pressure to not be a blocker”, “to work with small resources to deliver a huge amount not only in compliance but also in helping to achieve the efficiency savings through improved information management”.
It has been pointed out how working in the area of Open Access can be stressful itself because of the “fast-moving [...] landscape” but also because of the aversion of other academics to the concept of Open Access. In line with this view, the other two responses have highlighted how colleagues offering “regular confrontation” as well as “conflicting information from supervisors and managers” is a source of stress. Lack of space and “multiple digital communication streams” are also other stress factors.
And how do people cope with all these stressful situations? We asked this question too and here is a summary of the answers. “How do you cope with stress at work? What are the techniques you use to recover from stressful situations?” People have different coping mechanisms, however, 3 out of 8 respondents have shared that they take regular breaks, including taking a break from a challenging situation . Communicating with colleagues and the team was another response; also making “sure senior stakeholders know what we are doing and what we aren’t able to do without de-prioritising something”. Walking was also mentioned as a way of coping with stressful situations. One participant said that they “escape by participating in Twitter” and another said that they ”keep busy, reading, crying and walking” (we are sending a virtual hug to you!). And another surveyee said that they “rant about it to my husband”, which sounds a fair way of decompressing from a difficult situation at work. Only one of the respondents said that they make sure not to work too many hours, while another shared that the organisation they are working for “provides all new members of staff with a mentor” and I believe this is remarkable of this organisation. Exercising and making time for hobbies is another way to cope with stress when outside work. We should all aim at maintaining a good life-work balance.
Laura is guilty of sometimes working extra hours and not even record them: she feels the pressure of deadlines, of people waiting for a reply from her and of things depending on her for progressing and she just wants to get everything done ASAP. However, at times she pauses and tells herself “your role is important and people rely on you, but are you a cardiac surgeon who has the responsibility of saving lives?” and that helps her to put things into perspective. These days, more than ever, are an opportunity to take a step back, look at our life, being grateful for all we have and value the time that we are given, remembering that life is more than just work.
Luca, on the other hand, is stressed because he moved into a totally new library sector sometimes 4 months ago. Mind you, the workplace is amazing and colleagues are very supportive (which is something he realises should be thankful for). Nonetheless, the perfectionist in himself causes him quite a few troubles: the more he works and learns stuff for the job, the more he realises that there are so many things he doesn’t know yet. And he beats himself down even if manager and colleagues keep saying he’s doing a good job. “How can they think it’s a good job if I make still so many mistakes?” sometimes he finds himself thinking. And he knows it is an automatic mechanism, and he’s evaluating therapy to overcome the situation. In the meantime, since everything seems to be on hold for you-know-what, he tries to exercise (his favourite is yoga), read his favourite fantasy novelist of the moment (Robin Hobb Farseer trilogy), playing videogames (Final Fantasy, but not the new one… yet), and watching cooking videos and putting them into practice!
The main sources of stress for Elena in this period are the adaptation to the new job (which involves a higher grade of managing her own workload) and also the work on the (dreaded) Chartership (which is taking big chunks from her personal time). But she’s making sure that at least two hours per day are dedicated to do things she enjoys, like practicing yoga and watching episodes of her favourite TV series (i.e. The Good Place). She also has her beautiful cat Violet that helps take the mind off the stressful stuff.
Poor managerial and leadership skills at management level can definitely be a source of stress: line managers who have not received proper training or, even when they have, seem to show poor organisational, planning, interpersonal skills, may hinder workflows and lower the morale of the team. We had various jobs and dealt with a wide array of managing styles: it is remarkable how much more motivated and rewarded you feel when the person who should guide, lead and evaluate your work shows respect, appreciation, competence and is confident in leading the team and making decisions. On the other hand, you deal with people who hide in vaults to avoid interacting with colleagues, complain 24/7 of the workplace, belittle every single thing you do, tell you that “No, you are definitely not ready for that job, I am actually surprised they even offered you an interview” (and then, of course, you get that job) and working is not that easy anymore, you feel upset most days and lose interest.
In conclusion, there are different factors of stress, as we have seen above, but librarians have always been part of a resilient profession, and we have so many interests and hobbies that help us cope with tight budgets, poor managerial decisions and unreasonable workload. Sure, resilience is not something we should be proud of, but for the time being, until a major change in the work practice happens, it is something we have to treasure: so, stop thinking about work, do some meditation, cook, do yoga, run, eat and cry, even. We are sure we are doing the best we can.
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