It’s no wonder that those remaining feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of tasks they’re expected to accomplish. In Iowa, there are now 20 percent fewer librarians than there were 20 years ago.
And yet, the number of books has increased significantly.
For comparison, the state had nearly 1400 librarians in 2001. As of 2015 (the most recent data we have), California employed only 859 public school librarians, or one for every 7,187 students. In many places, funding for public libraries has fallen dramatically and the remaining librarians are left to do the work of several people. A normal workday can be described as a continuous round of interruptions.” Being constantly distracted and sidelined is a common cause of stress, but added to budget difficulties, limited opportunities for advancement and tech issues, every day on the job can seem like it’s too much. Two librarians, Tim and Zahra Baird, wrote that “the very nature of library work predisposes us to burnout. But one root cause of burnout is general overload. It can be difficult to prevent burnout, since the causes are various and the amount of stress a person can tolerate changes vastly from one individual to another. These toxic ingredients mix to create a crippling cocktail for librarians, resulting in headaches, compromised immunity, stomach problems, and even cardiovascular disease. People suffering from burnout can become moody, withdrawn, or detached. There are many symptoms beyond fatigue, including weight gain, insomnia, forgetfulness, distractibility, and a tendency to cry. A 2019 study report on the issue said that “burnout is not the sole domain of only one particular library type it is pervasive in every type of library from special libraries to public libraries.”Īt heart, burnout is exhaustion. suffer exhaustion related to burnout and the helping professions are particularly prone to suffer from it.
How Librarians Can Avoid Burnout by Celeste HeadleeĪt this point in history, burnout is an epidemic. Here, Headlee discusses how librarians can apply these lessons to avoiding burnout.
So why are we so miserable? In Do Nothing, award-winning journalist Celeste Headlee illuminates a new path ahead, seeking to institute a global shift in our thinking so we can stop sabotaging our well-being, put work aside, and start living instead of doing. We work feverishly to make ourselves happy.
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