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January 19, 2006
Librarians have more job stress than ER workers
Librarians are stressed out--more than emergency room workers, more than firefighters. No, really. And why? Lack of variety in our work (I don't know if I agree with that one), no upward mobility in our careers, and not being able to utilize our skills. The researcher suggests that library managers consider workshops and training for their staff on how to deal with stress--something that other high-stress professions already get de facto.
Granted--this was a small sample. I do think there is something to be learned here. Dealing with crazy patrons isn't the only source of stress in our jobs. Feeling unappreciated, underutilized, and overworked also contribute to job stress. I think a lot of people can identify with that--not just librarians. I like the idea of job stress training for library staff. Recently I've seen a wave of "dealing with the mentally unstable" classes for librarians. Let's make the next wave some "dealing with job stress" classes.
January 19, 2006 | Permalink
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Comments
Sarah, I agree that comparing librarians to ER positions is ridiculous. Please realize, though, that librarians do not stamp books with due dates. Clerks stamped library books, not the librarians. And I say "stamped" in the past tense because almost every library did away with due date stamps years ago, and now works with automated receipts. Not everyone who works in a library is a librarian. Librarians have Master's Degrees in information science. We do research, help users with their information seeking needs both with print and other physical media materials, but are also expert searchers online using tools that the general public only has access to through the library. Librarians decide what books/CDs/DVDs/online resources the library purchases. Librarians teach classes on a variety of information literacy topics. What we do not do is stamp books, reshelve books, or read books at work.
Posted by: Sarah Houghton (LiB) | November10, 2006
The article should read, Librarians percieve they have more job stress than ER workers.
As an avid reader and years of customer service before I started work in the ER, I hope my opinion might be considered.
ER work consists of being part of a rescusitation team, patient care, and work strongly relies on being part of a team - and breaking away for toileting, dressing, and personal care that librarians don't deal with.
ER workers choose this work, if you asked any one I worked with if they thought librarians would suffer more stress than we do - we'd all laugh. We chose this work, and if you can't deal with stress you don't work here. Librarians don't worry about the medication they give patients will end their lives. Librarians don't put themselves up to risk treating an infectious patient. Librarians don't sit at the bedsides of ill patients who tell them about the regrets they have about their lives. Librarian workers don't work under conditions that dictate you drop everything you are doing in order to help save a life, at any time. ER workers deal with small and big traumas both emotional and physical everyday.
Librarians work with books, that dispense the same information - or better more up-to-date information that can be found on the internet. They, when not stamping due-dates have the chance to inform the public. If not seeing direct results from their work is the cause of this stress, proclaiming that they suffer greater stress than ER workers is sad. ER workers face others problems everyday, and realize that this could happen to their own family - if it didn't already. Comparing the ER to the library is not realistic.
Thank you.
Posted by: Sarah | November10, 2006
In response to Arena's post that librarians " do not do anything," and therefore have no reason to be stressed out, I would personally like to encourage this un-enlightened person to get in touch with his/her public or academic library and shadow a reference librarian, tech services librarian, circulation services manager, or librarian administrator for a day...before making a blanket statement such as this about a profession which this person obviously knows very little about. Just a thought.
Posted by: Carisa McPhail | April 9, 2006
ARE YOU KIDDING! THEY DO NOT DO ANYTHING.
Posted by: ARENA | January23, 2006
Ah. Of course, I wasn't thinking in terms of public librarianship. My bad. I'm a cataloguer, museum library, and see the public only as I cross the lobby on my way to the staff cafeteria ...
The main barrier here to "career development" is that there's little money to hire new staff, or allow old staff to move up: as people retire, their posts are generally not being filled, unless there is a desperate need, e.g. branch head or someone who is part of the general fund-raising effort. Even on-the-job training is affected, since too much training might mean having to promote the staff member to a higher level -- for which there simply is no money. Hence fewer and fewer people to do more and more work.
The higher one gets in the hierarchy, the more pressure; I've seen my half-century mark pass by, and believe me I can do without that. You're young, with the ambitions of youth. I envy you that ... I think. ;)
Posted by: Tanuki | January23, 2006
I do understand the part about not being able to use one's skills in not only the staff at our library, but at other libraries I visit for my consulting job. Librarians spend a lot of time showing people how to print, format a document, sign on to a computer, use a microfilm machine, use a copier, etc. I think that many people feel that they went to library school for a master's degree so that they could do collection development, reference, and other "higher level" tasks. I see a lot of resentment from librarians about having to act as basic level tech support for users. The solution to this is to engage volunteers or paraprofessional staff to act as lab assistants in the computer areas. Unfortunately, most libraries haven't been able to afford or support this model. As a result, many librarians end up doing paraprofessional work much of the time. That is definitely not using our skills. And some people do long for upward mobility, which is definitely lacking in the library landscape across the board--that's something that has been written about ad nauseum.
Posted by: Sarah Houghton (LiB) | January20, 2006
Lack of variety? Heck, I got more variety than I know what to do with. Not being able to use one's skills? Mine are being stretched to the limits -- at last count, I'm handling books in over a dozen languages, and, no, I haven't even a reading knowledge in some of them. No upward mobility? What, and have even more responsibility and more to do? Not if I can help it. Dull?! Not on your tintype -- not with this wide a range of topics to catalogue. Amazin', the things one learns about!
What's stressing is being asked to do vastly more work, in a vastly expanded and rapidly changing library landscape, with ever fewer staffmembers and ever decreasing budget.
Either the researchers didn't get it right, or the reporter overlooked the obvious in their findings.
Posted by: Tanuki | January20, 2006
