Strategies for the Burnt-Out Librarian: OLC Northeast Chapter Conference - 3.30.17

Here are the notes from the Strategies for the Burnt-Out Librarian presentation at the OLC Northeast Chapter Conference yesterday:

Link to the Power Point

Symptoms of Burnout:

• fatigue
• irritability
• crying jags
• anxiety attacks
• loss of appetite
• weight gain 
• teeth grinding
• insomnia
• nightmares
• increased drug, alcohol, tobacco use
• forgetfulness
• low productivity
• inability to concentrate 

Audience suggestions:

• awareness of how long you have left to work on your shift
• low productivity - not feeling like completing tasks but not having the option not to do them

Causes of Burnout:

• budget pressures
• heavy workloads
• an overload of clerical duties
• the need to respond quickly
• administration demands
• difficult patrons
• technology-related problems
• little input into collection decisions
• few opportunities for advancement

Audience suggestions:

• being "on" at the service desk constantly or if you work in a small community, being "on" everywhere because you run into patrons outside of the library
• renovations
• having experience but being stripped of responsibilites
• in regards to "administration demands" above - someone suggested to just wait 5 years and it'll change - or hold out and try to be the change
• lots of gossip and venting to coworkers - creates a negative work environment

Strategies to Deal with Burnout:

• recognize burnout
• use your vacation time, breaks, etc.
• exercise, stretch
• eat well
• know your limitations
• learn to say “No”
• don’t be a perfectionist
• accept help from others
• go home on time
• straighten office everyday
• don’t take work home with you
• identify activities that relax you 
• develop a support network
• ask for new job duties
• consider a job change

Audience suggestions:

• don't think about work on vacation...or at home
• establish boundaries as a supervisor that work for you (e.g. not calling when off work, etc.)
• get out of the building at times when you can on breaks
• put headphones in and listen to music (or not!) to discourage distractions from others while on breaks
• do chair/desk exercises to stretch and refresh (use Google for ideas)
• how to say no to management:
• point out what you are already doing - offer compromise and other solutions
• suggest other coworkers to take on projects/tasks instead
• hide! (just kidding)
• have an honest conversation with your boss about being burnt out and break that barrier
• let your boss know what will suffer or not happen by taking on another task/project
• make it about the library and not you personally
• ask for help, even though a lot of us want control and think it'll reflect poorly on us
• go home on time and alleviate patrons staying after closing 
• turn off computers early
• make frequent announcements about closing times
• don't perform certain services that take awhile (new cards, passports, faxes, etc.) after a certain time
• don't check work email from home
• Google "satisfying videos" to find some relaxing things to zone out to
• identifying relaxing activities
• yoga
• meditation
• download the "Stop Breather Think" app
• look at the items in your collection for help (the 150s books, relaxation audiobooks, etc.)
• don't be afraid to ask for different job duties or swap some with others
• regarding job change - it might not be the wrong profession for you, but it might be the wrong organization for you

Resources:

• Librarian Burnout: https://librarianburnout.com/
• The Compassionate Librarian: http://www.compassionatelibrarian.net/self-care.html
• Pop Culture Librarians: https://popculturelibrarianwonder.com/2017/02/01/self-care/  
• 5 Min Librarian: http://www.5minlib.com/2016/04/what-you-can-do-to-combat-librarian.html  
• Read Sing Play: https://klmpeace.wordpress.com/?s=self+care  

Anything to add for alleviating burnout? Leave it in the comments!

YA Smackdown: OLC Northeast Chapter Conference - 3.30.17

Yesterday, I hosted my very first YA Smackdown session at the Ohio Library Council's Northeast Chapter Conference.

For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, YA Smackdown is an informal sharing session for teen librarians similar to Guerrilla Storytime. I put some challenges in a bucket and asked the audience for volunteers to choose one. They then read the challenge and answered it, then anyone else in the room could also contribute a response.

Although I was a little nervous at first about how talkative the group would be (I brought Hershey Kisses to bribe them with just in case), the conversation quickly got rolling and I ended up able to share all of the awesome responses here:

What horror movies are your teens currently into?

• The Visit
• Children of the Corn
• The Ring
• The Grudge
• Mama

What would you do if a teen monopolizes your time just chatting at the desk? (I'm paraphrasing these):

• I would let the teen know that I have a job to do and that they are part of the atmosphere here and they should go be part of it.
• It depends on what's going on that day. If it's not busy, I let them hang out.
• I'll ask them to help me with a task to keep them busy.
• I'll show them the new books to pore over to occupy them.

Favorite way you’ve recycled program supplies.

• Donate to Goodwill
• Put them in the recycle bin!
• Email other staff in the system to share
• Throw everything on a table and have an open-ended crafting program
• Host a Bad Art Night - Ask teens to make the worst looking art they can!
• Use them as prizes
• I used leftover glow sticks to make light saber bookmarks
• I had all of these leftover Goldfish crackers and licorice I would try to put out and no one would eat. When I hosted a program, I named these same snacks something to go with the program theme and they tore through them! Naming the food something clever enticed them to eat it.

What is your favorite teen book that deals with issues of body image?

• Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman
• Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
• Butter by Erin Jade Lange
• Faceless by Alyssa Sheinmel
• Paperweight by Meg Haston
• Bruiser by Neal Shusterman
• The First Time She Drowned by Kerry Kletter
• Dumplin' by Julie Murphy

What would you do if a non-teen came to a program? Does it make a difference if they’re too young or too old?

• I would tell them that this is a time just for the teens
• If the parents want to stay, I try to encourage them to wait just outside of the room
• I tell the adult that wants to participate that we can talk to the Adult Librarian to see if we can offer a separate program on the same topic for adults
• I try to have the program in a separate blocked off area to discourage just anyone from coming in
• I have multi-age programs where it won't become an issue, like a board game night for teens and adults
• If it's someone younger, I explain about the program being developmentally inappropriate. If it's someone older, I explain that this is a space for teens to be able to be themselves with other teens.

What is your favorite readers’ advisory resource?

• Goodreads
• Novelist
• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble bestseller and other lists
• Book Riot
• Fantastic Fiction
• We Need Diverse Books
• Google
• projectalexandria.net

What board games are popular with your teens?

• Pie Face - We had a tournament to go along with March Madness
• Dungeons & Dragons
• Clue
• Sporkle
• Battleship
• Pictionary
• Apples to Apples
• Just regular playing cards
• Yahtzee
• Uno

Audience Question: Does anyone have a mobile makerspace in your library? If so, what does it look like?

• We store stuff in a cabinet and rotate the equipment out. We have basic things like Sphero and K'nex. People can sign up to use the equipment for 15 minutes at a time.

Audience Question: How do you engage teens after school with severe lack of space and a security guard that intimidates them from staying?

• Unfortunately, this question was asked at the very end of the session so we didn't have time to get responses. If any readers have a solution, please share in the comments!

If there are any needed edits to responses, or if anyone has a good response to add, please comment below!

I'm Back!

Hello again! It's been quite a while since I posted. I've been busy serving on the 2017 Newbery Committee, which was an ABSOLUTELY AMAZING experience. I could go on and on and on about what I experienced this past year, but Abby the Librarian already has it covered in an excellent post with all of the details.

However, I do have to say how incredibly happy and proud I am with the winners and honors that our committee chose this year (can you tell by my photo?):

2017 Newbery Medal: The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

2017 Newbery Honors: Freedom Over Me by Ashley Bryan; The Inquisitor's Tale by Adam Gidwitz; Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk

This reaction video also helped seal the deal for me:

But after a brief recuperation period of doing nothing but binge-watching television, I'm definitely ready to finally start blogging about books, my programs, and storytimes again.

As well as reading for the Newbery, I changed jobs! I am now an Early Literacy Librarian at a small library branch. I do still get to work with tweens and teens, but now my main focus is on kids from birth through 2nd grade. It's the first time that I've basically been a department of one, which brings about its own strengths and challenges. I'm also doing a LOT of outreach visits now, so I'll be blogging my outlines for those.

I've been in a bit of a reading bubble, so I'm kind of out of the loop with what's new and exciting reading-wise. Any middle grade, teen, or adult recommendations?