According to Tim and Zahra Baird, two librarians writing in LIScareer.com, the very nature of library work predisposes us to burnout. A normal library workday can be described as a continuous round of interruptions. When demands for our services (including reference questions and reader’s advisory) roll in, we must refocus ourselves to find the answers and set aside whatever else we have been working on. These constant breaks in our day interrupt the flow of our concentration and make it hard for us to complete our tasks. The repetitive nature of library work induces monotony; boredom can easily set in by doing things over and over again, making us prime candidates for burnout.
When you’re burned out in your job, you can feel exhausted, ineffective, unenthusiastic, and isolated from your colleagues. It can greatly depreciate work performance and workplace morale.
Maria Accardi, author of Feminist Pedagogy for Library Instruction, has created a new blog called Librarian Burnout as a place for fellow academic librarians to commiserate in burnout stories and share creative ways to combat burnout in librarianship. The blog has a certain tint for library instruction (teaching the same one-shot can get tiresome), however, there are considerations for all types of burnout in different roles of librarianship. It’s still a relatively new blog, so there are only a few posts to read, but I encourage you all to take a look! Maybe even post a story yourself.