wellness – Rebecca Tolley

how do caring organizations feel to library workers?

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Answering this question will be different for everyone. No two libraries are alike. No two or three libraries employ the same demographics or experience the same organizational behaviors, and so while we can say that “Caring organizations feel safe to library workers,” or “Caring organizations feel welcoming and supportive to library workers,” what that looks like or how it manifests within the organizational dynamic differs greatly.

Given that, what actions can library administration and library leaders take in their creation of a caring organization? Obviously, my first answer is “look to the six principles of trauma informed care.” And yes, those principles guide the majority of my responses.

Safety is critical. I’ve worked with people who shirk in meetings because they expect personal attacks from more senior individuals. When leadership allows bullying, blame shifting, and other negative elements to take root within libraries, library workers don’t feel safe, they experience very limited trust, if any, and they realize that their voices are unimportant. That’s how a culture of silence and complicity permeates some workplaces. And how an organization feels uncaring to its workers.

Feeling cared for is relative. We all respond to different means. Having an extra day off is nice. Since COVID my university has granted us one or two paid days leave in addition to the time we accrue and paid holidays. Those were appreciated, but not every library or its parent organization can extend that kind of largesse to workers.

Isabel Espinal suggestions that microaffections and microaffirmations can go a long was in reducing the chilly work environments that POC experiences. Libraries maybe too sterile, too brisk, too “professional.” And as a Latinx person the lack of personal warmth in libraries affects how she feels at work. She recommends that we warm up the library for POC with pleasantries. Pleasantries create connection and caring.

Showing appreciation equitably is another means of spreading care around to everyone working in libraries. It seems as though one of two of the superstars or favorites receive all the accolades from leadership. Library leaderships shouldn’t let opportunities for everyone’s strengths to be acknowledged publicly pass them by.

My library has always been broke, so while there was never an abundance of swag or catered events celebrating library workers, there were times when we felt appreciated. When we were celebrated for no special reason by the dean treating us with a catered sundae bar. Food in workplaces can be tricky (as I wrote a few weeks ago), but, for me, it comes down to intent: Was leadership intentional about demonstrating their care and thoughtfulness for workers? Does leadership care about the impact of their actions? Are library workers invited to the table for the main event, or are they emailed when leftovers are available?

you earned it, take your leave time

Weekends and evenings and paid time off brought to us by generations of successful workers rallying for basic human rights in the workplace should be enjoyed, fully.

What kind of culture of self-care exists in your library? How encouraged are you by the higher ups to take annual leave, sick leave, if those are available to you? The tone library leaders set around taking leave time that you earned is a crucial element of modeling self-care and creating a culture embodying those principles.

I’ve know library workers whose supervisors questioned every hour of sick leave they took, ultimately remarking that they were using too much sick leave each month. Perhaps it’s a difference between managing, ahem micromanaging people, and leading them. Frankly, managers making statements along this vein seems illegal to me, but I’m not a lawyer. Similarly, supervisors telling their workers they need to be more “present,” is just as troubling, especially after commenting on how they tend to use their leave time rather than accrue hundreds and hundreds of hours, never calling in sick, never taking a break from the workplace.

What is presence in the workplace, anyway? And, is it achievable? My body may be physically present, but where is my mind? And I may be “always there” ready to jump in and help out, or ready with a quip or retort, but how authentic am I? I digress.

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Granted, many libraries are short-staffed and library workers wear dozens of hats, thus feeling guilty about taking your earned time off may be valid for anyone. However, for library workers to be their best at work and perform the emotional labor expected, they must have time away from work to restore equilibrium, find joy, and break from the minutiae of demands on their brains.

Balance may be difficult to attain, but it is essential for our self-care and wellness.

creating a culture of wellness in libraries around food & eating

Who hasn’t struggled with disordered eating? American culture foments it with our advertisements about food and sex and food and fitness and food and thinness/obesity.

How does disordered eating feed into wellness this month? And how do our library workplaces create cultures of wellness for those with food trauma?

Food trauma occurs with specific types of food and usually stem from an event someone experienced that causes them to feel anxious, insecure, and possibly surveilled when eating.

Someone with a high ACEs score may be more likely to experience anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, to being eating disorder. Caitlin Beale describes several types of food trauma:

restriction or deprivation
food insecurity
forced eating
sensory trauma
misunderstanding of neurodivergent behavior

It’s very easy for those with disordered eating to be misunderstood. When we avoid parties, potlucks, or receptions, or situations wherein food is present, our absence may be noted. Absences around team eating and socialization can be perceived poorly by supervisors. They may request that you be more “present” and appear at team-building events. And unless we disclose about our disordered eating and why workplace events with food may unsettle us, our absences could be counted against us or viewed as our not participating in team events. Or that “so and so” is a curmudgeon and doesn’t like to socialize with everyone else. When, in fact, the food may be the issue, not the emotional labor socialization entails.

Certainly many people are aware of how loaded that baked potato may be. Our greater awareness about dietary differences and how we accommodate gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, etc. preferences is essential in promoting inclusion and belonging in our library workspaces.

Creating an affinity group in which library workers with disordered eating can support one another, and share and crowdsource strategies and tactics for dealing with this issue in the workplace is one idea. Convening a monthly trauma-informed/responsive book/information group with library workers may be another idea for stimulating conversations about food-related experiences.

This is one area in which trauma informed/responsive leadership can raise awareness of food trauma in the workplace, discuss this sensitive issue, take an environmental scan of food issues affecting their specific demographics, and model thoughtfulness in this domain.

Somewhat unrelated food for thought: public library workers are involved with summer feeding programs in their communities, which seems like another example of job creep, of library workers being all things to all members of their communities. More and more, library workers are expected to fill all the gaps that our social infrastructure is failing.

for wellness: add a plant or three

I think about big changes verses small changes. What is more effective? A big change would be grand and telegraphs CHANGE, but sometimes that can be misleading.

Believing that change, lasting change, is related to major investment of time or personnel is incorrect.

Research indicates that small changes of habits can be very effective for embodying discipline and nudging our thoughts and behaviors in directions that leave us feeling calm, refreshed, and supported.

My immediate office space boasts a plethora of plants. When campus community members visit our environs, they’re pleased by the welcoming sight of pathos, inch plant, dragon tree, Norfolk Island pine, and others in our otherwise