Space

Some days, working in a library means being surrounded by books, computers, piles of report, patrons, and more meetings than anyone should be forced to attend. It can get overwhelming, even for those of us who are the biggest library fans.

So, today remember to take a few minutes in a crowded day to gain some space for yourself. Push back from the desk and walk outside for a few minutes. Step into an empty section of the stacks for some alone time. Close your eyes and picture endless blue skies, or ocean waves, or another image that works for you.

Take the space you need, and get refreshed.

Then you can dive back into the hurley burley of an active library -  ready to be fantastic again!

Roll with it!

So I was surprised to see snow this morning! It's April and I was pretty sure all our snow was done.

This reminded me of working in any public library: the unexpected seems to happen fairly often! Part of being effective in a public library is flexibility. You need to know how to handle 50 extra kids, or water running down the walls, or the catalog ceasing operations one day. (I'd add in the toilets doing excitingly unexpected things - but that's not really a surprise, is it?)

Being resilient in the face of change, ready to salvage a good program from a potential disaster - it not only makes you a better librarian, but should help you to cope with the stress of work.

Head out and explore your environment! Are there unexpected events occurring today? What unexpected people have you met? Definitely keep your eyes out for the great kinds of surprises too!

I'm hoping for more unexpected chocolates in your desk, and fewer exploding  toilets for you today!

Have a marshmallow!

While we are thinking about happiness, it is always good to have a few little treats. Money CAN buy happiness for a while: having enough food, a place to live, and paying the bills regularly, can all diminish stress.

After that, you need other things to increase your happiness.

So if you are a marshmallow fan, go out today and have a couple! If you prefer other small treats, go ahead and have that! Are we structure some larger-scale workplace stress reducers, don't lose track of the small daily things you can do for your own happiness.

The Marshmallow Principle: Have a small treat to increase your happiness!

And of course one of the best ways to make yourself happy is to do nice things for other people. So if you have a friend who loves marshmallows, today is the day to give her a marshmallow! Applying The Marshmallow Principle to your colleagues can help to make the workplace better for everyone.

Finding Your Way: Stressed out in the Library

Sometimes the path just disappears

Sometimes when you are trying to figure out how to get things done, it seems like everything will be too challenging, or the effort will be too hard - your path is gone and even if there is another way it's going to be hard. 

I like to talk about stress in libraries, not because we are bad places - we are not! - but because it seems important to point out that this is a real problem. Every time I've given a conference presentation about stress in libraries, I always have people who whisper (it's always a whisper) how happy they are that someone is talking about it, because they thought they were the only ones.

I plan to spend a lot of time here talking about making the library workplace happier, because I think it is something we can all improve! I've broken library workplace happiness into three categories we can change: individual, organization, and profession. Too many pieces of advice stop at the individual level: smile more! take a deep breath! And sure, those are good. But to really make the whole library workplace a better and less stressful place to work, we need to work on issues that span the library, and issues that cross the entire profession.

For today, I only have small, individual suggestions for busting stress - because we have to start somewhere and starting small is useful. When we can be happier with ourselves and our lives, it can spread around to others; contagious emotions are real. So yes: smile more! Take a deep breath! These things will be small benefits, and small benefits can be good.

I have been a big fan of Gretchen Rubin's ideas on increasing happiness since her first book, and I have recently started listening to her podcast "Happier with Gretchen Rubin." Yesterday I listened to an episode that resonated with me, as a librarian and prolific book reader:  May 20, 2015 Podcast 13: Stop Reading a Book, a Know-Yourself-Better Quiz, and the Trap of Free Stuff If you don't like a book, stop reading it! It feels like something we would tell our patrons; but I've seen librarians grimly persevere through books because they "have" to finish. More than anyone else, we should really know that life is short and books are unlimited - so just quit the ones you don't enjoy! I have been guilty of this in the past, but I do feel free now when I realize I'm hating a book, waiting for the main character to get hit by a car, or find myself grading papers in an effort to avoid finishing it - that I can just quit. I delete it from my Goodreads account, and I'm free! Yes, it's a small step. Her podcast has a lot of other small steps to take - a new one each episode - so feel free to check it out for yourself. 

Find some other small things that make you happier as a librarian: read books, use the Overdrive app to hear books by great readers, listen to podcasts, go to conferences, join listserves and chat with other librarians who like things you like, organize something, gamify something. We are a fantastic profession, filled with interesting and nice people! I think we can start to combat the stress we all feel at work, and taking some small steps will get us there. 

Today we are not solving all our problems; but we are still moving along the path to workplace satisfaction!