Burnout in Libraries
I’ve been fascinated with the idea of burnout among Millennials for some time, mostly because I am a Millennial and I have experienced shades of burnout over my career. Anne Helen Peterson wrote a book on the idea, and continues to touch on it with her Substack. Recently she touched on it again, on the passion/purpose jobs where much is expected and little is given.
It made me think of a woman I discovered on TikTok who left teaching to work at Costco and has thrived. Her videos compared the job benefits and expectations, and I could absolutely see the conditions that make teachers leave the profession. My sister, a middle school teacher, has pointed out a few times she could get a job at Panera that would pay better and give her less stress.
Having worked in retail previous to being a public librarian, I’m aware that my retail experience has boosted my public service career. But I also know that had Borders Books remained a viable company I would likely be a district manager of sorts by now. Is that something I would want?
The reason retail has helped my current career is I gained a lot of customer service skills that I feel would serve public librarians being trained in more than making sure they get a master’s in library science. I worked in urban settings and encountered an array of problematic customers and situations (a drug bust in the checkout…
