For introverted librarians (like me) in public facing positions, the parts of our jobs that require the most face time are often the most exhausting (although some folks learn to love it). I try to appreciate invitations to speak to groups/at events, but those calendar holds remain my primary source of professional anxiety, even if they’ve generally gone well in the past. The more you practice something, the better at it you become, so maybe public speaking gets to be old hat for liaison/subject librarians.
In my scholarly-communications-focused role, I very rarely speak to groups of students. Most of my external interactions are with faculty and administration, and not often in large groups. Through these interactions I’ve come to see myself and the library as responsible for, or at least involved in, connecting folks from across campus to work toward shared goals. This type of work presents different relational challenges from public speaking. I usually like this focused, small group work, particularly when shared with other librarians who think alike and speak the same technical language (turns out, most librarians are pretty nice!), but I’ve noticed how much that dynamic can change when working with folks outside the library.
If cross-departmental/interdisciplinary work were easily initiated or naturally occurring, we probably wouldn’t see as many calls for more of it or rewards for pursuing it. Much of that discourse refers to interdisciplinary research endeavors, but many of the same challenges hold true for work meant to improve the functioning of our institutions. My area of librarianship is geared toward those types of behind-the-scenes operations. As I’ve met and worked on shared goals with folks from other units across campus, I’ve come to realize how complicated it can be to navigate the human aspect of the university machine. The relationships in a cross-departmental group are influenced by years of reorganizations and budget reallocations and disappointments and hurt feelings and wrong impressions and conflicting philosophies, very little of which can be prepared for—and if you do know about those dynamics, you’re probably less likely to bring that group together in the first place, even if those people could provide the right mix of knowledge to address a given problem. To fully understand the intricacies of your institution’s internal politics, you’d need a graduate level course on the subject.
I know messy human relationships aren’t unique to the academe, but the academe does tend to attract many smart and opinionated cooks to a pretty complicated kitchen. As an early career librarian, I don’t think I’ve appreciated how insulated I’ve been from those rough seas outside the library, but sometimes our work can (and should) bring us into cooperative spaces with folks from other units. When I’ve found myself in such situations where the vibes are distinctly not good, my natural conflict aversion makes it more difficult to contribute. Over the past several years, reminding myself of a few truths has helped me push through these emotional challenges:
- Notwithstanding the widespread need for better funding, academic libraries/librarians are generally well liked (Fagan et al., 2022; Weng & Murray, 2020). This reputation positions us well as arbiters in groups with complicated dynamics.
- Librarians have unique disciplinary expertise about the information lifecycle and information systems. We have valuable insights that will not be considered without our contribution.
- In situations with higher-than-normal levels of conflict, I try to remember to challenge cognitive distortions like personalization (“I am somehow responsible for how badly this is going”) or emotional reasoning (“This feels bad; therefore it must be bad/dangerous”) with reality-checking strategies (e.g. identifying the distortion; examining the evidence; thinking in shades of gray).
I’m not sure I have a clear thesis to share, other than to acknowledge: the human part of library work (or maybe all work?) can be hard, especially when you care about the work. I’m sure we’ve all felt that way at some point and it’s good to name the things that we find hard or stressful. How have you learned to handle complicated institutional politics in your work? Feel free to share in the comments.