The "Joyless Library" Work Culture

It's a big reason why library employees don't want to come to work.

It’s hard to buy into the concept that work should be “fun.” Work is often hard. It’s often tiring. It is the rare public-contact employee who leaps from bed, races to the workspace, and can’t wait to start serving others. (Even if they actually start out like this, this uber-enthusiasm fades in time.) There is a reason we pay people to leave their homes and sit or stand in the same place for eight to ten hours. It’s called work, not fun or play or freedom.

But consider how many things we do, as adults, for no money at all. We work at night and on the weekends for our churches, kids’ schools, and community groups. We donate time, energy, expertise, and our own money to causes we believe in. We coach our kids in sports. We volunteer to help people less fortunate than us in soup kitchens, homeless shelters, and domestic violence shelters. We volunteer in hospitals and hospices, animal shelters, and help our neighbors after natural disasters.

And all of this we do for no money, because it feels good to do good. I would say that these efforts can bring us joy. We can define joy as a feeling that gives us great pleasure, often in response to something we have done, either for ourselves or others. (Seeing my daughter gives me great joy, as does watching baseball, walking one of my seven dogs, finishing a gym workout, and writing.)

So the question is, can working at the library give you joy? The answer is yes, maybe, and no, and a lot of that depends on who you work with and for, and how you perceive your job. We can define a “Joyless Library” as a place where the staff doesn't feel connected, supported, protected, or praised. Let’s break down each one:

Connected: The people who I work with and for, on a daily basis, know things about me and I know things about them. We share our interests, hobbies, beliefs, and our exasperations, especially when Life Isn’t Going Smoothly. We don’t grip constantly, overshare, and we don’t cram our opinions down each others’s throats. We have achieved a nice balance between expressing things about our professional lives and our personal lives, since both matter.

Supported: We take care of each as co-workers and we expect to be taken care of by our bosses. We don’t avoid work by ever saying, “That’s not in my job description.” We pitch in to help each other and our bosses’ requests, especially when things get hectic. Our bosses don’t overwork us.

Protected: Our co-workers and bosses never embarrass us in front of the patrons. We don’t air our personal dirty laundry in front of others. We take each other aside and speak in confidence when we have issues. We expect our bosses to give us feedback, in private, not “constructive criticism,” especially in front of patrons or co-workers.

Praised: We want to hear “Good job!” when we deserve it, from both our bosses and co-workers. We want to be told that what we do matters, especially when what we do when working with patrons is complex, emotional, or time-consuming. We want it to be sincere, not dismissive. We want to know we have added value to our patron and co-worker relationships. We aren’t “just here for the paycheck” and it’s not our “only reward for showing up.”

The presence of these four critical factors makes work bearable. Their absence, especially when not even one of them are present, makes work unbearable. People quit (which is often a relief, even when it creates an uncertain future) or worse, feel like they can’t quit (chained in economic handcuffs) and so they have to just show up and hope things get better, someday. This usually only happens when certain toxic, bullying, lazy, annoying, or passive-aggressive bosses or co-workers leave and are replaced with people who truly recognize the value of the four factors from above.

So how do we create a library workspace where these four exist in equal, positive, and affirming amounts? By doing them, for each other, every day. By having our library leaders do them, for their employees, every day. These four create joy. These four make it more likely staff not only stay at their libraries, but their good feelings rub off on their service encounters with patrons. (nothing is more more miserable in a public-contact job when you don’t want to be there and a customer goes out of his or her way to ruin your day). They nurture harmony and the desire to do work, hard or easy.

I’ll list them again: Connected. Supported. Protected. Praised.