Last spring some library school students asked me how to avoid burn-out. We’d been talking in class about all of the activities that librarians serving teens needed to be involved in – collection development, advocacy, programming, management, outreach, personal professional development, technology, and so on. When I was asked the question I had to stop for a little while and think about my answer. Here’s how I did answer:
- Be involved in professional organizations that help you to re-energize by talking to others outside of your personal work location. Talk with those in these organizations about library and non-library topics. When I talked about this with students it became very clear to me that this is a key piece of my involvement in YALSA. It’s through my active participation in the association that I am able to keep refreshed and excited about teens and teen library services. I am always talking with other YALSA members about new ideas, ways to overcome challenges, the positives of teens, and so on. As a result I don’t get burned-out I get excited by possibilities. National, local, and regional organizations can all provide refreshing opportunities for those working in teen services.
- Don’t take things personally. Some days may be really hard. The teens, administration, colleagues, community members, parents, teachers, everyone might seem like they are against YOU. But, they are not. They might have trouble understanding an idea you want to work on or provide the support you think is necessary. But, it’s about the ideas and the support not about YOU as the person initiating those ideas and looking for that support.
- Do new things. This is actually something that should be pretty easy when working with teens. Since trends and interests of the age group change regularly it’s possible to frequently update collections, programs, initiatives, and so on. I know it’s easy to get into a rut and repeat what you’ve done before. I know that by doing what’s been successful at another time you don’t have to spend as much time planning and implementing something new. However, if what you do becomes rote and old-hat then it can become boring to you and stale to teens. By doing new things as much as possible, it’s possible to get excited all over again, every day, about teens and teen services.
- Take risks that give you the opportunity to try new things and get ideas about how best to serve teens in the community. Risks can be scary, but if you go into endeavors that seem risky with the knowledge and understanding that it’s OK to make mistakes in order to learn what will be successful with teens, then you can look at risk-taking as a way to improve service. Not all risks are worth taking, but don’t treat all risks as something that should never be done. Analyze each risky possibility and go forward with some of them.
- Don’t let history rule your library life. What this means is to be careful not to think, “Oh we tried that and it didn’t work.” Or, “The director has vetoed this kind of thing before so I’m not even going to attempt getting it going again.” The thing is, you never know. Maybe the first time you tried that program that didn’t work you and the teens didn’t have all of the pieces you needed in order to make it a success. Or, maybe since you talked with the director about an idea last time he’s had some new information or has been thinking about it and has changed his mind. You won’t know unless you give up history and try again.
- Talk to teens all the time. As you no doubt know, the excitement and energy of teens can be contagious and invigorating. Also, teens will have lots of fun, interesting, cool, exciting and possible ideas for you to work on with them. Listen to wh Add a Comment