Vocational awe and white supremacy in libraries & academia by Jasmine Spitler

2025-07-10 14:21:40 UTC

Do other fields also struggle with this?

2025-07-10 14:22:15 UTC

Only one right way

2025-07-10 14:22:51 UTC

The section on martyrdom not being a career: burnout, job creep, under-compensation

2025-07-10 14:23:05 UTC

I think many of us chose this career because our personal values align with the profession's values, especially in helping people. So boundaries are harder to draw

Appreciated the author's note: "I use “librarians” here very broadly. I am not limiting the term to those who have the MLIS because vocational awe affects those who work in libraries at every level."

2025-07-10 14:23:39 UTC

2025-07-10 14:23:45 UTC

Progress is more

2025-07-10 14:24:08 UTC

The article lumped all libraries together as though all types are the same and experience the same difficulties, but some of her examples were clearly public library only ones.

2025-07-10 14:24:53 UTC

The burnout! It’s so hard to avoid the work becoming all-consuming. The job creep element also ties into this—there are continually new things coming up which adds to this cycle of getting spread to thin and getting burnout.

Job creep...it happens to so many in this profession. You feel guilt for not checking your work email on your day off.

2025-07-10 14:26:25 UTC

2025-07-10 14:27:03 UTC

JOB CREEP 😭

We're all good people who want to feel like we're doing something noble and important

2025-07-10 14:27:33 UTC

Under compensation

2025-07-10 14:28:38 UTC

2025-07-10 14:28:56 UTC

Individuals outside of the profession see us as the saviors of intellectual freedom, democracy, etc. so in some ways, we're buying into (or participating) in their stereotyping of libraries and the profession.

2025-07-10 14:29:21 UTC

For many, being a librarian is a core part of our identities, not just a job we don’t care about. Setting our identities around a job can allow us to get carried away with the vocational awe.

2025-07-10 14:29:40 UTC

Libraries are just buildings, it’s the people who do the work.

2025-07-10 14:29:43 UTC

Burn-out! There's always something new to challenge us. AI, anyone?

2025-07-10 14:29:45 UTC

The invisibility of race in library and information studies

2025-07-10 14:30:13 UTC

I agree with the concept that job creep can be an issue. But the example of Narcan raises issues for me - yes it's a lot to ask to have to be a first responder, but if the alternative is someone dying? Unfortunately there are bigger systemic issues (lack of health care resources, etc) that we can't solve but that come into the library with patrons

2025-07-10 14:31:51 UTC

I think librarianship is one of the few jobs in our current economic climate that is broadly seen as not containing a profit motive, and also that it exists in a space somewhere between "white collar" and "customer service" work depending on the job description and place of employment.

2025-07-10 14:32:25 UTC

This sentence from the article: "Employees who cannot do more than what is in the job description, perhaps for personal or health reasons, are consequently seen as not going the minimum, and management may come to believe that workers are not committed to the organization or its mission if they don't do extra tasks."

2025-07-10 14:32:41 UTC

Our jobs are really cool! If we hated our work, perhaps it would be easier to set boundaries but you're generally willing to sacrifice for things you love and in a world with so much need, that lack of boundaries can be very harmful to us that are in this field

2025-07-10 14:34:22 UTC

The oppression and silence that can come about in library spaces

2025-07-10 14:34:25 UTC

What is the prescription here? If, e.g., it's "job creep" to ask public librarians to learn to administer Naloxone, what should be done about overdose deaths in libraries? Do public librarians just say, "oh well," and hope the EMTs show up on time? I find the sense of history in this article bizarrely static and impoverished. Are there lots of libraries (at least here in the US) that still want to be "sacred spaces"? Is it inherently bad to have spaces meant to feel sacred? Why? This article was never a favorite, but it just seems like a total relic at this point anyway.

2025-07-10 14:34:30 UTC

I liked the recognition of how architecture contributes to "awe". We want big beautiful spaces but we must work to make them friendly too