Librarians complained about their physical environment, saying they were sick of being stuck between book shelves all day, as well as claiming their skills were not used and how little control they felt they had over the career.
That's why UK librarians are so stressed out?!?!
What a bunch of softies!
I would kill for my only job stress to be "stuck between book shelves all day." I could certainly live without the homeless sleeping/trashing library grounds, my building falling apart, the incredible shrinking operating budget, being the sole supplier to my romantic fiction collection, having the World's Most Embarrassing Audio Book collection, children who are dumped on library staff because parents won't hire day care, a general public who thrives on screaming at me because they lost $150 worth of library books and cannot understand why they've been sent to a collection agency, and the father who reamed out my staff this past weekend because we wouldn't let his son do court-forced volunteer hours for lighting a bathroom on fire.
Did I mention that we've recently become a dumping ground for old mattresses? I've had 3 in the last 2 weeks.
And I haven't even mentioned bureaucracy.
However I do understand how the UK librarians feel when they say they're "skills" are not being utilized. The skills I learned in library school certainly aren't being utilized. Then again, three quarters of what I deal with on my job I was never taught in library school.
I need to move to England. Seriously. Not only would I be able to get a decent pot of tea on demand, the "stress" of a new library career there would be a cake walk.
3 comments:
Matresses? What the heck?
My guess is that you're right about the job stress--but a decent pot of tea? Dream on. You can walk for miles in London these days w/o hitting a tea shop. And half the time when you order tea anywhere else you get a bag and warm water, just like the good old USA.
Teresa:
Yes, but would they at least give me a big pot of warm water? LOL
Never been to England - so no first hand knowledge on their lack of tea shops in London. Bummer. One of these days I need to get to the British Isles. One of these days....
Jason - yes mattresses. For a while there I was the dumping ground for old couches. Maybe I can hope for TV stands next?
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