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Association of College & Research Libraries

Coping with stress: The 14th annual Workshop on Instruction in Library Use

By Barbara Love Reference Librarian St. Lawrence College Saint-Laurent

The 13th Annual Workshop on Instruction in Library Use was co-sponsored this year by Queen’s University and St. Lawrence College Saint-Laurent and took place in Kingston, Ontario, from May 16 to 18. Participants from Ontario and Quebec universities and community colleges were joined by instruction librarians from eastern and western Canada as well as by a number of Americans.

Attendees were able to balance the long workshop sessions against the enjoyment of some of Kingston’s waterfront attractions, namely, a coq au vin banquet aboard the Island Queen on the opening night and a light lunch at the Yacht Club on Thursday. The Workshop’s theme was “Coping with Crisis: Strategies for Survival” which included sessions on crisis management, coping with burnout, time management, computer-assisted instruction to combat staff shortages, using media as a tool for coping with financial crises, job sharing and job exchanges as a means of self-revitalization and the trials and tribulations of CAI programming.

The workshop opened on Wednesday afternoon with the group as a whole participating in a crisis management session which featured a film called “Managing in a Crisis” from the U. S. Office of Personnel Management in which a series of crises takes place in a large hotel catering operation. Actors, assuming the roles of the key personnel involved, played out several scenarios designed to show the effectiveness of using “information-based problem solving.” The film outlined a 5-step procedure which stressed adequate planning and information gathering as a means of crisis management. These steps are: 1) setting the climate; 2) collecting information; 3) classifying the information; 4) setting priorities and guidelines; and 5) following up.

Using the method outlined in the film as a guide, the audience was then divided into smaller discussion groups in order to examine a case study prepared by Sandy Casey, Queen’s Faculty of Education librarian and co-chair of the workshop. The case study dealt with a series of crises occurring in a library orientation setting. The groups were asked to deal with the crisis from two perspectives: first from the viewpoint of the neophyte instruction librarian hired at the last minute before the fall orientation program is about to get underway and, secondly, from the vantage point of the chief librarian who has some ability to manipulate the situation from above. This session introduced the crisis theme within a coping context and was meant to serve as an ice breaker for the rest of the workshop.

Among the sessions offered over the next two days were: “Reducing Stress through Improving Instruction, or I can’t go in there and talk about Psych Abstracts one more time.” Mignon Adams, coordinator of information services at SUNY- Oswego, conducted a spirited session in which she talked about coping with repetition, boredom and fatigue in library instruction by revitalizing your method of presentation. The session stressed that the better you are as a teacher, the better you will feel about your teaching and, therefore, about yourself. Effective teaching was discussed in terms of enthusiasm, the ability to communicate abstractions, and warmth, including the importance of physical contact. In addition, the use of pre-tests and post-tests for instruction was encouraged both for allowing the students a say and in providing the librarians with useful feedback. Mignon ended the session with a group discussion of “lessons learned painfully over time” in which participants were able to share their most valuable teaching tips.

Sarah Barbara Watstein, library associate and reference librarian at New York University, conducted a helpful session on coping with burnout in library instruction. After discussing general symptoms of burnout, the group participants offered their personal reasons for burning out. Some of these were: diminished enthusiasm due to the redundancy of reference questions, feelings of inadequacy due to new responsibilities such as database searching and automated acquisitions, repetition involved in classroom instruction, and resentment toward unenthusiastic students. The group then looked at physical, psychological and attitudinal signs of burnout following which they worked on vulnerability, stress and workaholic checklists to see how they rated. The session ended with a discussion on methods of coping with burnout, some of which included problem solving, mutual helping, using evaluation tools on an on-going basis and seeking professional help.

Sarah talked also about “restructuring irrational beliefs” by which one stays saner by learning to accept a less than perfect image of oneself, thereby eliminating a major source of stress. The key to coping seemed to be finding a means of channeling one’s energies in a positive direction rather than panicking and burning out.

A job sharing and job exchange panel was moderated by Eve Buckle, reference librarian in the social sciences at Hatfield Polytechnic, England, and currently on a one-year exchange at St. Lawrence College. The panel dealt with how to revitalize oneself and one’s feelings of stress or boredom by changing one’s working hours or one’s working location. Linda Baker and Peg Walsh from the reference department at McMaster University’s Health Sciences Library, described their job sharing experience from the points of view of the employer and the employee.

Linda Baker discussed the disadvantages and advantages to the employer of a job sharing arrangement, noting that the pros far outweighed the cons. On the negative side, she cautioned that good communications had to be maintained, that there was a possibility of personality conflicts between the job sharers, that there might be a lack of continuity on the job and that one or the other of the job sharing team would be absent from staff meetings. However, on the positive side, job sharing encouraged more productivity and more initiative, the job sharers could act as reliefs for one another when emergencies arose, and the employer is provided with more skills in one position. Since the job sharing team usually derives greater job satisfaction from a working arrangement that allows them freedom, the benefits to the employer of happier employees is obvious.

Panel members then discussed sabbatical leaves and job exchanges from one library to another on the same campus and from one country to another. Eve Buckle described her experience from a practical point of view in which she mentioned salary and tax considerations, checking out accomodations, medical and insurance coverage and the possibility of an exchange of cars. In personal terms, she and other panel members described the benefits of a year away from your job as providing you with the possibility of acquiring new skills and new experiences and of returning to your former position feeling refreshed.

The single disappointing session was held at Queen’s Faculty of Education’s computer lab in order to demonstrate the possibility of using CAI to combat staff shortages. The problem with the session was that the quality of software packages available for library instruction was extremely poor. Among the ones demonstrated were guides to poetry indexes and Current Biography from Calico (Computer Assisted Library Instruction Co., Inc.) and a library skills program from Right On Programs. The general impression of the librarians who attended this session was that the software was elementary and didn’t warrant the amount of time devoted to it in the lab. Most of the participants felt, however, that it was worthwhile in showing that this is an area where there is much room for improvement. It should be somewhat heartening though, to know that, at least for the moment, the human element is not imminently in danger of being replaced.