Finding Meaning in Work: Librarians Help Their Communities Every Day
In his landmark work Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us (Riverhead, 2011), Daniel Pink makes the case that what motivates most of us when it comes to work is not so much money or status, but rather autonomy, mastery, and purpose.
No matter our generational cohort, most individuals thrive in workplaces that provide purpose and meaning. For those in public librarianship, libraries’ expanding community impact provides a rich environment of meaning and purpose on a regular basis.
Consider these ways that public librarians contribute to their communities and the lives of those who live there:
Helping parents teach their children to read. Although some parents were raised in homes filled with books, others may have been raised without this reading immersion and so lack a sense of confidence about teaching their own children to read. Through story hours, family events, and early literacy programs, children’s librarians can help both parents and their children gain the huge benefits that reading provides. In effect, they have opened up life opportunities for two generations at once.
Helping teens find their way. Youth services librarians are specialists in understanding, supporting, engaging, and relating to teens just when the rest of the world may seem disorienting if not downright unwelcoming to them. With a goal of creating emotional safe spaces for their young patrons, young adult librarians excel at helping teens find paths to self-acceptance and self-confidence through books and programs and connections with others like themselves.
Welcoming new community members. Whether through English-as-a-second-language (ESL) programs, collaborative events with local ethnic communities, specialized resource collections, or other types of outreach, many public libraries are on the front lines of welcoming and integrating newcomers into their new home. They provide the knowledge and resources necessary to help newcomers start building a path to their new life while at the same time welcoming and respecting the old.
Bridging the digital divide — across multiple groups and generations. Public librarians are trained to provide a wide range of digital services, including all sorts of technology training to youngsters, teens, small business owners and seniors, among others. Libraries have incorporated digital technologies like streaming video services, ebooks, text-messaging reference services and more for their patrons, but many also lend digital devices, such as laptops or tablets to those unable to afford them themselves.
Creating connections throughout the community. Library leadership no longer focuses solely on the organization; instead, strategic missions are both internal and external, with the goal of positioning the library as a connecting “hub” for the community. By seeking out and sustaining these collaborations, libraries enable community resources to multiply their impact and reach while also enabling more seamless service delivery to those in need. (For a good description of some of the cool types of community collaboration librarians are up to, check out this discussion with Kelvin Watson, director of the Broward County Libraries in Florida.)
Helping overcome social isolation. As the aging population increases, communities often see an increase in social disconnection — often described as social isolation — among their seniors. Having a personal relationship with a local librarian, even if only to share favorite books and authors, can provide a regular, if temporary, way out of that social isolation and perhaps even an opportunity to make new friendships for seniors who might otherwise live lives of loneliness and isolation. Although many library programs can positively impact dozens of lives at a time, sometimes that one conversation between a caring librarian and a socially isolated patron can begin a positive path forward.
Building economic opportunity. Perhaps the business librarian is helping an entrepreneur pursue her new-business dreams or a small business start-up assess new market opportunities. Or maybe he’s working with a career changer who’s researching new employers or a manager who needs guidance on MBA programs to take his career to the next level. All of these types of support contribute to a thriving economic development program, not to mention achieving individual professional goals for library patrons. When this type of support is combined with the library’s business, economic, and career connections throughout the community, the library truly becomes a catalyst for positive economic opportunity for all its citizens.
Creating Purpose through Helping Others
Anthropologist Margaret Mead famously stated, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
Although she might not have had public librarians in mind in that moment, in fact groups of thoughtful, committed librarians are doing just that — changing individual lives, communities, and their larger world. What better way to find work with meaning and purpose?
Learning More about the Profession
To learn more about careers in public librarianship, see the Public Librarianship overview provided by the San José State University School of Information.
