ACRL Conference, day 4 - Toxicity

Panel Session: Gender, Generation and Toxicity: The Implications for Academic Libraries of Gender and Generational Attitudes Toward Competition and Workplace Behavior

Terrence Bennett, The College of New Jersey
Mollie Freier, Northern Michigan University
Ann Campion Riley, University of Missouri

2 years ago, at last ACRL there was a presentation on workplace toxicity; this is an update.

Toxicity defined:

• More than just people and management situations
• First used in 1980s in business literature (Peter Frost)
• An ongoing work situation that is painful, personally difficult and uncomfortable through a special combination of factors
• Hostile, unreasonable or emotionally distressing behavior with many causes, including institutional issues outside the library.

Hypothesis: A serious problem in the library; worse in some functional areas

Findings:
Administration is the worst place for toxic behavior (over 3,000 results to 2007 survey)
> 30% thought problems to be serious and enough to leave the job.

Some comments on the survey:
Gender aspect was huge,

• "the majority of women...results in picky, nasty behavior."
• "Women with power issues"
• "This is what happens when a lot of women work together"
• "Women should unite instead of taking every chance to take each other down"

Research re-framed to look at gender and inter-generational issues.
What impact does the economic downturn have on workplace toxicity?
Are women disproportionately affected by budget woes?

Work leaner and smarter = belittle me harder. Old responses don't work in the new environment.

Budget impact on toxicity:
hiring freeze and greater workload
competition
flexibility

What (women) managers are saying:

• We're training new librarians on dealing with budget cuts
• I know I have to lay-off people, but I can't tell them
• It's a chance to clear out the deadwood
• Everyone's gone berserk; we have to calm down.

Can we continue doing more with less? When do we stop? As we continue with this trend, people will become toxic.

64% or librarians in ARL libraries are women (ARL)
82% of librarians are women (BLS)

literature (interesting titles):

• Cat-fight
• Tripping the Prom Queen
• The Queen Bee Syndrome (article)
• I can't believe she did that: why women betray other women at work
• Mars/Venus
• Stress reactions are different for women (Taylor, 2000)
• Communication styles are different (Gualdagno and Cialdini, 2002)
• Statistical differences are actually small (Hyde and Plant, 1995)
• Differences in motor skills, masturbation and attitudes to casual sex (Hyde, 2005)
• some difference in physical aggression (Hyde, 2005)
• Difficult conversations
  

Historically, women have not been socialized to compete effectively; it violates the sense of sisterhood.
But:

• there is no monolithic woman
• easy to become alienated in a sexist culture
• easily stereotyped
• competition often becomes personal.
• What has Title IX done to help women compete effectively

Worst sources of toxicity (from survey):

• baby boomers
• older librarians concerned younger librarians will take their position before they can retire
• young, new coordinator who is a drama queen
• generational differences and territorial vs collegial behavior

Baby boomers (1946-64): trustworthy, loyal, helpful friendly, courteous and kind, clean and reverent, thrifty and brave
Generation X (1965-80): independent, techno-literate, mistrustful of bureaucracies; may be perceived as slackers

Some truths to the stereotypes.

Avoiding toxicity
some people are "jerks" (a gender neutral term)

• recognize familiar patterns
• identify chronic, temporary or inevitable toxic situations
• overcome stereotypes and patterned responses
• understand your role as a colleague or manager

ACRL Conference, day 4 - Toxicity

ACRL Conference, day 3 - Mapping Your Path

Panel Session: Mapping Your Path to the Mountaintop
Steven Bell
John Shank
Brian Matthews
Lauren Pressley

What is your career path? What is your mountaintop? Not everyone wants to be an ARL library director, so you have to think about what you want to do.
This session originated in an earlier blog post by Steven Bell entitled, "Are you where you want to be professionally?"

Career planning should be strategic and thoughtful.

- Reading things such as inside higher education and chronicle of higher education is key.
- Publication is also good; whether on a blog or other social media. It can get you noticed.

What catch-phrase summarizes your path?

• Steve: hills and valleys: it is a long road that takes many turns. Don't focus attention on someone that is getting a lot of attention; focus on yourself. Keep persisting.
  
• John: tenure with a twist: focus on things about which you are passionate, and match those with your personal strengths. traditional institution in a non-traditional position (instructional design librarian).
  
• Brian: Emeril Lagasse of librarianship: goal to be transformative or purposeful. a lot of people didn't watch cooking shows until Emeril. How can I change the library profession
• Lauren: Start early and keep it in high gear: had a rough first job search, and didn't want to have another one.

From the audience:

• If at first you don't succeed, smash your head into the wall again and again
• I'm scared out of my mind right now (first person going up for tenure in over 20 years)
• Fake it 'til you make it (you have to try everything until it comes to you)
• Don't be afraid to fail, instead, embrace opportunity.
  
• You never know what's coming around the corner (take the blinders off)
• Find the gap and then fill it (interested in international librarianship)
• Play your career like you'd play at poker
• Opportunistic humanist (wanted humanities-related jobs, but remained open to go where the jobs are)
  
• Give back!
  

What sacrifices are you willing to make?
Publications are key, but shouldn't be about tenure.

What role has publishing and presenting played in your lives?

• Lauren: blogging as publishing has been key. You must pay attention to what's going on in the field at large. and this has forced me to learn more about and become an expert in some areas - leading to presentations and now a first book
• John: Publishing (traditional) is needed for tenure process. Hadn't published in previous positions. sharing your knowledge, expertise and experience with others. Blogs, as an example, is a publishing medium. Not yet recognized for tenure, but who knows.
  
• Brian: did a scholarly article, but it was "dry and boring." But wasn't that replicating what was previously published? Write for the widest audience possible. (John: when you're writing an article, think about the outcome; this will determine the venue).
  

From the audience:

• do you need to publish in scholarly publications, even if you're tenure track? Service to the profession could also be important.
  
• Presenting is just as important - local, regional and national conferences can also be a means to share information. Submit proposals. Also a good way to meet people.
  
• Publish and present whether or not it is required. Can make you a better candidate for jobs and gives you practice.
• You need not present on "traditional" library topics. Publish about things related and relevant (like Wikipedia)
• Presentations can help you get jobs. Don't limit yourself to "library" topics.
  

Look for the things that make you uneasy.
Learn about new technologies.

What's your perspective on innovation and entrepreneurship in developing your career strategy?

• Brian: GA Tech provided opportunities. Stepped away from the library profession and joined a local marketing group. Learn from the corporate/business colleagues
• John: Creating new and innovative positions. Collaborations between library and IT or library and other departments. You'll get a different perspective form those who aren't librarians. How can these ideas be integrated into library work?
  
• Lauren: innovation is about risk. Stakes are relatively low, but payoff can be huge.

From the audience:

• if you wan to be innovative, work at a small college or community college or work as a solo librarian.
• Learn things that you don't know; you may be required to teach them later
• take on new, non-traditional responsibilities (teach outside of the library profession, in your subject area).
  

What's the next step in your career?

• Lauren: Continue looking for ways to contribute, help institution, develop skills. Look for more opportunities
• Brian: The move into administration. How can I remain "edgy" and political?
  
• John: Starting a doctoral program. Capitalize on the partnerships with faculty and others on campus and applying those to the library to help raise awareness.
  
• Steven: not sure. enjoys working with others who are new to the profession and enjoys sharing insight and information.
  

ACRL Conference, day 3 - Mapping Your Path

ACRL Conference, day 3 - Library Workforce

Contributed Paper session: Where have all the librarians gone? The academic library workforce of today and tomorrow.
Barbara Moran, UNC Chapel-Hill
Paul Solomon, University of South Carolina

What can workforce studies tell us?
why choose a career
why do you stay or leave
career patterns
what leads to career growth and satisfaction
how long to retire

But, as a whole, we have not tracked our profession. We aren't therefore prepared for the nest generation of librarians. No succession planning.

Workforce Issues in Library and Information Science (WILIS 1) : study of career patterns of NC LIS graduates from 1964 - 2004 (WILIS 2 will help LIS programs track their graduates).

6 LIS programs in the area from a diverse standpoint.
Full survey to over 7500 (35% response rate; 31% of which are now working in academic libraries). Brief summary reports are available on the WILIS website.

ACRL Conference, day 3 - Library Workforce