Librarian Stress

There was an article published a while back touting the stress levels librarians claim to be experiencing.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4605476.stm

What struck me as funny was what was causing the stress…

“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 their career.”

Now, correct me if I am wrong, but this does not sound like stress, this sounds like boredom. And AFAIK, boredom the complete opposite of stress. How weird is that?

I think I know what is going on here. I have had other jobs in my previous lives. I worked with lawyers in a law firm. I also worked in construction. I can tell you from experience; those jobs were far more stressful then working as a librarian. I suspect we have a lot of career librarians who have no good base point for measuring their stress levels. Think about it, any stress at all, no matter how little, will seem like a lot if you have never really experienced sex. Err,.,, stress. You get my point.

Law firm: The night before a deposition we would often work all night. This was normal. On a sidnote, lawyers are cool people to work with. Really cool. Out of 30, only 2 were your stereotypical wastes of flesh. Loved the rest of them. Miss ‘em.

Construction: Yelling and screaming at contractors and employees was normal. Office cussing and inappropriate behavior (sexual harassment anybody) also a norm.

Nursing: My mother is a nurse (RN) , peoples lives in your hands… nothing more stressful then peoples lives depending on you. You screw up, somebody dies. No thank you!

No matter how bad a librarian screws up, nobody dies (they may be raped in the stacks, but that is the below blog). Librarians are not that important in the scheme of things and when you start to think you are “all-that”, it is time for a reality check.

another ridiculous article...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article787479.ece