Jason Martin is the editor of Creating Healthy Library Workplaces: Five Factors That Improve Employee Engagement and Satisfaction, which is available for pre-order from Bloomsbury. My interview with Jason is below.
Please introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Jason Martin. I am the Dean of the Evans Library at Florida Institute of Technology, better known as Florida Tech. My research interests include leadership, organizational culture, and libraries as workplaces. I am a native Floridian, and I am at my happiest during a Florida summer thunderstorm.
Briefly summarize Creating Healthy Library Workplaces: Five Factors That Improve Employee Engagement and Satisfaction.
The idea for the book grew out of research I did on library employee engagement and job satisfaction. Both engagement and satisfaction are extremely important to a positive, well-functioning workplace, and I found five factors that positively influenced both:
- Culture and work environment
- Leadership
- Workload and work environment
- Recognition
- Meaning.
Taken together, these five factors form the foundation of a healthy library workplace. This book consists of original research, theory, and case studies on positive ways to influence each of the five factors and create healthy library workplaces. This book is a practical guide written from different perspectives and applies to all types of libraries. It is intended for everyone who wants to make their library a better workplace.
Why did you decide to write this book?
After I completed the research mentioned above, I realized there was a lot to explore and write about, but I simply did not have enough time or expertise to do it all. That is when I decided a book of contributed chapters would be far more beneficial. This allows readers to hear many different voices and perspectives on the library workplace.
I also wanted to contribute something positive. The library as a workplace is increasingly researched and written about, but many of the results are negative. Libraries of all types have problems in their workplaces, but instead of piling on, which is rather easy to do, I wanted to produce work that would help make workplaces better and offer practical ways to improve libraries.
Over time, what changes have you seen in libraries that influence the five factors?
More people are talking about the library as a workplace and issues related to these five factors. People are demanding more out of their workplaces. “Do more with less” is no longer acceptable. People want to know if their workplace is going to take care of them and treat them properly, not just say they will. Part of this willingness to talk about these issues comes from a realization that criticism is not hatred. You can like your job yet take issue with how your boss treats you.
This comes from the breaking of vocational awe that plagued—and still plagues —libraries (as well as other professions). Starting with my generation—Gen X—and building within successive generations is the desire to go to work, do a good job, and leave work to have a life. What we do for a living is not our all-defining identity, and this approach to work has made library employees more willing to speak out about problems they encounter. We spend a lot of time at work, and bad jobs/workplaces negatively affect our lives outside work.
When I started my professional career, I was told—honestly, this is not a clichéd story—that if I had any problems or difficulties in life, to work more and that would take my mind off things. As a dean, I deal just as much with people’s personal lives as I do their work lives. We hear a lot about bringing our whole selves to work, but I look at that concept a bit differently than most.
Our whole selves consist of relaxing weekends, great vacations, and our favorite books and TV shows; they also consist of kids failing algebra II, sick parents, and fights with spouses. We cannot leave those things at the door of work, so we have to make sure we take care of each other and help each other out.
How can leaders maintain healthy workplaces as technology and outside cultural factors impact libraries?
To be a leader, you must have a shared vision of the library, build relationships with the people in your library, and be competent and effective at what you do. When people become distracted by what is happening outside the library, good leaders can use the shared vision to re-focus people.
Through relationships and the open communication needed to build them, librarians and library staff can share their concerns about technology, or what is happening the wider world, and leaders can support them to work hard at what is in their control and let the rest go. Leaders need to build the skills they need to do this work; the job is not just about managing budgets and fundraising, but also empathy and honest communication.
As you read the chapters, is there anything the authors wrote that surprised you?
A couple of specific things and one general. I was skeptical about a chapter on “Slow Librarianship” by Julie Tedjeske Crane. The last thing libraries need is to be slower, but she based the chapter on the slow movement, started in cooking, where chefs use fewer ingredients but high-quality ones, and take their time preparing food.
This idea has spread, and Julie’s chapter touts the importance of focusing on a few pieces of work at a time in order to produce better work. I think about the chapter a lot as I try to balance all that I need to do as a library dean.
The other is a chapter on sexual harassment perpetuated by library patrons. I have always worked in academic libraries, and this is not something with which I have much experience. Olivia Radbill’s chapter gave me a lot to think about, especially the importance of library leadership taking decisive action to support and protect library employees.
The general thing is how these chapters consist of small steps and actions, but when you add up small actions, they become big movements. I was able to take away at least one element from each chapter and apply it to my own job and my own library workplace.
What are two things you hope all readers take away?
One is that you are not alone. Everyone who works in libraries has experienced some kind of dysfunctional behavior during their career. Having noticed the dysfunction does not mean that you are the problem.
Two is that we can make things better. That is what this book is about. We do not need some great leader to swoop in and fix everything. We can start where we are, with what we have, and all of us can make a difference.
Is there anything else you would like to share?
When it comes to making library workplaces healthier, we all have a role to play. It is not the job of that person over there or your department head: it is your job. Being a leader means stepping out and having the courage to do something before anyone else does. Be a leader. Speak up about things that bother you—because I guarantee you are not the only person who feels that way.
Also, for those in formal leadership roles, stop telling people to bring you solutions when they come to you with problems. All that does is discourage people from talking to you about issues in the workplace. A person might become aware of an issue but not have the expertise to develop a solution.
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