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When they came for the librarians: My profession is under attack — what happens now?

People in my profession are used to mockery and low salaries. We didn’t expect constant insults and real danger

“America’s libraries are under attack. It’s no longer enough that far-right interest groups and politicians are coming for our collections; they’ve turned their ire towards our staff too. In recent months, there has been an alarming trend of community members and officials calling for the dismissal of librarians over books they’ve purchased for their patrons — usually titles focusing on race, gender and sexuality. Groups like Moms for Liberty are training their members on how to target us on our personal social media pages. Library workers are being vilified in the same way as teachers — a troubling phenomenon that’s contributing to the nationwide educator shortage. 

Morale among library workers has been suffering for a while now. Fobazi Ettarh’s 2018 essay on vocational awe in the profession first called attention to the high rates of burnout among librarians based on the pressure of working in a noble-presenting field with little support. The new stress, fatigue and even danger that the pandemic brought to frontline workers has made it worse. 

“…As the leader of my organization, I do everything I can to shield my staff from the flack that comes with library work. I have no problem being the face of my library; I fully understand that’s what I’m paid to do. My fundamental goals are to keep my employees safe, happy and supported. At a certain point, however, the abuse starts to take its toll. 

Two months ago, I was publicly called a “groomer” — one of the far right’s homophobic insults — for daring to wade into the waters of promoting Pride Month. 

For the last several weeks, my name has been dragged on social media and I’ve been publicly accused of lying and violating state law for asking a patron not to photograph a nearly 250-year-old expensive document in my library’s possession. Another resident stated I needed “to go” and urged others to “get the pitchforks.” Why? Because I was doing my job.

Prior to that, a patron posted incomplete screenshots of emails I had sent her after she didn’t like my answer about why our Friends group had recycled some moldy donated books. This spiraled into personal attacks about my leadership abilities. 

The list goes on.

As a public official, my ability to respond to this bullying — and that’s what it is — is limited. Unlike an elected politician, however, I did not sign up for this. I took a job for a paycheck and with the aim of trying to help others, not to feel that my mental health and work-life balance are under constant attack.

I want to say that my situation is atypical for librarians. Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s true. We are living in an increasingly divided society in which those with differing opinions are seen as inherently bad. Without systemic support from our stakeholders, I don’t see these issues getting much better. 

So what happens when you come after librarians? If things keep getting worse, there is little incentive for us to remain in the field. We are categorically underpaid, and especially for those living in deep red states, the fear of losing our jobs over political differences is very real. With a recent high-profile study highlighting the trauma that library workers face, how can you blame us? Thanks to budget and staffing cuts, many of us are also chronically overworked. It wasn’t until I took my current job about two years ago that I could finally afford not to work a second job on top of full-time library work. “

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