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historyhermann · 9 months

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Job creep among fictional librarians

In her 2018 In the Library with the Lead Pipe article, "Vocational Awe and Librarianship: The Lies We Tell Ourselves," Fobazi Ettarh writes about job creep. She defines it as subtle and slow expansion of job duties not recognized by the organization or their supervisors. Since librarians are often expected to place their duties and place the profession above their own interests, leading job creep to become common. This manifests itself in employees doing more but having less time to accomplish their tasks. As a result, employees who can't do more than what is in the job description are seen as not doing the minimum and their managed may believe they are not committed to the organization or its mission if the extra tasks aren't completed. This interconnects with the idea of librarianship as a religious calling, with some asked to do "dangerous emotional and physical labor" without getting the support or tools provided to other professions who do those duties.

Originally published on Pop Culture Library Review on August 3, 2023.

Job creep is more than employees being pressured to "deliver more than the normal requirements of their jobs" and tied to undercompensation, part of a twin phenomenon in librarianship. It is interconnected to vocational awe, meaning that assumptions, values, and ideas librarians have about the profession or themselves. This results in the beliefs that libraries, as institutions, are "inherently good and sacred, and therefore beyond critique" as Ettarh puts it. Such job creep is inherent in librarianship due to self-sacrificing and service-oriented workplaces, as noted by Ettarh.

In terms of libraries this means librarians are "undertaking jobs they might not have trained for" like giving tax help or even administering Narcan to people who have overdosed. In terms of fictional librarians, I struggled a little to find those who do more than what is expected. One example, could be, perhaps, Myne/Main in Ascendance of a Bookworm. Although she is dedicated to becoming a pioneer of the printing press in this world, she becomes a priest in order to work in the library, so she can be a librarian who helps people. It was much more than she "signed up for", just as it is with librarians who deliver Narcan but never signed up for such a task. [1]

On the other side are characters like Kaisa in Hilda. As she is a librarian first, and witch second, perhaps she believes as some librarians do, that librarians are responsible for the safety of "patrons who come inside your library doors". In the case of Kaisa, she takes this responsibility far through her magic. She makes sure Hilda and Frida are ok, and safe. At the same time, Hilda and Frida help her get out of the void and make sure all of them aren't lost for eternity. The Trolberg library probably doesn't have active-shooter response training, like some libraries, but that doesn't matter because there are witches, who work below the library, or in the library itself, like Kaisa. She undoubtedly recognizes that there are other ways to protect patrons "besides having a gun and going blasting" as some librarians have stated.

There are other librarians who do more than expected. Take Clara Rhone in Welcome to the Wayne. She provides the protagonists with "critical information" and recognizes there are "different pathways to attaining information." She also realizes, to some degree, the role of librarians to help people "meet their informational needs." [3] Without her help, Ansi, Olly, and Sarah would have never found the mysteries, and secrets, of the Wayne apartment building. If the library she works, the Stanza, had never been there, it could have never been a sanctuary from those who were chasing them. It would have never been a place to give them the information they needed for their journeys. Without Clara, the protagonists would have not succeeded in their goals, not for a second. There is no doubt in my mind about that.

Clara is not alone. One librarian who appears to do much more than they bargained for is the unnamed and uncredited librarian in an episode of We Bare Bears. Possibly voiced by Ashly Burch, [4] this librarian undoubtedly encountered homeless and semi-homeless library patrons. This is because she is working in a library somewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area, as I wrote about back in May. This librarian appears to let the protagonists sleep the night over at the library, which is unique, considering that some librarians, at least in anime, are shown sleeping at the information desk, which will be the subject of a post two weeks from now. This librarian likely believes that you have to, as some librarians argued, "do the job that’s actually there, not the one that exists in your head", realizing the importance of librarians in serving the community in whatever way possible.

On the other hand, this librarian likely is not being supported by any managers or mentors telling her that burnout, as is empathy fatigue, a big problem, and to not be so hard on herself. Even so, I hope that she believes that she can't "solve all the problems" and that it isn't her responsibility to leave "work at work." [5] Hopefully she is like those librarians who take vacations, if she has paid time off, which is hopefully provided by her library, when needed, and relax.

There were other stories of librarians having trauma from their experiences, even if they loved "providing a service to underserved people". Maybe they believed that society "needs an overhaul for how we treat people" like one librarian. [6] In the past, I've written about a papermaster (Anita) in R.O.D. the TV who was traumatized by the burning of books, which scarred her for life. Learning that one of the protagonists, Yomiko Readman, was behind the act (because her powers got out of control), ruined her. I've also noted that an action of a librarian, Wan Shi Tong (voiced by Héctor Elizondo), caused Korra, a protagonist of Legend of Korra to be even more traumatized that she already was previously in the series.

More than the aforementioned characters is Amity Blight (voiced by Mae Whitman). She is a lesbian who is in a relationship with another protagonist, and she directly experiences trauma, something which is at the core of The Owl House, as I noted in an article last year. As some reviewers have argued, Luz becomes a revelation that Luz needs, even if she has to confront trauma and "move away from those in her life who are only capable of hurt." This also involves going at trauma head-on and realizing it doesn't control her anymore. [7] At the same time, Amity gets fired from her job at the library, in the episode "Through the Looking Glass Ruins." Although she gets her job back, some have argued that getting fired can be an "extremely traumatic experience". It can also come with depression, anger, and resentment, although those feelings can fade over time. Some have even argued that getting fired is a form of "abandonment trauma" and can be tragic, especially for those who feel they are fired for no reason. It can also lead to self-defeating thoughts and distress of some kind. [8]

In the case of Amity, she undoubtedly feels distressed about the whole thing, considering she got the job and her own study room in the library. However she recognizes that her boss, Malphas (voiced by Fred Tatasicore) can be nice at times, but would also feed her, and Luz, to bookworms if they were caught in the forbidden section. Despite this, she endeavors to help Luz, even though this puts her job on the line!

This brings me to other librarians. Some have argued that although those in library school don't "ever teach everyone everything they might need to know" and it becomes impractical to believe that students can be taught "all the dimensions of their jobs." These same librarians argue that while certain things aren't included in library classes, "curriculum- and program-level changes are difficult." One person who would likely recognize this is Mo Testa in Dykes to Watch Out For. She is a graduate from library school dedicated to social justice, even rejecting a job because the previous librarian disagreed with the Patriot Act and left. She clearly sees the library as the "temple to the written word", connecting with what I have earlier about libraries as being like temples, in Japan and beyond.

She is also a lesbian and a feminist. At the same time, she is a reference librarian, is a White female who wears glasses, and is passionate about her beliefs. This undoubtedly translates into her work as a librarian and that stands against stereotypes in more ways than one.

There are librarians who describe job/mission creep as a big problem in librarianship, with "other duties as assigned" becoming a bigger part of your job. Then, you are seen as doing "less than" others when your colleagues do the extra work. These same librarians reject the idea librarians can solve community problems or be social workers when trauma counseling doesn't exist, and supplant the jobs of social workers or medical professionals. Such librarians would also argue against being "stretched thin" by trying to be librarians, social workers, mental health professionals, and more all at the same time, setting a bad precedent, instead of just being information specialists. [10]

I tend to sympathize with this view the most, as a person who once countered a now library consultant (then manager) who I called "Justin the librarian." I wrote, back in 2019, something I still agree with, that it is clearly ignorant to say that librarians do "everything" for every community member. Instead, librarians should do what they can, but never try to be "everything". That would, as I wrote at the time, undoubtedly stretch their personal capacities and the institutions themselves, weakening the profession, even as librarians work to serve patrons from all walks of life.

While characters like Doctor Oldham, who is an old "sage" and a medical doctor, on the Gargantia inter-locking fleet in Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, would fulfill what the previous librarian I summarized would completely oppose, others are different. I would believe that Lydia Lovely in Horrid Henry, Mira and Sahil in Mira, Royal Detective, would not do more than what is assigned. Even Ms. Herrera, who is possibly Latine, in Archie's Weird Mysteries would likely not go beyond what was assigned to her. She does help Archie, an often patron. On the other hand, she may be a bit stretched thin, but that would only be because the library seems to be understaffed and she has a lot on her plate as a result. Hopefully she is well-compensated.

Notes

[1] Quoting/summarizing from the section by Chera Kowalski, Assistant to the Chief of Staff Free Library of Philadelphia in "Other Duties as Assigned: Front-line librarians on the constant pressure to do more," American Libraries, Jan. 2, 2019.

[2] Quoting/summarizing from the section by Tom Rink, Instructor of Library Services at Northeastern State University in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma in "Other Duties as Assigned: Front-line librarians on the constant pressure to do more," American Libraries, Jan. 2, 2019.

[3] Quoting/summarizing from the section by Homa Naficy, Chief Adult Learning Officer at Hartford (Conn.) Public Library in "Other Duties as Assigned: Front-line librarians on the constant pressure to do more," American Libraries, Jan. 2, 2019.

[4] After listening to various video clips of Ashly Burch, Demtri Martin, and Philece Sampler, all of whom were credited with "additional voices", I think the closest to this is Ashly Burch, but I could be completely wrong, and it could be Demtri Martin.

[5] Quoting/summarizing from the section by Graham Tedesco-Blair Adult Services Librarian at Newark (N.Y.) Public Library in "Other Duties as Assigned: Front-line librarians on the constant pressure to do more," American Libraries, Jan. 2, 2019.

[6] Quoting/summarizing from the section by Amanda Oliver, MFA Student at University of California–Riverside who formerly worked in libraries in the Washington, D.C. area and presumably D.C. Public Library in "Other Duties as Assigned: Front-line librarians on the constant pressure to do more," American Libraries, Jan. 2, 2019. Also see: Oliver, Amanda. "Working as a librarian gave me post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms," Los Angeles Times, Apr. 19, 2019.

[7] King, Jade. "The Owl House Is Showing Young Viewers The Necessity Of Queer Rebellion." TheGamer, Jun. 21, 2021.

[8] "Trauma From Being Fired: How to Get Over It and Move On." An Overviews Of Societal And Workplace Issues And their solution, Oct. 3, 2021; Anderson, Susan. "FIRED FROM A JOB: A Silent Form of Abandonment Trauma," AbandonmentRecovery.com, Sept. 12, 2014; Hamdi, Awatef. "How to Get Over from Trauma of Getting Fired for No Reason," fratres, 2021; Carmichael, Ava. "Can Being Fired from a Job Cause PTSD?" Ava Carmichael's website, accessed June 24, 2022; Carter, Sherri Bourg. "Seven Things to Avoid After Being Fired." Psychology Today, Aug. 18, 2011.

[9] Quoting/summarizing from the section by Nicole A. Cooke, Associate Professor and MS/LIS Program Director, School of Information Sciences, at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in "Other Duties as Assigned: Front-line librarians on the constant pressure to do more," American Libraries, Jan. 2, 2019.

[10] Quoting/summarizing from the section by Fobazi Ettarh, Undergraduate Success Librarian, Rutgers University–Newark (N.J.) in "Other Duties as Assigned: Front-line librarians on the constant pressure to do more," American Libraries, Jan. 2, 2019.

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archivyrep · 1 year

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The secret files and mystery in "The Crown"

Churchill looks at archival file, part of the Marbury Archives, in the first part of the episode

While I don't usually watch live-action series these days, I came across an episode of the British Netflix drama series, The Crown, which focuses on archives. When I saw the episode "Vergangenheit" (s2ep6) and I saw the records, I squealed in glee at the archives shown.

Reprinted from my Wading Through the Cultural Stacks WordPress blog. Originally published on Mar. 20, 2021.

As Wikipedia summarizes, the episode, set in 1958, centers around a box of classified documents found by U.S. soldiers in 1945 which belonged to the personal translator of Adolf Hitler. British translators learn about damning information in the files, with Winston Churchill getting the go ahead from the royals so suppress all knowledge of these files. Then, in the present of the show, Queen Elizabeth gets a request from the Duke of Windsor, Edward VIII, to re-enter Britain and he starts convincing former supporters to support his restoration to the throne.

However, one thing stands in the way: The Marburg Files, which show his past links with the high command of the Nazis. Elizabeth confronts Edward about this, and he defends his actions as wanting to be make peace between Germany and England. She is torn between the idea of forgiveness and what she knows. Then, she learns from a long-time government official of the extent of Edward's betrayal and traitorious action. Learning this, she denies the request by Edward, betrates him for his betrayal, especially for a plan where the Germans would take over Britain and return Edward to the throne, and even seeks spiritual counsel from the awful Billy Graham, but stands by her decision to ban him from returning to England.

As it turns out, In 1946, the US, France, and UK agreed to work together to process these files, but the British suppressed the truth until 1957 when the Americans released documents, forcing the British to do the same thing. More files were later released in 1996 by the UK National Archives, with George Kent writing (see the discussion of this starting on pages 45 and 46 of his article) in 1961 about how microfilms of the original documents were made available to students. Anyway, there are a few reviews of the episode in British publications, with The Telegraph noting that the episode ends with "archive footage of Edward and Wallis chinwagging with the Führer" and the British tabloid, Express, calling the Marburg Files "a series of top secret records from the Second World War made up of over 400 tons of foreign minister archives from Nazi Germany." There were reviews of the episode in other publications, but none of them mentioned archives. [1]

I was excited by the scene in the records room, reminding me a bit of the scene in The Joker which I wrote about on this blog, in the past. But first, we get microfilm machines, as we see people in the British Foreign Office analyzing the records. So, that was something I enjoyed. Here is an image of that, about 4 minutes into the episode:

In this image, analysts look at the records, and one man, shown in the foreground, is about to put microfilm in a machine allowing him to view it

He is looking at the original German translation and typing it into English, so can be understood by those reading it. Learning what the document says, he talks to his superior about its contents, and they take it to their superior, who then contacts Churchill. He then agrees to suppress the report so no one knows about it. The royals and others agree to this at the time. Later we see archival boxes in the Captured German War Documents Publication Unit and more archival work inside this publication unit.

I love the part in the scene after this when the woman shown above (apparently a historian) finds a closed, secret file, and we see her working inside the room. This spoke to me in the sense that a lot of the records I index for my jobs are unclassified or secret records, and I can understand that excitement at looking at records like that. So, I loved that part of it. Even so, the room she is sitting in seems awfully dark to me, with only one light illuminating it all, a bit like what the room where Jules did her work in Carmen Sandiego. It falls into the stereotypes of a basement archives too, which is bad as well.

After this, she takes this file to her supervisor, letting him know about the secret file. They all look at the file together and decide to tell their supervisor about it, saying they want to publish the file in order to tell the truth to the British people. Later one of the historians talks to the Prime Minister about the files. Then, the Prime Minister talks to the Queen about it and the file is put in front of a number of people as more and more in the government, and there is discussion of how the Germans destroyed many of their records, as there is a scene that shows Germans burning records a bit like that scene in Read or Die of a book burning, but that the ones in the files were some of the ones that were saved. We also see more scenes of microfilm being reeled by analysts in the British Foreign Office.

Honestly, I think its cool that this whole episode is basically all focused around a set of documents and how to deal with them. But, I wish the archivists and historians had more of a role. Even so, this episode does treat records and archives relatively well.

Notes

[1] See reviews in Vanity Fair, The A.V. Club, History Extra, Newsweek, and Vulture.

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