For our final blog post of Mental Health Awareness month, SNAP would like to highlight a few significant issues related to mental health that archivists may experience due to specific labor conditions in the field and the unique aspects of working with archival records. We’d also like to point you towards resources for library workers which provide discussion, support, and information about these and other related elements of mental health. This list is not meant at all to be exhaustive, but hopefully can be a helpful starting point for new and early-career professionals.
Imposter syndrome is not an uncommon burden for archivists, particularly early-career folks. Students and early-career archivists face a job market that often feels hypercompetitive at best and downright demoralizing at worst, fighting for positions which more often than not are characterized with ridiculously low pay yet incredibly demanding job requirements (with many archivists holding multiple advanced degrees and certificates); combine this with an overabundance of precarious and temporary positions within institutions which face continuously changing technological environments and precarious budgets, and really, it is no wonder archivists might feel continuously out of their depth, floundering, and not capable of succeeding professionally. Remember though that imposter syndrome is really the individual internalized product of larger structural and labor issues plaguing the field. You’re definitely worth much more than you’re probably being offered, have a variety of resources and skills to help you survive (and even succeed!) within resource-constrained environments and challenging labor conditions, and most of all, you belong in your job and chosen career path. Finding professional communities to commiserate with can help you recognize that. The very definition of imposter syndrome – as offered by researchers Dr. Pauline Rose Clance and Dr. Suzanne A. Imes in 1978 – notes that perceptions of inadequacy or failure are in place despite objective evidence suggesting otherwise. So let’s reject imposter syndrome. Let’s support each other with empathy and be honest about the challenges and successes we face as skilled professionals doing the best we can with the resources available to us. In the words of Jodi Allison-Bunnell,
“Let’s come out of that dark corner of the stacks, openly reveal our challenges to colleagues, and support one another in developing solutions. Let’s share our comeback stories to make the profession better for all of us. No more metadata shame. And no more imposters” (link to whole blog post here).
It is also really important to remember that we don’t just exist at work, either. You’re trying to build a career in the midst of a global pandemic, climate change, political turmoil, and more. Give yourself a little credit, you’re doing your best.
We also need to recognize that archival labor can be incredibly emotionally intensive and demanding. In other words, archival labor should also be understood as emotional labor. This is a topic of increasing discussion at conferences (for one example, see the 2016 presentation by Anna St Onge, Julia Holland, Danielle Robichaud), in professional journals (i.e. articles by Katie Sloan [2018] and Kristen Chinery and Rita Casey [2021]), and in archival education (i.e. see Nicole Laurent [2020]). Working closely with challenging/difficult/upsetting records, managing donor or researcher relations (i.e. archivists working with grieving donors), navigating toxic or resource-constrained environments, managing insidious racism/homophobia/sexism/ableism in the workplace; these are just a few areas where emotional labor may come into play for archivists. The identity of an archival worker also shapes the ways in which emotional labor makes demands on their time, energy, and workplace experiences. Again, we don’t just exist at work. We bring our personal lives and experiences and reactions to local and global events into work with us every single day.
Check out this rich working document for lots more information about the complex relationship between identity, labor conditions, and the affective dimensions of working both with archival records and within white supremacist, heteropatriarchal, or otherwise oppressive institutions/environments.
And we can’t forget about burnout! We all probably know it or have experienced this at some point in our lives, if not in the current moment. Burnout has been traced or attributed to a variety of things, including the pervasive and toxic presence of “vocational awe” (as defined by Fobazi Ettarh) in the profession, which treats librarianship generally as a vocational calling and venerates the field and the institutions themselves as beyond critique or reproach. It’s important to remember that burnout isn’t a reflection necessarily of you or your worth ethic or character. Rather, burnout is a product of big structural labor issues in the field, including the overreliance on insecure or temp labor, lack of diversity, woeful compensation, job/scope creep, and the toll of emotional labor demanded of many archivists to maintain “professionalism” according to workplace norms. This is a reminder that the path towards overcoming burnout should not only start with self-care (although self-care is very, very important and you should do that too, always!). Overcoming and defeating burnout arguably involves engaging with mutual aid, collective organizing, and advocating for structural changes (that could be its own separate blog post!).
If you are struggling with mental health issues while trying to figure out this career path in the midst of climate change, a global pandemic, personal issues, financial insecurity, and more, just know that you aren’t alone. There are lots of folks within the LIS community who are organizing and providing mental health resources for our community of students and emerging professionals. The LIS Mental Health project offers links to a number of amazing resources for LIS professionals and students, and also produced the Reserve and Renew zine, which is available to order online.
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