Caring for Ourselves and One Another: Supporting Sustainable Practice for Library Staff

This interactive workshop is tailored for front-of-house, non-management, and/or early career library staff, and will explore practical, accessible ways for staff to care for themselves, support their colleagues, and contribute to a psychologically safe workplace. Participants will learn simple strategies for managing stress in the moment and building resilience over time, while acknowledging the limits of self-care. The session will also introduce the concept of “community care,” focusing on collective efforts to create supportive, sustainable library work environments. Attendees will also have the opportunity to reflect on their personal coping strategies and leave with a tailored self-care plan they can put into action. 

Author Bio

Beth Wahler, PhD, MSW is founder and principal consultant at Beth Wahler Consulting, LLC. She is an internationally-recognized consultant, trainer, and researcher whose primary focus is trauma-informed librarianship, library strategies for addressing visitors’ social service-related needs, supporting library staff with serving high-needs visitors and reducing work-related stress/trauma, and various kinds of collaborations, services, and programs to meet visitor, staff, or community needs. She has worked with a wide variety of libraries internationally- urban, suburban, and rural- as well as large library systems and state library associations to provide personalised training opportunities, conduct needs assessments, evaluate library programs/services, and/or develop individualised plans to help meet the needs of their visitor populations and staff. She has also published and presented internationally on library visitor and staff needs, trauma-informed librarianship, and library/social work collaborations. Her book, “Creating a Person-Centered Library: Best Practices for Supporting High-Needs Patrons,” focuses on strategies for supporting visitors with complex needs while simultaneously supporting library staff. She also co-hosts the podcast, Surviving the Stacks, aimed at providing support to library staff across the globe.