The past few years have seen a rise in discourse surrounding boundaries and guardrails among professional librarians. Librarians have been speaking out about overwork, burnout, scope creep, and other areas detrimental to their careers. The concepts of “quiet quitting” and the “villain era” have allowed workers to set work-life balance and demand better working conditions to help avoid burnout. In academic libraries, this is especially significant, as many librarians feel the pressure to perform at high levels in order to achieve tenure or promotion.
This presentation will explore data collected from Canadian university librarian tenure and promotion requirements. Many vague terms such as “excellence” or “superior performance” were prevalent in the regulations, leaving much room for speculation. Librarians who are overworked or asked to go above and beyond are left without concrete guidelines for how to achieve success in their positions. Our institutions have created a space where tenure-track or pre-promotion librarians struggle to set these boundaries because the expectations for the level of work needed to advance is purposefully vague and broad. A change in the landscape of librarian work and promotional requirements, alongside strategies for successful boundary setting, will be explored.
Learning Objectives:
Critique the current above-and-beyond mindset that is prevalent in academia
Evaluate the tenure/promotions requirements at their own institution