Comments on: Library profession ranks high on depression

By: FamManLib

FamManLib — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 16:58:00 +0000

Thank you for this thoughtful comment. I personally believe that the skill set, the attitudes and approach of librarians, will never go away.

By: Subotaicataloger

Subotaicataloger — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 16:55:00 +0000

This comes perhaps four years too late, but I can hazard a guess. Librarians have the advantage over some professions (Lawyers and politicians comes to mind) of being generally viewed fondly (no there all crooks, kill all the lawyers jooks), but as far as impressions of efficacy/prestige they tend to take quite a few hits especially since the dawning of the internet age. This has both surfaced in the public arena, and in professional discourse. I couldn’t count the number of “The end of …” posts and articles I’ve seen. I’m sure every speciality has had its own stories of this. My own speciality of cataloging/metadata has certainly had its share. Despite the stereotype, inevitabily based on some reality, many librarians are quite willing to embrace new things beyond the old techniques, but they are only human with varying temperments and the pace of change can strain the best of us. I do wonder if it is the fear of whether we can salvage the profession (and for goodness sake, how? No one seems to know or agree) rather than just change (which is after all affecting plenty of professions that no questions the future existance of). This is just my lens on the situation, but I know from a few colleagues in private conservation that I’m heardly the only one. There is in fact a book on the psychology of librarianship coming out that I look forward to reading. All things change, and even pass away as Buddha has said, and perhaps our profession will change beyond the capacities of some of our members to continue in it, or indeed its functions may be passed on to other institutions (such as for profit companies) and technologies or wither from lack of economic will to support them.

By: FamManLib

FamManLib — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 21:09:15 +0000

Hi,

Unfortunately I don't know. If I find some pointers I'll let you know, ok?

Thanks.

By: FamManLib

FamManLib — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 14:09:15 +0000

Hi,

Unfortunately I don't know. If I find some pointers I'll let you know, ok?

Thanks.

By: librarydude

librarydude — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 19:25:37 +0000

Sir–I am “a” family man librarian, but obviously not “the” family man librarian Statistics notwithstanding: are you aware of any resources about how to deal with depression among librarians or library workers in general? Thanks for reading.

By:

Brian Schoppe — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 18:39:34 +0000

I am actually suprised by these numbers. I was suprised that people in Sports were so high. You would think with all that exercise you would have some good endorphins going through those people.

I was also suprised that computer science was so low. Programming and testing tend to be rather isolating careers with little human interaction. I found it interesting that your chances of depression went up with more human interaction. Seems contradictive to one of the suggested cures of depression.