Brian Striman
Head of Technical Services & Professor of Law Library
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Marvin & Virginia Schmid Law Library - Lincoln, NE
Of Rubber Bands and LTMs
Law Library Journal Fall, 2001
How is it that some law librarians are able to maintain a high degree of balance, vitality and enthusiasm, and interest after ten, twenty, or thirty years in our profession? In this short essay I hope to partially answer that question with lessons learned from my twenty-five years of experience as a law librarian. The comments are a distillation from my video vignette that was presented at an educational program offered at the 2000 AALL Annual Meeting.1
The program was held in a huge room, with most seats occupied. I sat in the last row to gauge the reactions of my colleagues. My vignette was probably the wildest one of the bunch. About midway through the video some in the audience began whispering to each other, followed soon thereafter by outright laughter. People seemed relieved that I couldn't really be serious about some of those ideas. I spoke of rubber bands, sleeping, exercising, eating, and LTMs (licensed massage therapists); of doing silly things throughout the workday; treating yourself and your staff with goodies like doughnuts; low-cost ways to dress up from time to time; finding niches in the organization that can be exploited; publishing; and volunteering. Some of these topics challenged my colleagues. In the remaining paragraphs I'll show how they relate to three large areas that encompass one's work life.
Balance. Your career is just a part of your life. If any portion of your life gets out of balance, eventually it will affect your career aspirations. It's easy to forget how important the interplay is between your career and the rest of your life. On rare occasion, getting off balance can lead to an unexpectedly better career path. You need to have balance both at work and in the rest of your life—imbalance in one can lead to imbalance in the other. For example, getting less sleep than you need—a nonwork imbalance—very likely will lead to problems at work. Sleep deprivation eventually creeps into your career path. Eating habits are another potential problem area. If your mood at work switches toward irritability around midmorning, it may be due to the doughnut and thirty-two ounce espresso you inhaled while coming to work. Danger!—it all becomes normal after awhile. If this sort of imbalance becomes routine, it can block the vitality and enthusiasm you could be bringing to your work place.
Vitality and enthusiasm. These dynamic energies work in consort. Vitality is an inward energy that moves in positive ways to keep you engaged in what you are doing moment by moment. Enthusiasm is a natural outpouring of vitality, a force usually noticed by others that can be spread to those around you. You need the energy of vitality to create enthusiasm. It's impossible to have either vitality or enthusiasm if you are sleep-deprived or aren't eating right. Some catalysts for vitality and enthusiasm are "treats and rewards" you give—in moderation—to yourself and to others: favorite food and beverage treats like M&Ms; chocolates; soda, coffee, or tea; fresh fruit; or bagels. Another way is to break your daily routine—watch the vitality start up. For example: you come home, your shoulder and neck muscles are so tense they're as solid as a smithy's anvil. Is a box of cheese puffs and half a pint of Jack Daniels going to get those shoulders properly toned? No. So how do you deal with ongoing, long-term muscle tension? You find a good LMT. Hot tubs, saunas, and whirlpools are helpful if you just can't get past the LMT concept.
Some may think these things are too expensive or too much trouble. Really? Do you want to climb out of drudgery and minimal energy or not? Honestly, you need to look at your overall attitude and plug it into your career path. What's it going to take for you to get vitality and enthusiasm and then to maintain them for the long run? Maybe by calendaring every Thursday as a day to bring in something to share with your colleagues. Also, introduce a quality of the nonroutine to work and express it daily by doing something out of the ordinary. Dress up on Fridays. Shoot a rubber band at a coworker who you know will get a kick out of something silly like that. Bring in a harmonica and toot it once in a while. Oh, and try smiling more often. Engage yourself with those around you. Don't get so self-absorbed with your own job responsibilities that you trap yourself in isolation. Break the social or institutional patterns of isolation that are used as a "survival" technique by sharing rewards and treats with your coworkers.
Interest. Once you've got balance, vitality, and enthusiasm, the next element in your path to career longevity is "interest." Think of interest as encompassing a broad spectrum that includes being motivated, aroused, engaged, involved, and curious. Generally, once you've got balance, vitality, and enthusiasm, interest in your job responsibilities will come automatically. Some individuals, however, exude vitality, enthusiasm, and balance in professional association activities at the expense of using those qualities in their own organizations. Danger!—something's not in balance. One way to develop job-related interest is to focus on something that needs doing but that no one has shown an inclination to do. For example, if you have an interest in e-mail encryption but no one knows much about it in your library and no one wants to take the time to learn, this is a niche that you can fill. You exploit it and become an expert in it. Then you ask around to see if anyone wants to learn more about it and you start teaching and educating people on its usefulness. Soon people are asking you more questions about it. Niche-finding exists in all libraries. You just need to become aware enough to find the niche and dig into it and become a local expert on it. In other words, you "cultivate" an interest that enhances the esteem of your colleagues and provides you with a means of self-motivation where you naturally become involved, curious, and productive. The more one's individual interest grows, the more likely it is that a subtle sense of ownership and interest in the larger picture of what the organization is all about will occur. The more you practice your "interest" skills, the more you equip yourself to maintain a high degree of balance, vitality and enthusiasm, and interest, even after ten, twenty, or thirty years in our profession.
1. Gateway to Career Renewal: Paths for the Experienced Law Librarian, program presented at the 93rd Annual Meeting of the American Association of Law Libraries, Philadelphia (July 18, 2000) (audiotape available from Mobiltape Co.).
For More Information About Law Librarianship or the AALL Recruitment Committee, contact committee chair Sarah Mauldin.