About this Talk
In a profession rooted in service, care, and holding space for others, burnout can feel like an inevitable by-product. But what if the answer isn’t to push through—what if it’s to reframe how we work, lead, and care for ourselves?
This session explores kindness not as something soft or optional, but as a radical, systemic approach to preventing burnout and transforming library culture. Drawing on psychological research, lived experience, and real-world examples from the library sector, we’ll uncover how embedding kindness—towards ourselves and one another—can lead to more sustainable, courageous, and connected workplaces.
Participants will leave with practical tools, gentle prompts, and renewed permission to approach their work with boundaries, compassion, and strength.
Objectives
Understand burnout through a kindness lens, exploring the root causes in library settings and how unkind systems, perfectionism, and people-pleasing contribute to chronic exhaustion.
Identify practical, sustainable strategies to create kinder, more resilient work cultures—starting with self-kindness, setting boundaries, and reframing care as a shared responsibility.
