Recognizing and Addressing Burnout in Academic Librarians: Starting the Academic Year with Balance

The beginning of a new academic year often feels like a sprint—orientation sessions, library instruction, committee meetings, and the rush of new responsibilities. But the truth is that the academic year is a marathon, not a sprint. Without mindful pacing and care, librarians can find themselves exhausted, disillusioned, and burned out before midterms arrive.

Burnout is not just tiredness. It’s a complex, multi-layered state marked by exhaustion, cynicism, and a sense of inefficacy. In higher education, it is intensified by institutional pressures, shrinking resources, and the hidden expectation that passion for the profession can substitute for sustainable working conditions.

Signs of Burnout in Academic Librarians

You may be burned out if:

• Professional disengagement: Conferences, professional development, and committee work feel like chores. Writing, presenting, or even brainstorming new ideas no longer excites you.

• Overwork without reward: You put in long hours, but the payoff feels like little more than a cost-of-living raise—or nothing at all.

• Emotional exhaustion: A bone-deep emptiness where even routine teaching or service feels overwhelming.

• Cognitive fog: Difficulty concentrating, forgetfulness, or reduced creativity.

• Behavioral withdrawal: Avoiding students and faculty, finishing fewer projects, or “checking out” emotionally.

• Physical strain: Insomnia, headaches, stomach issues, or recurrent illness.

• Compassion fatigue: Detachment from students or colleagues, minimizing their needs because your empathy well feels dry .

• Gaslighting and self-doubt: Internalized messages of “not doing enough” or “not being good enough,” often reinforced by academic culture .

Why Burnout Happens in Academic Libraries

Academic librarianship is deeply rewarding—but also uniquely vulnerable to burnout. Some of the key drivers include:

• Vocational awe: The belief that library work is too noble to resist, leading to chronic overwork.
• Emotional labor: Sustaining patience, care, and calmness while supporting students and faculty, even when drained.
• Structural inequities: Understaffing, budget cuts, and rising expectations.
• Cultural gaslighting: The implicit message that exhaustion is a badge of honor and that asking for help is weakness .

These conditions create what Monique Valcour calls a pattern of “marathons at a sprint pace”
—a pace that no professional can sustain indefinitely.

Solutions: Building Resilience and Renewal

The good news is that burnout is not permanent. Research and lived experience point toward both personal strategies and organizational changes that can restore balance.

1. Practice Self-Compassion

Rebecca Pope-Ruark emphasizes that recovery begins with treating yourself with compassion. Instead of harsh self-talk, acknowledge your limits and extend to yourself the grace you offer to students .

2. Reframe Self-Care as Sustainability

Self-care isn’t indulgence—it’s survival. Think in terms of dimensions of wellness (social, physical, emotional, intellectual, occupational, spiritual) and identify which areas need attention. Build a plan that goes beyond bubble baths to include therapy, rest, exercise, or creative outlets .

3. Set Boundaries Without Guilt

You cannot serve effectively if you are constantly depleted. Decline committee work that doesn’t align with your values. Pause projects when your plate is too full. Boundaries are not a weakness but a professional strength.

4. Reconnect With Meaning

Reflect on what drew you to librarianship—helping students become independent learners, connecting people with knowledge, building equitable collections. Centering meaningful tasks can help you find purpose again.

5. Normalize Conversations About Mental Health

Academia often pressures faculty and staff to appear “fine.” Breaking that silence—whether with colleagues, students, or mentors—reduces stigma and creates pathways for mutual support .

6. Advocate for Structural Change

Burnout is not just an individual problem; it is a workplace problem. Advocate for workload equity, recognition of emotional labor, and resources to support professional development. Small systemic shifts can have lasting impact.

Final Thoughts

Burnout in academic librarianship is real, widespread, and often hidden behind a “keep calm and serve” culture. Recognizing the signs early is essential—not to shame ourselves, but to reclaim agency.

At the start of this academic year, remember: the calendar is long, and your energy is finite. Protecting your well-being is not selfish; it is strategic. Your library doesn’t just need your labor—it needs you whole, present, and well.

Further Reading

Becker, B. W. (1993). Characteristics of Bibliographic Instruction in Relation to Librarians’ Job Burnout. 

Pope-Ruark, R. (2023). Compassion: Unraveling Faculty Burnout. In Unraveling Faculty Burnout.

Stark, S., et al. (2023). Burnout in Academic Librarians: A Study Using the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory. 

Valcour, M. (2016). Beating Burnout. Harvard Business Review.