This post is not for any of the official assignments as I feel like I need to be upbeat and positive about serving our communities and patrons when I write those. However, I just wanted to share that some of the readings in Module 5 were hard for me to read. Specifically, the ones focusing on how patrons are always right and about needing to get to know your patrons on an intimate personal level to best serve their needs. I understand the logic behind this. However, it also makes me anxious. Last year, I had a bad experience with patron-perpetrated sexual harassment.\u00a0\u00a0At the time, while dealing with that, I could barely staff the service desk, let alone have any kind of personal conversation with a patron for fear it might happen again.<\/p>\n
When we talk about serving our communities, I sometimes forget that I am also a part of my own community, and I deserve to feel safe in the library as well. A year out, I feel much better about patron interactions, and I realize most patrons don\u2019t have bad intentions. I can be personable without being personal. I don\u2019t owe anything to patrons beyond what I am comfortable sharing. This has been a shift in mindset for me. I am better about standing up for myself, and I can still be helpful without it being a detriment to myself. So, folks, use your employee assistance program to talk to counselors. Know your rights. Advocate for yourself, and document things that don\u2019t feel okay. Also, share your struggles with your coworkers because they might be experiencing them too, and you don\u2019t need to struggle alone. Module 5 was all about creating a community that supports all the needs of our patrons. Don\u2019t forget to include staff in this as well!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This post is not for any of the official assignments as I feel like I need to be upbeat and positive about serving our communities and patrons when I write those. However, I just wanted to share that some of the readings in Module 5 were hard for me to read. Specifically, the ones focusing … Continue reading Self-Care While Serving Communities<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":841,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-info-287"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/pieceofmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/pieceofmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/pieceofmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/pieceofmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/841"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/pieceofmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/pieceofmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/pieceofmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22\/revisions\/23"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/pieceofmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/pieceofmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/pieceofmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}