Mindfulness: An Approach to Improving Staff Wellbeing and Development
Mindfulness has never been more popular as a helpful solution to improve our lives and work. At the same time, library staff have never been under more stress or pressure dealing with workplace dysfunction and incivility, shrinking budgets, attacks on the profession by outside groups, and rapid, ever-increasing changes in libraries and how patrons seek information using new technologies.
This course will provide some beginner information on mindfulness practice, create a foundation for incorporating it into the broader library environment, and lead to a more productive and less stressed out staff. Using the Oxford Languages/Google definition of mindfulness as “focusing one's awareness on the present moment,” the instructors will help you explore the implications for library work and professional development for library staff and administrators at all levels.
We will explore questions like:
- How can mindfulness impact library workplace communications and interpersonal conflict?
- What are some aspects of mindful leadership?
The instructors will facilitate an exploration of ideas intended to help us be more at peace and effective in our jobs by applying some basic principles and concepts.
By taking this course, you will learn:
- Foundational mindfulness practice for stress management
- How mindfulness can help create a friendlier and more productive workplace
- Strategies for incorporating mindfulness into the broader library environment
Richard Moniz, EdD is the Director of Library Services for Horry-Georgetown Technical College. Previously, he served as Director of Library Services for Johnson & Wales University's North Miami campus from 1997-2004 and Director of Library Services at Johnson & Wales University's Charlotte campus 2004-2018. He has taught undergraduate classes such as Introduction to Computer Science, Microcomputer Applications, World History from 1500 to Present, U.S. History to 1877, and American Government. Additionally, since 2006, he has served as an adjunct instructor for the MLIS program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Courses taught have included Information Sources and Services, Special Libraries, Library Management and Administration, Information Sources in the Professions, and Online Bibliographic Information Retrieval. He is actively engaged in the profession and has held a number of committee and board responsibilities with ALA, LLAMA, ACRL, CLS, SCLA, SCTEA, and Metrolina Library Association in addition to non-profit organizations such as Carolina Raptor Center, Charlotte Museum of History, and Charlotte's Arts & Science Council. Dr. Moniz has published in numerous periodicals such as College & Undergraduate Libraries, Journal of Library Management, North Carolina Libraries, Library Journal, and Library Leadership & Management. He is sole author of the textbook Practical and Effective Management of Libraries (2010), co-author of Cultivating Civility: Practical Ways to Improve a Dysfunctional Library (2020), The Dysfunctional Library: Challenges and Solutions to Workplace Relationships (2018), Fundamentals for the Academic Liaison (2014), co-author and co-editor of The Personal Librarian: Enhancing the Student Experience (2014), and co-author of The Mindful Librarian: Connecting the Practice of Mindfulness to Librarianship (2016). He also has a contributed chapter in Mid-Career Library & Information Professionals: A Leadership Primer (2015 edition).
Jo Henry is reference and instruction librarian at the Horry-Georgetown Technical College Library (Georgetown Campus) in South Carolina. Previously, she was a librarian at the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library and the information services librarian at South Piedmont Community College. Ms. Henry obtained a Master of Library and Information Studies from the University of North Carolina Greensboro and a Master of Public Administration from Georgia Southern University. She has published in Journal of Library Administration, College & Research Libraries News, Public Services Quarterly, Library Review, and Community & Junior College Libraries and has presented at the ALA Annual Conference, North Carolina Library Association Conference, South Carolina & Southeastern Library Association Joint Conference, and Metrolina Library Association Conference. She has co-authored five books: Fundamentals for the Academic Liaison (2014), The Personal Librarian: Enhancing the Student Experience (2014), The Mindful Librarian (2016), The Dysfunctional Library: Challenges and Solutions to Workplace Relationships (2017), and Cultivating Civility: Practical Ways to Improve a Dysfunctional Library (2020).
If you have questions or requests regarding accessibility, contact us at ce@ala.org or at 312-280-5100.