I’m elated to announce that my partnership with Library Juice Academy has expanded to offer my new course, “Reimagining Workplace Empowerment: Reducing Low Morale for Racial and Ethnic Minority Librarians.” The four-week intensive, asynchronous course starts in May and centers my second low morale study on racial and ethnic minority academic librarians (co-authored with Ione T. Damasco, University of Dayton).
Similar to my original low morale course, this new course also leverages personal expression channels to help people dealing with low morale begin reflection, engage in restorative dialogue, and solidify actions that aid low morale recovery. The course also acknowledges aspects of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) and offers attendees opportunity to offer counter-narratives about low morale in a predominantly White profession.
The 2019 low morale study on racial and ethnic minority librarians revealed additional Impact factors and Enabling Systems unique to this group, including:
- Stereotype threat
- Deauthentication
- Racism
- Whiteness in LIS
- White supremacy
- Diversity rhetoric
- Oppressed group behavior
Study participants recognized the difficulties they had in articulating the emotional, social, and political impacts of these issues with non-racial or non-ethnic minority colleagues; moreover, they shared reservations in discussing the same issues within public-private intra-racial professional spaces (e.g. diversity resident-focused forums). At the same time, the study revealed the empowering role of having a sense of community and a desire for safe spaces to discuss this experience and its effects on health, practice, and career.
Through
- study participant feedback
- iterative presentations of my research
- messages and discussions with colleagues about their experiences
- the Renewers Community (Facebook) and
- my continuing research, professional development initiatives, narrative data collection, and deauthentication data collection,
this course offers a racial- and ethnic minority-centered safe space that focuses on low morale recovery and countermeasure creation. It represents my ongoing efforts to help people regain equilibrium and confidence in their professional (and personal) lives. I hope you will join me and encourage others to do the same.
Learn more about registration/enrollment.
