Just under a month ago, Library Juice Academy hosted a free webinar that I led, titled “Callings, Crises, & Community: Considering Critical Hope in 21st-Century Librarianship.” Over 100 folks registered for the free hour-long event, which introduced Critical Hope practice and gave space to think about how Critical Hope can be applied in librarianship and imagine personal points of entry to practice.
During the Webinar
Content included reviews of professional/industrial identity and associated tensions that come from these identities, including overwork, values weaponization, negative workplace behaviors, and systemic barriers – along with how these tensions affect workplace operations and library workers’ mental and physical health. I also shared background information about the Critical Hope framework, highlighting insight from legacy and contemporary scholars who note how Hope may be disguised or misrepresented and share succinct guideposts for practice in the modern world.
Critical Hope practice is action-oriented; therefore, conversations about pathways to community-building and acknowledging the effectiveness of small, consistent actions – along with the critical role of Self-Preservation – were also encouraged, and several focused reflections and practices were offered throughout the event.
Webinar Evaluation
Share something you learned during [the webinar] or a concept that was defined more clearly during the webinar:
- “Just having more of a discussion about what critical hope can be and the background of it was really enlightening.”
- “The idea and nuance of hope as well as what it means to embrace our humanity.”
- “The framework of critical hope in libraries was clarified for me.”
Share how the information offered may impact your daily or long-term librarianship practice:
- “It will help me in continuing to build my world around my values as opposed to living to survive.”
- “This will change some of how I interact with my coworkers so that our attitudes can shift and we can then spread that to the wider community over time.”
- “I think critical hope is fundamental for our success as a profession – I think taking in concepts like relentless incrementalism will impact my daily practice.”
Share something you’d like to learn more about as a result of attending [the webinar]:
- “Want to dive into Emergent Strategy more, it wasn’t discussed much here, but the concepts were similar and so I want to better understand those correlations.”
- “I’d like to learn more about all of it. I believe this could have been a much longer session.”
- “I want to hear more about the strategies Kaetrena has for combating low morale and burnout.”
What are your next steps to begin Critical Hope practice personally or in your LIS practice?
- “Work to continue building breaks, reflection, and mindfulness moments throughout my work day and not “saving” it until the work day is over.”
- “To take the time to look over my notes and consider what was discussed, then create an outline of how I could begin to slowly implement what I learned.”
- “I think embracing relentless incrementalism will be my next step, and I will read some of the resources shared.”
What are some ways you may encourage others to consider and/or implement Critical Hope?
- “[F]ind resources that can help you implement the changes you need – this can be hard and it took me doing something very scary to be able to do it, but I found a health coach, a financial coach, and a career coach that were based in feminist ethics of care and anti-capitalism to help me realize how I could shift the structure of my life to give back to my community while also addressing my health needs. It isn’t easy, in fact it was the hardest few years of my life, but taking the time to be uncomfortable has led to some of my happiest days.”
- “By explaining to them what it actually means and how it can impact them personally rather than focusing only on the professional aspect.”
- “I think presenting some of the lower bars to entry will be the way I promote this practice to others in my library/my library community.”
Would you attend a future webinar on Critical Hope in LIS?
- Yes: %100
Thanks to everyone who attended this conversation, and to Library Juice Academy for sharing their platform. Thanks, as well, to Sophie Ziegler, who coordinated the webinar and offered live support during the event!
Are you seeking ways to meet today’s organizational challenges through care and reflection? Let’s schedule a Connection Call to explore your next steps!
