Rediscovering Joy in Academic Librarianship

UPDATE: New ONLibChat format and time!

In the midst of budget changes, competing priorities, and evolving roles, it’s easy to lose sight of what makes academic librarianship joyful in the first place. The OCULA Council encourages you to take this opportunity to reconnect with the parts of your work that inspire curiosity, creativity, and purpose, whether that means collaborating with faculty, supporting student learning, shaping collections, designing instruction, advancing research, or building inclusive services to better serve campus communities. Together we will discuss and reflect on:

• The core skills that enhance the meaning and impact of academic library work;

• Ways to realign daily tasks, projects and initiatives with personal and professional sources of satisfaction;

• Practical strategies for sustaining motivation and curiosity within academic environments.

Reframe your work through a lens of purpose and possibility. Leave with renewed perspective, concrete ideas, and a reminder that joy—while sometimes quiet—is still very much present in academic librarianship.