Mindful Librarian : Connecting the Practice of Mindfulness to Librarianship

The Mindful Librarian: Connecting the Practice of Mindfulness to Librarianship explores mindfulness, approaching it in such a way as to relate specifically to the many roles or challenges librarians face. Coinciding with the increased need to juggle a variety of tasks, technologies, ebooks, and databases, the new Association of College & Research Libraries Framework for Information Literacy, and the challenges faced by solo librarians in school libraries which have suffered cutbacks in help in recent years, the time is exactly right for this publication.

The authors hope to be helpful in some small way towards improving the joy and quality of life that librarians and library science students experience in their personal lives and jobs. The loftier goal would be to create a new lens from which to view librarianship, having a transformative impact on readers, and opening a new dialog within the profession.

The topic of mindfulness is not new; it has been connected to various religious traditions in a wide variety of ways for centuries, most notably Buddhism. In the latter part of the 20th century, however, a secular version was popularized largely by the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn and his work on MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) at the University of Massachusetts's Medical School.

The medical benefits and the overall quality of life improvements from its adoption have exploded in recent years, in particular, the last two decades which have seen mindfulness traditions incorporated into education to a greater degree and with very positive results.

Richard Moniz has served as Director of Library services for Johnson & Wales University’s Miami campus from 1997 – 2004 and has been the Director of Library Services at Johnson & Wales University’s Charlotte campus since 2004. He has also, in the past, simultaneously served as head of information technology services for Johnson & Wales in Miami and taught classes on subjects such as computer science, world history, U.S. History and American government. Additionally, since 2006, he has taught for the MLIS program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Courses taught have included Information Sources and Services, Special Libraries, Library Administration, Information Sources in the Professions, and Online Bibliographic Information Retrieval. Dr. Moniz has published in numerous places. He is sole author of the 2010 textbook Practical and Effective Management of Libraries, co-author of Fundamentals for the Academic Liaison and co-author and co-editor of the forthcoming Personal Librarian: Enhancing the Student Experience.

Joe Eshleman received his Master of Library and Information Science degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2007. He has been the Instruction Librarian at Johnson & Wales University Library–Charlotte since 2008. During this time, he has taught numerous library instruction sessions. Mr. Eshleman completed the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Immersion Program, an intensive program of training and education for instruction librarians, in 2009. He is a coauthor of Fundamentals for the Academic Liaison (alongside Richard Moniz and Jo Henry) and a contributor to The Personal Librarian: Enhancing the Student Experience.

Jo Henry is currently Information Services Librarian at South Piedmont Community College in Monroe, North Carolina where she is involved with library instruction for both seated and online classes. Formerly, she worked at Charlotte Mecklenburg Library in Charlotte, North Carolina, and she has over twenty years’ experience in sports club management and instruction. Ms. Henry obtained a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a Master of Public Administration from Georgia Southern University. She is the coauthor of Fundamentals for the Academic Liaison and Personal Librarian: Enhancing the Student Experience. She has also published in Public Services Quarterly and Library Review.

Howard Slutzky holds a Doctorate in Psychology from Georgia School of Professional Psychology and is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, NC where he has been teaching for 8 years. Before coming to Johnson & Wales University, Dr. Slutzky worked in a number of clinical settings including the college counseling centers of Georgia Institute of Technology and University of South Carolina and currently maintains a small private practice where he counsels both individuals and couples. Additionally, he conducts evaluations for the Disability Determination Services of Social Security. Dr. Slutzky teaches a variety of courses at Johnson & Wales including Introductory Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Social Psychology, and Human Sexuality. In addition to teaching, he facilitates a variety of workshops and discussion groups on campus on topics such as relationships, time-management, grief & loss, health & fitness, dream interpretation, coping with medical issues, as well as issues of gender identity & sexual orientation. Additionally, Dr. Slutzky offers a stress reduction workshop that incorporates relaxation techniques and a guided imagery exercise. He has attended numerous professional trainings including topics such as mindfulness & meditation, Jungian dream interpretation, and positive psychology. Dr. Slutzky has also recruited several of his students to assist him in the development and facilitation of a two-day anti-bullying outreach program for at-risk students at a local middle school during the Spring 2013 term.

Lisa Moniz received her Master of Library and Information Science degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1995. She has served as a school librarian for 20 years. Her experience has included Guilford County Schools, Forsyth Country Day School, Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools, and Union County Schools as well as Greensboro Public Library.