The Kind Librarian

Kindness and Wellbeing at Work in Libraries

A six-week course for creating healthier, kinder and more sustainable library workplaces

Libraries are built around helping people—but caring for others should not mean sacrificing your own wellbeing.

Library and information work can be deeply rewarding, yet it can also involve emotional labour, competing demands, difficult interactions, limited resources and the pressure to keep giving. Kindness is often central to our professional values, but it can become confused with always being available, avoiding difficult conversations or putting everyone else’s needs first.

The Kind Librarian is a supportive six-week course exploring how kindness and wellbeing can become practical, meaningful parts of everyday working life.

Grounded in positive psychology, workplace wellbeing and real experience of the library sector, the course moves beyond surface-level wellbeing initiatives. It explores how kindness can strengthen boundaries, relationships, leadership, confidence and workplace culture—without creating another expectation for already-stretched people.

Over six weeks, you will explore:

What kindness at work really means—and what it does not mean
The relationship between kindness, wellbeing and sustainable performance
Self-kindness, self-compassion and responding to your inner critic
Emotional labour, stress and the particular pressures of library work
Healthy boundaries and how to say no with clarity and care
Kind communication, relationships and psychologically safer teams
How everyday actions can influence workplace culture
A realistic plan for protecting your wellbeing and creating positive change

This course will help you:

Understand your own wellbeing needs more clearly
Recognise patterns that may be contributing to stress or exhaustion
Develop kinder and more sustainable ways of working
Set boundaries without feeling that you are letting people down
Respond to challenges with greater confidence and self-compassion
Make practical changes within your own role and sphere of influence
Contribute to a workplace where people feel valued, respected and supported

Designed specifically for library and information workers

This course recognises the realities of working in libraries. You may be supporting distressed users, managing constant change, working with fewer resources, navigating difficult team dynamics or feeling responsible for keeping everything going.

You do not need to be a manager or have any previous knowledge of positive psychology. The course is suitable for library and information professionals at every career stage who want to work with greater kindness, intention and care—for themselves as well as others.

A thoughtful and practical learning experience

Across the six weeks, you will be supported to pause, reflect and apply what you learn to your own working life.

The course combines accessible learning with practical tools, reflective exercises and opportunities to turn insight into meaningful action. It is not about forcing positivity or pretending that difficult working conditions do not exist. It is about recognising what is happening, understanding what you need and identifying the changes that are genuinely within your reach.

Kindness is not an optional extra

Kindness at work is not simply about being nice. It can shape how we communicate, make decisions, manage workloads, respond to mistakes and treat ourselves when things are difficult.

When kindness is combined with healthy boundaries and honest conversations, it can become a powerful foundation for wellbeing, trust and sustainable working.

Join The Kind Librarian and discover how kindness can help you create a healthier, more human and more sustainable experience of work—one thoughtful step at a time.

Join a Live Empower Session