An on-demand workshop for librarians and library staff

Library work is people work, and people bring their whole lives with them.

Distress. Frustration. Grief. Crisis. Anger. Vulnerability.

Library staff are often expected to meet all of this with patience, kindness and professionalism. You may listen to difficult disclosures, support people in crisis, manage challenging behaviour or help someone whose needs go far beyond what the library can provide.

Then, moments later, you are expected to answer the next enquiry and carry on as normal.

Over time, holding so much can take a quiet toll.

Vicarious Trauma in Library Work is a supportive, practical workshop exploring the emotional impact of library and information work. It will help you understand what may be happening, recognise the signs earlier and find realistic ways to protect your wellbeing without becoming less kind or caring.

Watch when it suits you

This is the recording of a two-hour workshop designed specifically for librarians, information professionals and library staff.

You can watch in your own time, pause whenever you need to and return to individual sections later. There is no expectation that you complete the recording in one sitting.

The workshop is non-clinical, compassionate and grounded in the realities of working in libraries.

Does this sound familiar?

You might:

go home replaying a conversation with a library user
worry about what happened after someone left
feel responsible for problems you cannot solve
find it difficult to end an interaction when someone needs help
feel emotionally drained after public-facing work
struggle to move from a distressing disclosure to the next routine enquiry
become numb, irritable or unusually detached
feel guilty when you need to set a boundary
absorb distress because there is nowhere appropriate to pass it
wonder why situations that you once managed now affect you more deeply
feel that the emotional demands of your role are invisible to others

You may have asked yourself:

Why can’t I cope with this better?

This workshop offers a kinder and more useful question:

What has this work asked me to carry, and what support, protection or recovery might I need?

What is vicarious trauma?

Vicarious trauma is the impact that can develop through repeated empathetic engagement with other people’s traumatic experiences.

It can affect how we experience trust, safety, responsibility and hope. It may show up in our thoughts, emotions, bodies, behaviour or relationships.

Vicarious trauma is not a personal weakness. It does not mean you lack resilience or that you are unsuitable for library work.

It is also not the only possible explanation for feeling exhausted or overwhelmed. Stress, burnout, secondary traumatic stress, moral distress and pressures outside work can overlap.

This workshop will help you understand these different experiences without encouraging you to diagnose yourself or anyone else.

Why talk about vicarious trauma in libraries?

Libraries are trusted and accessible spaces. People may approach library staff when they feel frightened, isolated, overwhelmed or unsure where else to turn.

Depending on the setting, library staff may encounter:

disclosures about mental health or personal safety
homelessness and housing insecurity
bereavement and loneliness
financial hardship
domestic abuse or family crisis
discrimination and harassment
distress connected with study or work
anger about systems and services
safeguarding concerns
people whose needs cannot be met by the library

Library staff may need to listen, remain calm, assess risk, apply policies and decide when to involve somebody else.

This is emotional labour. Yet it is rarely included in workload calculations, service statistics or conversations about professional development.

When the emotional impact remains invisible, staff can begin to believe they should simply cope with it.

This workshop makes that work visible.

What you will explore

During the recording, you will explore:

what vicarious trauma is and what it is not
the differences between vicarious trauma, burnout, stress and moral distress
how emotional labour appears in library roles
why empathetic and conscientious people may carry more
how responsibility can expand beyond the limits of your role
possible early warning signs
how emotionally demanding encounters can affect the nervous system
ways to return to the present after a difficult interaction
practical micro-boundaries for library settings
how to care without taking responsibility for everything
the role of colleagues, managers and organisations
how to create a realistic personal protection plan

What you will take away

By the end of the workshop, you will have:

clearer language for describing the emotional impact of library work
a better understanding of vicarious trauma and related experiences
greater awareness of your own possible early warning signs
practical grounding techniques that can fit into a working day
phrases for setting kind and professional boundaries
a way to distinguish caring from over-responsibility
a clearer sense of what you need after a difficult encounter
ideas for team and organisational conversations
a personal before, during and after plan

Most importantly, you will be reminded that being affected does not mean you are failing.

Practical tools included

The workshop introduces several simple practices that you can adapt to your role and working environment.

Early signals map

Notice how accumulating emotional pressure may show up in your:

body
thoughts
emotions
work
relationships
life outside work

The aim is not to monitor yourself perfectly. It is to recognise your own patterns a little earlier.

Grounding and transition practices

Try short practices that can help your nervous system recognise that a difficult interaction has ended.

These include:

noticing your feet, seat and surroundings
orienting yourself to the present
creating a physical transition
separating facts from feelings of unlimited responsibility
using a short phrase to mark the end of an encounter

Kind boundary framework

Create boundaries using three elements:

Care: acknowledge what the person is experiencing.

Clarity: explain what you can and cannot provide.

Next step: identify the appropriate way forward.

You will be given examples that you can adapt for your own library setting.

Before, during and after plan

Create a practical plan for emotionally demanding situations:

what will help you prepare
which early signs you want to notice
what you can do during an interaction
when to involve someone else
how you can create a transition afterwards
what you will deliberately choose not to carry alone

Example boundary phrases

The recording includes language such as:

“I can hear that this is really difficult. I’m not trained to provide that kind of support, but I can help you find the appropriate service.”

“I have ten minutes now, and then I need to return to the desk.”

“I’m concerned about what you’ve told me, so I need to involve my manager and follow our safeguarding process.”

“I’m not able to continue while I’m being shouted at. I can help when we can speak without abusive language.”

“I have taken the action available within my role. The next decision sits with…”

These are starting points rather than rigid scripts. You can adapt them to your voice, role and organisational procedures.

Kindness needs boundaries

Kindness is not the problem.

However, kindness without clear boundaries can become open-ended responsibility. Conscientious staff may listen for longer, feel compelled to find a solution or compensate for gaps elsewhere in the system.

You do not have to become less caring.

You may need clearer limits around:

what you can offer
how long you can offer it
what sits within your professional role
when somebody else needs to become involved
what you can reasonably carry after the interaction ends

Boundaries give kindness a sustainable shape.

Wellbeing is not solely an individual responsibility

This workshop does not suggest that vicarious trauma can be prevented through breathing exercises, better self-care or greater personal resilience alone.

Individual practices can help, but they cannot compensate for:

chronic understaffing
unclear safeguarding procedures
unsafe lone working
repeated abuse
inadequate training
impossible workloads
a lack of supervision
organisations that leave individuals carrying risk alone

The workshop considers action at three levels:

Individual

Noticing early signs, using grounding practices, taking breaks, asking for help and using appropriate boundaries.

Team

Checking in after difficult incidents, protecting recovery time, asking consent before debriefing and sharing emotionally demanding responsibilities.

Organisation

Providing clear procedures, safe staffing, training, supervision, effective escalation routes and a meaningful response to abusive or unsafe behaviour.

Grounding can help somebody return to the present. It cannot fix an unsafe system.

Who is this workshop for?

This recording is suitable for:

public library staff
academic librarians
school and college librarians
NHS and health librarians
prison librarians
law librarians
solo librarians
information professionals
library assistants and customer service staff
library managers and team leaders
staff with safeguarding or wellbeing responsibilities
anyone undertaking emotionally demanding library work

It may be particularly helpful if you regularly support people who are distressed, vulnerable, angry, isolated or in crisis.

Managers can also use the workshop to reflect on how emotional labour is recognised and supported within their teams.

You will not be asked to share personal experiences

The original live session was designed so that participants did not have to disclose difficult or personal experiences.

The recording maintains the same approach.

Activities focus on fictional scenarios, general patterns and private reflection. You can pause, skip an exercise or return to it at another time.

There is no expectation that you watch the whole recording at once.

Your workbook

The session is accompanied by a participant workbook containing:

an emotional labour reflection
a guide to related terms
a library-based case study
an early signals map
a grounding menu
a realistic reset exercise
micro-boundary activities
adaptable boundary language
an individual, team and organisational responsibility map
a before, during and after plan
space to identify one useful next step

You can complete the workbook while watching or return to it afterwards.

About Helen Rimmer

Helen Rimmer is a kindness and wellbeing coach, facilitator and experienced library leader.

She has more than 20 years’ experience working in libraries and higher education, including senior leadership roles. She holds a postgraduate certificate in the Psychology of Kindness and Wellbeing at Work and qualifications in business and personal coaching, systemic team coaching and strengths-based development.

Through The Kind Brave Leader and Empower: The Library Skills Collective, Helen supports library and information professionals to create kinder, healthier and more sustainable working lives.

Her approach brings together practical experience, positive psychology, coaching and a deep understanding of the realities of library work.

Important information

This workshop is educational and non-clinical. It does not provide therapy, diagnosis, medical advice or crisis support.

If you are concerned about the continuing impact of your work, appropriate sources of support may include your manager, safeguarding lead, occupational health service, employee assistance programme, trade union, GP, counsellor or another suitably qualified professional.

If somebody may be at immediate risk, follow your organisation’s safeguarding and emergency procedures.

Watch Vicarious Trauma in Library Work

Understand the emotional impact of your role, recognise the signs earlier and develop practical ways to protect your wellbeing.

You do not need to stop caring.

You need care to include you.

Join a Live Empower Session