Burning the Candle at Both Ends How and Why Academic Librarians Who Are Parents Experience and Combat Burnout at Work

Academic librarians already wear many hats, juggling a multitude of skills and duties in order to meet the needs of their patrons. When one of those hats is parenthood, however, balancing work and home life can sometimes seem like an insurmountable task. In this chapter we explore how and why academic librarians who are also parents experience burnout, as well as methods used to combat burnout by examining the results of a nationally distrib­uted mixed-methods survey. The survey also addresses practices to combat and prevent burnout, both on a personal and institutional level, and the perceptions of their effectiveness.