So here and I doing my thing. It’s the last meeting for the Teen Library Council. Unfortunately all but one teen couldn’t make it. So here I am, one on one with our Teen Library Council, asking for feedback and reflect on the past year. This member is a huge anime and manga fan and is very good about suggestion which series are popular among friends and classmates in high school. We’re talking story, it’s a very chill atmosphere, and I drop my “official” demeanor and let slip some of my fangirl persona since we’re discussing a topic we mutually like.
We must have been very relaxed because the member mentioned how I act like Retsuko of Aggretsuko fame. At the time I wasn’t familiar with the character, only knowing the anthropomorphic red raccoon was a new character amongst the cute Sanrio characters I knew of when I was a kid. Essentially the conversation turned to how, as a librarian, you present yourself professionally then you let loose with your favorite hobby. The Council Member is a huge fan of the Netflix series and encouraged me to watch it to understand how Retsuko acts. As I watched the series later that night, Retsuko is a salary woman working in accounting for a big firm. She deals with the day to day with a calm demeanor then unleashes her stress and rage at night in her own private sanctuary: a karaoke room.
Self-reflecting on our conversation, I got this thought (and please feel free to comment). That we present ourselves as professionals to the public. My Teen Library Council had asked me questions about the job: Do you need a Master’s degree? What kind of experience would be good to work with the public? Now I look back a question I’m sure they had since it was the same when I was a kid which was How can you keep your composure? Just like Retsuko singing karaoke, my outlet is reading manga!
We all have our different ways of expressing and releasing stress from keeping a professional composure. How do you reflect your professional life? What are ways you do to release stress?
Island Librarian 