Sabine Dantus: How I Turned Imposter Syndrome & Microaggressions into Success as an Outreach Librarian
Image credit: Christelle Mehu
Sabine Dantus, MLIS
Before joining Lynn University as an outreach librarian, Sabine Dantus was a teacher and librarian at YOUmedia Miami, a media technology program at the Miami-Dade Public Library System for teens and before that was a content specialist in programming and production with WPBT-TV South Florida PBS in Miami for over 6 years.
She worked in every department in programming and production from advertising, marketing assistant, production assistant, traffic coordinator, producing segments, writing copy for promos and TV segments, editing commercials, and promos. Currently, she is actively writing her first book about library marketing and communications.
Additionally, she is an adjunct professor at the Lynn University College of Communication and Design and is one of the faculty advisors for the student newspaper. Representing Lynn University, she sits on the board of directors for the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County and serves on the Advisory, Hospitality, and Love of Literacy Luncheon committees. She is actively involved in ACRL and serves as an outgoing co-convener for the Library Marketing & Outreach Interest Group and is the Communications Manager for ACRL’s Education and Behavioral Sciences Section (EBSS). Follow Sabine on Twitter @SabineDantus.
Navigating outreach librarianship as a Person of Color (POC) librarian at Prominent White Institution ( PWI) is difficult. Outreach librarianship requires much time, energy, and effort to spread the word about the library successfully.
As an outreach librarian, you are the first advocate of the library, an evangelist spreading the good news of the library to everyone on campus. My job is to promote the library as the academic center of campus, through marketing, outreach, programming, exhibitions, displays, publications, and communication.
If you had asked me what it was like to work as a POC outreach librarian at a PWI a few years ago, I would have trepidatiously said very stressful but rewarding. It is stressful but rewarding because you can help users see the library in a brand new way while usually dispelling some librarian stereotypes.
When I first started my position as an outreach librarian, I saw that many of my accomplishments were met with a “wow you did it” and a level of surprise, and disregard. Some are genuinely happy for you, but unfortunately, some are not happy. I was asked caustically by a white colleague, “why do you work so hard?” As I moved along over the years, I realized that I felt heavily burdened by two things: microaggressions and imposter syndrome.
When I first started doing outreach over five years ago, I felt a need to work twice as hard to prove my worth. Before joining Lynn University, I was a reference librarian at the Delray Beach Public Library. I was a teacher and librarian at YOUmedia Miami, a media technology program at the Miami-Dade Public Library System for teens, so I transitioned from the public library to the academic library.
The all too familiar feeling of imposter syndrome crept into my very bones and took root. It wasn’t enough that I had much experience in marketing and promotions and outreach experience as a public librarian.
As this was my first position as the primary outreach person, I felt like I didn’t have my administrators’ faith (probably unfounded) in doing the job effectively. To be a POC librarian is to be set apart and alone in the experiences that we face. You are a unicorn in a field of horses to some students who have never seen a POC librarian. Psychologically, I felt burdened being one of just a few POC faces in a PWI. The demands of being an outreach librarian do not allow for much time to confer with other POCs on campus about microaggressions.
In the academic library, as a POC, you can encounter a variety of microaggressions. I was walking to the library on the main path, and a white parent likened my locked hair to the hanging vines in a Banyan tree. Another time I was staffing an outreach table, I overheard two white female students making fun of POC female names and talking about popping their necks. They stopped talking when they saw me but continued to laugh. Most recently, a white male student made an errant comment on how we should “lynch them [drug users] all.” With more than five years into my tenure as an outreach librarian, I felt comfortable telling him that his comment was inappropriate and insensitive to me as a POC because of America’s dark history of lynching African Americans.
Here’s some advice on how I overcame the feeling of insecurity, imposter syndrome and a bit of PTSD from microaggressions as a POC outreach librarian:
Remember you are good enough for the position. If you love the library and can communicate that to users, that’s a great start.
Did you have a successful program, marketing initiative, or event? Make sure to take every opportunity to celebrate your accomplishments personally. Don’t wait for the administration to recognize your talent.
Photo by Luis Fernandes from Pexels
Keep track of every outreach interaction and continue to stabilize connections across campus for your library. I found that these connections are invaluable for developing interdepartmental events and programs.
Make sure to create an outreach, marketing, and communication plan, so your initiatives are documented and your efforts are credited. When I developed my marketing plans, it made it easier to track library successes back to my developed marketing plans.
Learn to plan well in advance so that you reduce event planning and outreach tabling stresses. In a small to a mid-sized institution, you will wear multiple hats during the semester. Last-minute reference interactions and teaching an information literacy class can happen at a moment’s notice, so making sure there is a plan because that helps to maintain a balance between outreach efforts and other job duties.
Photo by Startup Stock Photos from Pexels
When you are good at what you do, you’ll be asked to do more. Make sure to practice good self-care: taking days off after a busy week of programs and events, asking student workers for help, hiring your own set of part-timers, and creating ad-hoc committees with colleagues for different outreach initiatives.
When faced with microaggressions, make sure to personalize it by using “I” in your statements to the offender. Also, it’s OK not to make a statement. Sometimes I did not know what to say at the moment, and I had to remind myself to be vigilant for next time
If you have successful initiatives, make sure to propose these ideas at different library conferences because we need more POC voices representing outreach librarianship.
As I understand the importance of a network through my involvement with ACRL Library Marketing and Outreach Interest Group, so if you are looking for mentorship in library communications, marketing, and outreach, please reach out to me at any time!
Connect with Sabine on LinkedIn