Boundaries for Library Staff

This webinar provides information about healthy boundaries for library staff, focusing on the following:

• What boundaries are
• Common library boundary-related challenges for both staff and patrons/customers
• Why boundaries are important for both staff and patron/customer well-being
• Cultural considerations related to boundaries
• Personal boundaries versus organizational boundaries
• Boundary crossings (departures from commonly accepted ways of doing the work, but are determined not to cause harm) versus boundary violations (departures from commonly accepted ways of doing the work that do potentially cause harm)
• Strategies for resolving boundary dilemmas
• Strategies for enforcing boundaries from a trauma-informed perspective

Presenter: Beth Wahler, PhD, MSW is founder and principal consultant at Beth Wahler Consulting, LLC and affiliated research faculty at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. Dr. Wahler is a social work consultant, researcher, experienced administrator, and trainer whose primary focus is trauma-informed librarianship, addressing public library patrons’ psychosocial needs (needs related to mental health, substance abuse, poverty, etc.), supporting library staff with serving high-needs patrons and reducing work-related stress/trauma, and various kinds of collaborations, services, and programs to meet these types of patron and staff needs.