This awe - described by #FobaziEttarh in a now-canonical essay - is in contrast to Graeber's bullshit jobs, the idea that since your job makes a difference, you don't deserve to be treated decently:

https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2018/vocational-awe

It's truly perverse - you have to be well-compensated to serve a box on an org chart to inflate a corporate princeling's sense of self-worth, but if you actually help people, that is its own reward.

40/

My newest post on my Pop Culture Library blog entitled "Fictional librarians and ideals of librarianship" is out! https://popculturelibraries.wordpress.com/2023/06/06/fictional-librarians-and-ideals-of-librarianship/ #fobaziettarh #libraries #librarians #popculture #animation #quiet #labor #blogging #blogs #librarianship

"But from the other side of the reference desk, [Fobazi Ettarh] saw how the [library] industry’s ideals concealed its low pay. In her first position out of grad school, Ms. Ettarh’s supervisor told her, 'No one becomes a librarian to make a living wage.' (Ms. Ettarh was making $48,000 at the time.) She eventually left the industry."

#VocationalAwe #FobaziEttarh #LibraryWorkers

🔗 https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/05/opinion/employment-exploitation-unions.html