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Tag: Reading Recommendations

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In recent years, there has been an increased awareness of mental health, mental illness stigma, and how it impacts people in all areas of life. While many workplaces offer services and accommodations for employees with mental health or mental illness concerns, people may face structural barriers when attempting to access these services. Additionally, it is difficult engaging in conversations about mental wellness as harmful stereotypes about mental illness impacts the ways people think about or imagine a person with mental illnesses. 

Burns & Green (2019) and Lo & Herman (2017) published research on mental illness and its impacts on academic librarians; their findings illuminated perceptions and misconceptions about mental illness among the study's population and some respondents shared personal stories about their experiences with being open about their mental illness diagnoses with their colleagues. Both articles are excellent ways to learn more about these topics and they serve as introductions to better understanding how people with mental illnesses navigate the workplace. 

In ‘Academic Librarians’ Experiences and Perceptions on Mental Illness Stigma and the Workplace’, Burns & Green focus specifically on how mental illness stigma plays a role in academic librarians’ professional lives. The researchers surveyed hundreds of academic librarians, collecting data about “concerns around discrimination…disclosure…[and] self-esteem as a whole.” (Burns & Green, 2019, pg 641)  Based on quantitative and qualitative data, “the most obvious finding is that there is a fear of disclosing one’s own mental illness in the academic library environment.” (Burns & Green, 2019, pg 653) Survey respondents shared their stories about their decision to disclose their mental illness diagnosis, the support they may or may receive at their individual institutions, and what work they believe needs to be done to address stigma and shame. 

Alternatively,  ‘An Investigation of Factors Impacting the Wellness of Academic Library Employees’ by Lo & Herman looks at the term “wellness”, how workplaces incorporate or fail to incorporate wellness into their settings, and the factors that contribute to academic librarians’ overall sense of wellness. “This study reveals that most academic library employees feel overwhelmed quite frequently. While age and working overtime are factors, the attitude of the individual also has an impact.” (Lo & Herman, 2017, pg. 802) The researchers also found that academic librarians valued other forms of wellness besides physical wellness. They wrote that “Age again seems to be an important factor regarding respondents’ perception of the different dimensions of wellness…Overall, respondents placed higher importance on their spiritual wellness and intellectual wellness than physical wellness.”(Lo & Herman, 2017, pg. 803)

Lo & Herman and Burns & Green’s research shows that addressing mental illness and wellness in the workplace may be complex, but the end results may be highly valued and beneficial to employees. Having conversations with colleagues about wellness in the workplace can gradually change an organization for the better. These two articles are great resources to refer back to when having conversations about the workplace, mental illness, dismantling stigma, and addressing all aspects of wellness among people.  

References:

  • Burns, E., & Green, K. E. C. (2019). Academic Librarians’ Experiences and Perceptions on Mental Illness Stigma and the Workplace. College & Research Libraries, 80(5), 638–657. https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.80.5.638
  • Lo, L. S., & Herman, B. (2017). An Investigation of Factors Impacting the Wellness of Academic Library Employees. College & Research Libraries, 78(6), 789-. https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.78.6.789

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In 2022, Himmelfarb Library published a list of books to read by African-American authors in honor of Black History Month. The list featured authors across different genres such as Young Adult, Science-Fiction, Contemporary Fiction and more. We wish to revisit this list of recommendations and offer more titles that shine a light on the experience of African-Americans in the United States. 

  • Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward:  This novel follows Annis, a teenager living through the system of slavery in the United States as she is forced from the Carolinas down to New Orleans. Reviewer Gabino Iglesias wrote in their NPR review: “Readers will walk with Annis, see the world through her eyes, and feel the pain of everything she experiences–but that journey, that suffering, will give them clarity and help them develop a deeper understanding of love, grief, and the realities of slavery.”
  • Chang Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenya:  This debut novel is a satirical examination of consumerism and the prison system. It follows the lives of prisoners and “prize-fighters” Loretta Thurwar and Hamara Stacker who participate in televised fights to gain their freedom from the prison system. This novel was named one of the Top 10 books of 2023 by the New York Times. Giri Nathan writes in their review “As the plot careers forward, Adjei-Brenyah uses footnotes as tethers between fiction and reality, reminding us that his gladiatorial farce is just a little tragicomic leap from an extant American horror.” It may feel easy to get lost in the action between fighters, but readers will also be forced to reflect on their own attitudes towards incarcerated people and the prison system in America. 
  • The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride: This is a murder mystery set in Pennsylvania in a multicultural neighborhood and moves non sequentially through time, starting in the 1970s before jumping back to the 1920s and 1930s as it examines themes of community, prejudice and class. Maureen Corrigan writes that “McBride’s roving narrator is, by turns, astute, withering, giddy, daming and jubilant. He has a fine appreciation for the human comedy: in particular, the surreal situation of African Americans and immigrant Jews in a early-to-mid-20th-century America that celebrates itself as a color-blind, welcoming Land of Liberty.” This novel is an enlightening, hopeful and entertaining piece of literature from a well-established and celebrated American novelist. 
  • Thicker than Water by Kerry Washington: From a GWU alum, this memoir provides an intimate look at Kerry Washington’s life and career. Washington is a well-known TV and film actress who rarely shares details about her personal life. The memoir is Washington’s space where she discusses the hard moments of her life such as disordered eating, her career after the TV show ‘Scandal’ and other events. To learn more about Washington’s thoughts about her memoir, watch her Good Morning America interview with Robin Roberts:
  • The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson: Wilkerson is well known for investigative book Caste: the Origins of our Discontents, her Pulitzer Prize winning journalism while working at the New York Times or from the new Ava DuVernay film, Origins. But her first book, The Warmth of Other Suns is another important piece of work that details the Great Migration, the time between 1910 and 1970 when many African-Americans and their families left Southern states for Northern cities. “The driving force behind the mass movement was to escape racial violence, pursue economic and educational opportunities, and obtain freedom from the oppression of Jim Crow.” (National Archives, 2021) The Warmth of Other Suns covers an important historical event that is not often discussed and the book is a good introduction into Wilkerson’s work as a whole.
  • Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman: Many people first encountered Amanda Gorman during the 2020 Presidential Inauguration when she read her poem, The Hill We Climb. Her first poetry collection,  Call Us What We Carry was published in December 2021 and was instantly recognized as a best seller. In this collection, “Amanda Gorman captures a shipwrecked moment in time and transforms it into a lyric of hope and healing.”  (Penguin Random House, 2024 ) If you were moved by Gorman’s poem The Hill We Climb, then read more of her work in Call Us What We Carry. 
  • The Study of Human Life by Joshua Bennett: Dr. Joshua Bennett is an author and educator who currently serves as a Professor of Literature and Distinguished Chair of the Humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Study of Human Life is a collection of work that “recalls and reimagines social worlds almost but not entirely lost, all while gesturing toward the ones we are building even now…” (Penguin Random House, 2024) Some of the book's themes include family, parenthood, vulnerability and ecology. The book blends multiple genres including autobiography and speculative fiction and will challenge many readers. 

Other notable authors worth reading include Rivers Solomon, Jasmine Mans, Jericho Brown, Jason Reynolds, Audre Lorde and Colson Whitehead. Many of these titles may be requested directly from Himmelfarb Library, through the Consortium Loan Service or through Documents2Go.

African-American authors have contributed to all genres and learning more about their lives and works is a great way to expand your reading habits and discover a new favorite writer.

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Summer is the perfect time to catch on your yearly reading goals! Many local libraries hold summer reading events for adults and often offer prizes to reward participants for achieving their goal. With the warm weather and extra sunlight, summer is a great time to visit a park or the beach and spend some time reading your favorite novels or trying a new selection. Are you unsure of what books to pick up or what genres to explore this summer? The staff at Himmelfarb library offered some titles and authors that may be worth exploring! 

Systems Librarian JoLinda Thompson recommends Abraham Verghese’s latest novel The Covenant of Water. “I loved Cutting for Stone so I am anxious to read this one!” When asked if there were any genres she associates with summer, she said “I like reading a series or big, epic novels like the new Verghese book.” Himmelfarb Library recently acquired a copy of The Covenant of Water and it is now available for checkout! 

Metadata Specialist Brittany Smith also prefers to read series or epics during the summer. She suggests reading The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien, the Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin or The Teixcalaan duology by Arkady Martine. If you want to add an extra layer of enjoyment to your Lord of the Rings reading experience, she suggests watching the movie after finishing the corresponding book in the series. Brittany also enjoys reading romance novels in the summer because they are typically light-hearted and can be read in a few days. 

Randy Plym, our new Evening & Weekend Supervisor, suggests books by David Mitchell. Specifically Ghostwritten or Number9Dream. “All of his books, but those in particular, are books that make me feel like the possibilities of life have opened up, which is a good feeling for summer.” 

Finally, Reference & Instructional Librarian Deborah Wassertzug says that James Hannaham is an author worth reading! She says that Hannaham’s latest novel Didn’t Nobody Give A – What Happened to Carlotta  “contributed to my understanding of the experience of transgender people and incarcerated/formerly incarcerated people.” 

Other recommendations from our staff members include The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Finding Me by Viola Davis, The Shack by William. Paul Young, Spoiled Brats by Simon Rich, The Hike by Drew Magary, and Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell! If any of these selections sound interesting to you or if you’d like to share your recommendations, please let us know in the comments! Or tag us on Facebook or Instagram and tell us what books you plan to read this summer!

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