To help library staff understand, track, and maintain their own well-being in a challenging 2020, MCLS and our Board of Directors are offering a brief confidential survey from The Wellbeing Lab. Just take the survey by November 10, and receive a customized report and well-being plan tailored for you.

I usually use this space to tell you about what MCLS or libraries are doing. But this month, as we continue dealing with what can feel like an overwhelming number of challenges, I’m curious: how are YOU doing?

We’re living through tough times right now, and MCLS and its Board of Directors want to support you in improving your well-being, a critical part of how we function in work and in life. In the next few days, please take this simple survey that will help you better understand how you’re really doing, and help you get centered at a time that’s knocking many of us off course.

Your responses will remain confidential, and only The Wellbeing Lab will have access to the unidentified data, but they will give us a glimpse of how our library community is doing generally, and what we could be doing better for you.

The PERMAH Wellbeing Survey is based on the science of positive psychology, and defines well-being as “your ability to feel good and function effectively (your levels of thriving) as you navigate the inevitable highs and lows of work (your levels of struggle), which enable you to learn and grow.” Created by Drs. Peggy Kern and Michelle McQuaid, the survey is informed by the work of Professor Barbara Fredrickson (UNC-Chapel Hill), author Daniel Goleman (Emotional Intelligence), and Professor Martin Seligman (University of Pennsylvania). It gives you an evidence-based way to measure your current well-being on several key dimensions:

• Positive Emotion
• Engagement
• Relationships
• Meaning
• Accomplishment
• Health

While there’s a lot more I could say about PERMAH, I’m just going to ask you to go right to the survey now. You’ll learn more about the theory and its application in the report that will be customized based on your responses. But hurry, the survey is only open through November 10.

We will send occasional email reminders between now and November 10. If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at garrisons@mcls.org. Thank you for doing a little something for yourself, and for MCLS. I hope that, like me, you’ll be glad you took this quick confidential survey. Just click this link to begin.