As a library leader, one of the things you have to get used to is the feeling that nobody really knows (let alone understands, let alone appreciates) how much work you do. Sure, most of the people you lead will have a general sense that you’re very busy (and some will make the obligatory observations about how many meetings you have to attend and how much email you process), but I’ve noticed that every library seems to harbor a significant minority of staff and faculty (some of them pretty vocal) who believe that administrators don’t really do much at all — that when they’re not out having fancy dinners with donors, they mostly sit in their lavish offices thinking up ways to make life more difficult for the librarians and staff who do the real work.

I realize that sounds like an unfair stereotype of thinking about leaders, but I’ve been surprised by how frequently I come across evidence that it’s pretty typical. For example, some years ago I was startled to hear through the grapevine about one librarian in the organization where I worked, who had recently had the chance to serve as an interim associate dean, and came away from that experience saying to colleagues “Holy cow, I had no idea how much work it is to be a library administrator.” This was a person with longstanding experience in a large academic library, including experience as a department chair. When I heard that story I remember thinking to myself “If that person so radically underestimated the amount of work administrators do, what must everyone else in the library think of us?”.

But let’s pull back a minute from the Plight of the Underappreciated Administrator and consider the dynamics that lead to a lack of appreciation for someone’s — anyone’s — work in the library.

The fact is that none of us really understands the work of another, or the challenges that come with it. Even if someone in the library is currently in a position that I myself used to hold — like head of acquisitions or chief collection development officer — I can’t assume that I really understand all the current realities of that job, let alone the specific challenges that arise from another individual’s particular blend of strengths and weaknesses. Too many of us, whether leaders or not, jump way too easily to conclusions about how hard others are working and how much they’re producing, and those conclusions are very often wrong.

What this means is that being underappreciated and misunderstood is a nearly universal affliction, and by no means one suffered only (or even mostly) by people in leadership positions. And to me, that suggests two important things for leaders to keep in mind. One is a coping strategy, and the other is a mitigation strategy:

Coping: Get used to the fact that your work will be frequently misunderstood and almost universally underappreciated. Accept that this is simply one of the downsides of being in a leadership position, and allow it to deepen your empathy for others in your organization whose work is also misunderstood and underappreciated.

Mitigation: With a greater sensitivity to the fact that others in your organization tend to be misunderstood and underappreciated, ask yourself what you can do both to increase your own understanding of the work others do in the library you lead, and to help others understand each other’s work better. In some cases cross-training might be a good idea, or some limited job shadowing. You also might find that some of your organization’s job documentation needs to be more openly shared, or that the more difficult work of culture change is needed.

Where both of the above strategies are concerned, setting a strong example will go a long way. When you show others that you have a thick skin regarding being underappreciated (laughing it off, shifting the focus to others, etc.), you’re showing that you accept and understand that doing so is just part of the job. When you actively demonstrate your interest in the work of others and conspicuously try to understand it better, you’re teaching an important principle of leadership — and believe it or not, people will take note (even if they don’t say anything).

The bottom line is that none of us is fully understood or appreciated. As a library leader, you’re in a good position to help change that, at least in your organization, in meaningful even if small ways.