Hey library workers? Please take your sick days. If at all possible, if you can, please stay home when you are sick. I know some people get anxious about using that time, but when you do:
a) you make it culturally easier for your coworkers to use their own sick days when they're not feeling well
b) you might be preventing someone else from getting sick long-term if you have something contagious, ESPECIALLY if you have flu or cold-like symptoms that could very well be COVID even if you're testing negative
c) you break the culture of "saving" your sick time for some nebulous benefit twenty years from now (I'm all for saving for retirement, but you could get hit by a bus tomorrow - take your sick days)
"But my library is short staffed - " Not your problem. That's your hiring manager(s)' problem. If they try to make it your problem, that's them being bad at management.
"But what if I need that time later to take care of someone else - " That time exists for you to take care of yourself and others. Put your own mask on first.
"But I work in a library! They need me! But the community - " Vocational awe never made anyone healthier. Now more than ever, as library workers are expected to take on more and more work for the same pay, it's important for all of us to take care of ourselves and each other.
"But I'm part time and I don't have any paid sick time!" Okay, you've got me beat here. It is embarrassing that we don't give paid sick days to part-time workers DURING A PANDEMIC. It is embarrassing that so many people who work for an institution most people hold up as a public good are not given basic health benefits. (This is USAmerican specific and I hate it.) I don't have easy answers for you, but as an immune-suppressed library worker, I would ask that you consider staying home when you're sick and asking to make up your missed hours on a day you're feeling better. If they need you today, they'll probably need you tomorrow.
If you're full time, or if you live in a country where your government has figured out that paid sick time should be a human right for everybody, please stay home if you're not feeling well. Library workers deserve to take care of ourselves. We just do.
