In 2016, Ettarh created
Killing Me Softly: A Game About Microaggressions, an open-access
video game. which allows players to navigate through the life of a character who experiences
microaggression. In May 2017, during a panel presentation held at the
University of Southern California, Ettarh first used, She later defined the term, in a January 2018 article within
In The Library With The Lead Pipe, as "the set of ideas, values, and assumptions librarians have about themselves and the profession that result in notions that libraries as institutions are inherently good, sacred notions, and therefore beyond critique." The term was embraced by fellow librarians such as Meredith Farkas, who argued that vocational awe was "common in the helping professions" like librarianship In September 2018, Ettarh wrote the foreword to the Library Juice Press book
Pushing the Margins: Women of Color and Intersectionality in LIS. In January 2019, as part of an
American Libraries piece interviewing "front-line librarians", she argued that "mission creep" was a major problem within librarianship, citing the use of
Narcan as an example, and saying that librarians should remain specialists in information, not be "stretched thin" in job responsibilities. She also presented at two conferences in 2019 on the topic of vocational awe, first at the
Association of College and Research Libraries Conference in April and at the Library Journal Directors' Summit in November 2019. She also gave the keynote speech at the Minnesota Library Association's Academic and Research Libraries Division (ARLD) Day in 2020 and a presentation at the Academic Library Association of Ohio the following year. When colleges closed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in the United States in March 2020, but left on-campus libraries open, she expressed to
Teen Vogue that this decision was unfair to the most vulnerable students who lacked access to technology and library services without physically being on campus. She argued that by leaving the libraries as one of the few open spaces on campus, students could potentially expose themselves to a deadly virus in order to succeed academically. Additionally, she pointed out that this decision prioritized the academic success of students over the health and well-being of library workers. In April 2021, she told
Cronkite News "it's too soon to be opening up any buildings, but especially library buildings" and "we’re not actually creating equity by opening the library [...] Those who do not have that access have to now weigh the potential for getting a deadly virus against, "I'm preparing for class," or filling out a job application online. It is just showing how inequitable the system is to have to go to a congregation point in order to continue to be successful in society." In March 2022, Ettarh told
Library Journal that the pandemic had "brought home the idea that work can’t love you back". Ettarh presented the keynote speech at the Connecticut Information Literacy Conference in 2022 and a keynote presentation at the Lake Superior Libraries Symposium the same year. She also presented on the topic of vocational awe at the Politics of Libraries Conference in March 2022 and on the same topic at the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion symposium hosted by the
SJSU School of Information. She also was a presenter at the Social Emotional Librarianship conference, co-hosted by Library Journal and
School Library Journal in October 2022, on the topic of advocating for yourself and your staff.
Research, librarianship and influence Ettarh's research focused on gap between values of librarianship and the realities for "marginalized librarians and users." Her scholarship also focused on inclusion, equity, and diversity in libraries, including social and organizational privilege, She was also involved with the We Here community and talks about "creating communities of color" within libraries which support one other. Ettarh's article January 2018
In the Library with the Lead Pipe article received an honorable mention in the 2018
Library Juice Paper Contest and appeared on library science course syllabi. Her article was praised for allowing librarians to talk about the profession with "more honesty". Abby Hargreaves of
Book Riot argued that there is "staunch reality" in examining the ALA "
Library Bill of Rights", saying it deserves a "sense of awe". She also said that vocational awe should be deconstructed and eliminated "in ourselves and in our customers". The term "vocational awe" has been used by scholars in articles about
music librarianship, theological librarianship, early career librarians, preservation, academic librarians, stress and burnout of library workers,
higher education, and other topics. The term has also been used by non-librarians. Cartoonist Alison Bechdel described
Dykes to Watch Out For protagonist Mo Testa as falling into "the pitfall of vocational awe, believing that her public library job is a religious calling". Writer
John Warner proposed a similar term, institutional awe, derived from vocational awe, referring to when no individual sacrifice is "too great in order to preserve the status quo functioning of the institution." In May 2020, Ettarh was named as a "mover & shaker" by
Library Journal. In March 2021, scholar Zahra Osman said that Ettarh, apart from her scholarly work, often spends time giving interviews with MLIS students covering her perspectives on library leadership. ==Personal life and death==