The Library is an Evolving Classroom The library serves not just as an institution for the long-term storage of texts and objects, but also as an ever-evolving landscape of pedagogy for its surrounding community (Stephens, 2016). Libraries serve this purpose by not only providing various services and programs to support the learning of the community surrounding a library, but also by enabling an interactive, imaginative learning environment for patrons (Nygren, 2014; Stephens, 2016). Those who doubt the effectiveness of the library as a classroom environment can be persuaded by the enjoyment, interactivity, and adequacy of the library as a classroom (Block, 2014; Lippincott, 2015). The library as classroom also allows…

The Need for Sharing Stories in a Divided World Stories have the power to give strength, understanding, and hope amidst the turmoil of the world around the reader or listener, as in a book or an audiocast (Stephens, 2019, 2025; Villagran & Long, 2022). Stories can help an individual gain greater insight into the background and interests of community members (Stephens, 2020). Information from those stories should be freely accessible, and a way to garner stories of those in a neighborhood is through various interpersonal story-sharing programs at libraries (Eberhart, 2018; Paxaman, 2020; Stephens, 2019; Wentz, 2013). These types of experiences, according to Arne-Skidmore (2021), have allowed for greater development…