Reflection Blog: The Power of Stories – Connecting hearts and communities through storytelling.
This week – we dove into the Power of Stories. How stories play a role in our lives and in libraries. How they connect us to each other and the world we live in.
I truly loved exploring the topic this week. I think like most people who are drawn to books and libraries – I love stories. I love learning people’s stories, whether it’s through reading them, listening to them, or watching them – stories present windows into a moment in time. And by looking through these windows, we are able to breed connections. And that brings me to what I love most about stories.
Stories foster empathy.
Stories make us laugh, cry, cringe, gasp, and most importantly connect us as we wander through the human experience called life. Stories are how histories are told, lessons are taught, hearts are opened, minds are shaped. Stories are how we learn about people.
Stories are shape shifters.
Stories and how they are told can take many forms. They can be purely words – written or spoken. Sometimes there are no words at all – they can be a series of pictures, movements, body language, facial expressions. Stories find a way to connect across mediums and that is what makes them so beautiful. I find this to especially be true in the digital age – where new stories are right at your fingertips.
Have you ever listened to The Moth? That is one my favorite examples of the power of stories. The stories told have made my laugh, cry, gasp, and allow me to feel more connected to people I have never met and may never meet but I have now learned a little more about other humans. I would love to incorporate this type of story sharing in the library where I work or whatever future library, I have the privilege of being a part of. We could collect stories from patrons from the library – stories of people who just moved into the area, have spent their whole lives in the library, who come to the library as a safe space. The library could set up a small recording area in a private corner of the library – where patrons have the opportunity to share the stories of their lives that are dear to them anonymously or not, it would be entirely up to them. Like those video confessionals where people share their secrets into a recording mic that is set up on the street and their faces are never shown. I would love to give space for stories in the community to be shared – even if it’s for an audience of one.
On the topic of stories, I recently had the opportunity to share the story of how and why I decided to become a librarian. My stories is one of many but if anyone would like to listen, I will link it right here.
If you made it this far. Thanks for listening 😊
7 Comments
Daisy Chia
Hi @ashleyho,
Wow, thanks for sharing your story. It was really powerful and I am glad you decided to pursue librarianship. I am also a person who loves to help which makes working at the library a great fit.
I wanted to tell you about a game one of my colleagues ran for a fundraising event at work (staff only) that is called “What’s your story?” The graphic you used in this post reminded me of it. Everyone is invited to share a story which consists of one sentence. You can donate a little money to play. One person is the organizer and takes all the stories together with all the names and you have to match the story with the person. It is really difficult! But the person with the most correct guesses wins a prize, usually something from the lost and found bin at the branch. At the reveal party, everyone shares the full length version of their story. It’s a really cute team building exercise. And we raise money for the United Way.
Mei C.
Hi Ashley!
I really appreciate that you mention that the audience of one is just as important as an audience of many. Sometimes we have to change our own story, and to tell it makes it real. I think that our stories make us real to ourselves–I am like this, I am good at that. Changing our stories can be just as positive–I used to do that but now I do this. And what is a family, too, without its lore?
Thanks for your thoughtful post!
@jlindberg
I really connected with your story (and you have a loving speaking voice!). Though we haven’t had the same experiences, I also tried to follow what was expected of me but ended up getting lost. I found the library pretty early on, but I wavered on whether I should stick with it. There were certain parts that just drained me so thoroughly, I had nothing left for myself or my loved ones. It took some time to reflect and find that spark of joy — I agree Michael Threet’s library joy is infectious, but I also appreciate his honesty on the darker mental health side. It stuck with me that you can contain both aspects and still find fulfillment.
Thank you for sharing your story and for highlighting some actionable ways to include spaces for community storytelling!
Ashley Ho
It’s amazing to see how life takes to places we never truly expect!
(And thank you! I’m actually really terrible at public speaking so I was so nervous recording this!)
Lindsay Mahowald
Hello @ashleyho
Reading the beginning for your post was like reading poetry. You frame the ways that stories are important in an eloquent way that we all need to read. I appreciate your idea about a corner for sharing stories at the library. It got me thinking about story sharing programs I have heard of. Dial-a-story is a program where patrons can call a number and be read a prerecorded story. What if there was a prgram like this where the stories were told by patrons in the community? Thank you for sharing such a thoughtful, inspirational post!
Michael Stephens
@ashleyho thank you for the thoughtful reflection and for linking out to your story of your path to librarianship. Very cool. I love the idea of stories as Shapeshifters.
Ashley Ho
Thank you! I actually pondered on the idea of stories as shapeshifters more and I considered how stories also shape people and communities and those communities in-turn create more stories which can take on many forms. It is really beautiful to consider how stories are woven into life.