I always believed the way to change people’s minds was through telling stories. Stories allow for others to have empathy for others and teaches us to be more mindful, just like with reading. I had watched storygraph videos before and they never failed to make me feel something. The story about Storm Reyes growing up in an improveraged Native American Community being exposed to a library was particularly impactful. With her life centered around her living conditions in the farms with alcoholic parents, life was bleak. One day upon stumbling across a bookmobile, she became enamored with books and stories. It gave her the courage to leave and eventually become a library worker.
Stories like this are why libraries are important. Both the books and the physical space that libraries offer, open a journey into learning other people’s stories. With the concept of a “human library” in the article “Courageous Conversations at the Human Library”, patrons have the ability to engage people about their personal stories, in a non-judgemental environment. The people were the “open books” and the patrons “check out the books” and proceed to chat and learn about people’s life stories which include, eating disorders, racism, sexual assault, religion, etc. The discussions with these taboo topics help people gain perspective and empathy for people they might not otherwise encounter or understand.
From reading and viewing the videos in this module, I feel inspired to record and make storytelling related to how I will curate events and items when I work in a library.
References:
Papova, M. How libraries save lives. The Marginalian. https://www.themarginalian.org/2016/10/06/libraries-storycorps-bookmobile/
Ray, M. Courageous converssations at the human library. (2019, April 12). Next Avenue. https://www.nextavenue.org/courageous-conversations-human-library/