One of the most interesting things about working in libraries is the fact that we get to see such a wide variety of people with different backgrounds, statuses, cultures, etc. It allows us to interact with people in ways that we may never get another chance to. We get to hear so many different stories from people, and although we don’t always have the time to appreciate them in the moment, they have a way of sticking with us.
I could be helping someone with the smallest task, such as helping them copy paperwork, and the person will dive into why they need to do this task and a lot of the times the reason is not a happy one. Which is why I believe working in the library helps to build empathy, if you let it.
People love to share their stories. It doesn’t matter if you are a perfect stranger, and sometimes that’s even better, because you are just going to listen without judgement. Now I understand it could be burdensome. We often don’t have time when we have other tasks that we trying to get done while also helping patrons. But listening to people’s stories can help put some perspective on our own lives. Sometimes we can get so caught up in what we are doing we forget what others are going through. Many people, when faced with difficulties, turn to frustration and anger quickly. Taking the time to listen to these people’s stories or at least be open to can help to deescalate tensions and frustrations, it is allowing empathy to guide our work.
I have always been interested in the idea of the Human Library. Although a lot of the information you can find about marginalized communities you can find in books, but actually being able to speak to a person and “check them out” as one would a book to read give access directly to the source. It allows for actual interaction with the source. With so much dissension in the world, there are so many people that could benefit from a service like this. It wouldn’t get everyone to change, but many people are working from a bases of what they hear online and from others because of their limited worldview that they don’t know anyone different.
As librarians, it is important to keep this in mind and approach helping library users with an open mind when we hear these stories because they are coming from people who are going to be vastly different from us. It helps us to get to know the community we serve better but it could help us to be more caring and compassionate with all different types of people.
Wentz, E., (26 April, 2013). The human library: Sharing the community with itself. Public Libraries Online. https://publiclibrariesonline.org/2013/04/human_librar/