{"id":47,"date":"2026-10-12T02:15:36","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T02:15:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/liamlarkin\/?p=47"},"modified":"2026-10-12T02:15:36","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T02:15:36","slug":"reflection-blog-on-hyperlinked-communities-finding-community-finding-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/liamlarkin\/2026\/10\/12\/reflection-blog-on-hyperlinked-communities-finding-community-finding-joy\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflection Blog on Hyperlinked Communities: Finding Community, Finding Joy"},"content":{"rendered":"

We all need a little (or a lot) more joy in our lives\u2026 People may not feel joyful in the workplace, the world, or even in their homes, but library programs can supplement a sense of joy and lightheartedness in everyday life.<\/em><\/p>\n

-Jina DuVernay<\/em><\/p>\n

We Need More Joy\u2026Stat!<\/strong><\/p>\n

This quote from Jina DuVernay from her article about joyous library programming in Module 5 deeply resonated with me. It pairs well with Dr. Stephens\u2019s writing about reaching all users in The Heart of Librarianship. <\/em>As Dr. Stephens asks, \u201cAre we reaching everyone we can? Are we giving them services they want to use? Are we giving them a reason to depend on us?\u201d<\/p>\n

How do we do that? I\u2019d argue one incredibly effective way is to help people experience the joy of finding a community. Like DuVernay said, we all need a lot of joy in our lives, and discovering a community helps us do that. DuVernay adds that when new people come to programs she \u201cespecially enjoy[s] telling them they are among like-minded people and encouraging them to get to know one another.\u201d<\/p>\n

Community Through Common Interests<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We all have something we\u2019re passionate about, and I don\u2019t know about you, but when I\u2019m passionate about something I really, really <\/em>want to talk about it with other people who share that passion (even if you don\u2019t share that passion, I\u2019ll probably still find a way to bring it up), whether that be through face-to-face or online interaction.<\/p>\n

I loved this post from Goodnow Library in Sudbury, MA, about an event they held recently, and it all revolved around uniting people with similar interests. These people were able to shelter from the storm (the literal one and all the metaphorical ones currently raging in our lives) together and talk about what they love.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Link to post<\/a><\/p>\n

A Final Word<\/strong><\/p>\n

Love\u2019s in need of love today.<\/em><\/p>\n

-Stevie Wonder<\/em><\/p>\n

This year is the 50th<\/sup> anniversary of Stevie Wonder\u2019s Songs in the Key of Life<\/em> album (an all-time favorite of mine). These are the album\u2019s opening words, and they feel so relevant in this moment. In order for feelings of love and joy to prevail in our communities, we have to have some intentionality in doing things that feed those feelings.<\/p>\n

We in the library-verse have a massive opportunity to do that. When people show up to programs, we should take some time to ask them about their lives, to get to know them. We should celebrate them being there. We should have fun with them, laugh with them, and show them that there is joy in our work. Their day should be better because they came to the library.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll leave with this question: How do we create and administer programs in such a way that more and more people feel like there is a place where they belong and are welcome in this world that is too often cruel and unforgiving to too many of us? I\u2019d love to hear anyone\u2019s thoughts and ideas.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n

DuVernay, Jina \u2013 There is Joy for All: Tips for Joyous Library Programming<\/em>. https:\/\/programminglibrarian.org\/articles\/there-joy-all-tips-joyous-library-programming<\/p>\n

Stephens, Michael \u2013 The Heart of Librarianship: Attentive, Positive, and Purposeful Change<\/em>, 2016. ISBN: 978-0-8389-1454-0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We all need a little (or a lot) more joy in our lives\u2026 People may not feel joyful in the workplace, the world, or even in their homes, but library programs can supplement a sense of joy and lightheartedness in everyday life. -Jina DuVernay We Need More Joy\u2026Stat! This quote from Jina DuVernay from her … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Reflection Blog on Hyperlinked Communities: Finding Community, Finding Joy”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":881,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reflection-blogs"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/liamlarkin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/liamlarkin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/liamlarkin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/liamlarkin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/881"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/liamlarkin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/liamlarkin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/liamlarkin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47\/revisions\/50"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/liamlarkin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/liamlarkin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/liamlarkin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}