Taking it to the Streets: New Models

Wendy MacNaughton, artist and illustrative journalist, says that “drawing is looking, and looking is loving.” This is what first came to mind when taking a look at Anythink Library’s Get to Know Your Neighbor program, where a bench and ice-breaker type questions were provided, with the aim of getting to know the neighbors and community members better. MacNaughton’s program functions in a similar way, though instead of asking questions, strangers are invited to sit down and draw each other without looking at their paper. She even took this program to the National Gallery of Art.

The point, of course, of both of these exercises is learning to see–really see each other, and to slow down and engage with someone that is no longer a complete stranger. Libraries, of course, are all about visibility and community, and having a library be the nexus of these kinds of programs is a natural outcropping of what the library is and can be. This kind of engagement, of course, is also an actionable antidote to fear mongering and siloing ourselves in our own bubbles–if everyone you see is a stranger, then the world is strange and scary; if the world is full of friends you haven’t met yet, the world is warm and welcoming, and it’s easier to treat others with dignity and respect–and to establish empathy with one another.

The Library is perfectly poised to provide space and programming to meet the dignity of all of us, from providing nutritional education (Ewen, 2018) to offering library cards to people without a fixed address (Rees, 2018). Thinking beyond the square footage of a building and the idea of a permanent collection can help library users to stretch their own ideas about their communities– “People, not books” (Stephens, n.d.). The commitment to service and seeing us all remains, regardless of the method or medium.

Though of course there will always be books, and there should be (Lefrink, 2018)! On that point, I ran across this the other day and am excited to share it–from the San Francisco public library. Vending library kiosks have been placed in certain neighborhoods, and all you have to do to get a card is live in the neighborhood. Taking the library out from a fixed spot and providing access via micro stations is exactly what the Library and the idea of community presence is all about.

References

Ewen, L. (2018, September 4). A moveable feast: Libraries use mobile kitchens to teach food literacy. American Libraries. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2018/09/04/movable-feast-library-mobile-kitchens/

Lefrink, S. (2018, January 24). To keep people happy… Keep some books. Next. https://blog.oclc.org/next/to-keep-people-happy-keep-some-books/

National Gallery of Art. (2024, July 31). What happens if two complete strangers draw each other [Video]? YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2otlX_c80M

Rees, M. (2018, December 3). No permanent address? No problem. Berkeley library makes it easier for those without homes to get library cards. Berkeleyside. https://www.berkeleyside.org/2018/12/03/no-permanent-address-no-problem-berkeley-library-makes-it-easier-for-those-without-homes-to-get-library-cards

Stephens, M. (n.d.). The hyperlinked library: Participatory service & transparency [Webinar]. San José State University. https://sjsu-ischool.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=2a19a4b6-e945-4d2e-abf1-aef3014172a5