Watching this lecture, I thought about the ways that a public library is made up of everyone’s stories. Sometimes people volunteer their stories and let everyone in on their inner life. Sometimes, staff have to piece together clues to figure out what someone needs and discern the best way to help them.
I was especially interested in the article about StoryCorps’ efforts to collect people’s stories. My library’s archivist recently began an initiative with the local community’s Puerto Rican historical organization to collect people’s photos, documents, and stories. This is a wonderful way to document the underreported history of this group. The plan is to eventually expand the project and include any of the town’s residents and former residents to build an archive of their stories and create a rich collection of first-person narratives and photos.
I especially love the idea of pairing the interviewee with a family member or loved one in order to best capture the relationships (Eberhart, 2018). It’s amazing how much you can learn from a family conversation, even about topics that you have been discussing for years. For instance, one of my aunts visited my library this week. As I walked her to the car afterward, she told me how their family had lived in the town when she was very young. She then she directed me to their old house, just a few streets from the library. I had no idea they’d lived so close, as my father was just a toddler when they moved and didn’t really remember. As we drove by, she reminisced about their neighbors and the candy store that had been on their street. The store is long gone but she remembered the kind owner who let her and her brothers fill their pockets for free because he knew that things were difficult as their eldest brother was very ill with cystic fibrosis.
What I expected to be a quick visit became an experience I’ll treasure, as it connected me to my family, especially my father who passed away not long ago. It also connected me to the history of the community where I work. (She also pointed out a few other landmarks, including a haunted former convent. Another story for another time.) Stories like these are part of the fabric of the community and helping people remember and document them for future generations is just one way that libraries can support them.
References
Eberhart, G.M. (2018, February 10. Sharing people’s stories. American Libraries. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/blogs/the-scoop/sharing-peoples-stories/
Hello Susanne!
If a library professional wants their library to reflect the community they serve truly, they should definitely look into storytelling. Storytelling initiatives are an excellent way to attract new users to the library, gain user buy-in for publicly supporting the institution, and embed the library into the social fabric of the community. The work you described your library’s archivist doing through a partnership with a “Puerto Rican historical organization to collect people’s photos, documents, and stories” is an excellent example of a library’s work to tell the stories of people from marginalized communities. I also love what you wrote about having someone from the community as a sort of facilitator to help the interviewee feel more comfortable. Good post!