Assignment X: The fearless library

The fearless library

What would a fearless library look like? How does our fear influence our services and our spaces? Do our libraries cleave to safety so steadfastly that we slow innovation?

For this blog post, I looked deeper into the intersections of fear and librarianship. I hope that this small excavation of anxieties allows us to step further out of our silos and towards a spirit of collaborative design with our communities.

What are we so afraid of?

The idea of fear crept up on me over the past few modules. From Amy Edmonson’s conception of “the fearless organization,” to Michael Stephens’ assessment that librarians are always worried “something might happen” when we introduce new technologies (Edmonson, 2022; Stephens, 2019, 17:50). You can probably see our fear in our imposing architecture, which may be awe-inspiring, but is not welcoming (Ettarh, 2018). Or maybe you will glimpse our fear in our reticence to abolish fines, even when we know it increases patron engagement (Gerber, 2022). You will certainly see our fear in our copious negative signage telling you what you absolutely cannot do in our buildings (Polger, 2022).

In looking into the ways that fear rears its head in librarianship, I have seen that libraries want to be first adopters of innovation and participatory programming. We want to be brave and indispensable advocates for our patrons. But we are also public institutions, often bound by political constraints, the realities of budget, and the touch of fear tickling the back of our mind that a cool new program might just cause an uproar.

And the thing is, I found that many of these fears make sense. Funding is a resurging issue for many public libraries, with defunding threats rising in tandem with book challenges (Cineas, 2023). So, getting rid of any potential income source—like fines—is scary (Cineas, 2023). Community members do get upset over our programs and books, so hosting a potentially controversial storytime can be terrifying (Kaleem, 2023).

With an uptick of censorship legislation, librarians even fear the criminalization of the profession (Italie & Kruesi, 2024). Librarians face firing, fines, lawsuits, intimidation, and jail for upholding tenants of the profession (Italie & Kruesi, 2024; Tolin, 2023). A small research study showed that our fears stop librarians from “implementing a change, stopping a service, or creating a new service” (Schwoebel & Ross, 2020). So yes, librarianship can be scary. Risk is real. But is this fear serving us? Is it serving our users?

Let’s lean into what makes us uneasy.

Despite the ways that fear is woven into librarianship, we cannot afford to let it control us. So, what would your fearless library look like?

Would you lean into your role as an integral community resource and have showers available for your patrons? Would you experimentwith playfulness and have a two-story art installation/playground that exposes kids to the intersection of creativity and movement? Would you create a safe haven of understanding and host human library events? Or would you think of something even braver?

In these examples, we can see that libraries have moments where they are fearless. How do we extend these moments of fearlessness into a model of service? How do we notice the fear and use it to fuel our next era of transformation?

Personal Reflection

My fearless library is a place that refuses to let “strong dissenters…derail new initiatives” (Casey & Stephens, 2007). My fearless library has music and movement and life. It has art installations in the community garden and a travelling science exhibit next to the non-fiction. It hosts death cafés and teen Pride parties and library sleepovers (Inklebarger, 2015). In this library, I forgo awe for hope; I forgo certainty for creativity.

I hope that knowing these fears, looking at them with candor and understanding, will help me both to design innovative services and to communicate their value to my community. This research helped me see that there are real reasons that librarians might be wary. Yet, it also showed me that we are doing scary new things anyway. Libraries can be “a space of exception” and hope, but only if we do not design from a place of fear (Mattern, 2014).

References

Brainy J. (2023). Drag Queen Storytime – Waterloo Park ATX – June 10 2023 [Photograph]. Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved June 17, 2024 from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Drag_Queen_Storytime_-_Waterloo_Park_ATX_-_June_10_2023.jpg

Canmenwalker. (2023). North York Central Library: Children library play area 2023 [Photograph]. Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved June 18, 2024 from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:North_York_Central_Library-Children_Library_Play_Area_2023.jpg

Casey, M. & Stephens, M. (2007, December 15). A road map to transparency. Tame the Web. https://tametheweb.com/2007/12/15/a-road-map-to-transparency/

Cineas, F. (2023, May 8). The rising Republican movement to defund public libraries. Vox. https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/5/5/23711417/republicans-want-to-defund-public-libraries-book-bans

Edmonson A. [@AmyCEdmondson]. (2022, December 29). #PsychologicalSafety and my book The Fearless Organization beautifully brought to life by @ameliacrab [Image attached][Post]. X. https://x.com/AmyCEdmondson/status/1608475876118642690

Ettarh, F. (2018, January 10). Vocational awe and librarianship: The lies we tell ourselves. In the Library with the Lead Pipe. https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2018/vocational-awe/

Gerber, A. (2022, September 28). Fine farewells: LJ’s 2022 fines and fees survey. Library Journal. https://www.libraryjournal.com/story/Fine-Farewells-LJs-2022-Fines-and-Fees-Survey

Inklebarger, T. (2015, October 30). When the subject is death: Forums to discuss mortality come to libraries. American Libraries. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2015/10/30/when-subject-is-death-library-death-cafes/

Italie, H., & Kruesi, K. (2024, April 9). Librarians fear new penalties, even prison, as activists challenge books. Associated Press. https://apnews.com/article/book-bans-libraries-lawsuits-fines-prison-0914fa6cbb2a99b540cbbd28a38179b4

LMU Library. (2015). The Human Library tshirt (21874201794) [Photograph]. Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved June 17, 2024 from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Human_Library_Tshirt_(21874201794).jpg

Kaleem, J. (2023, February 22). How drag queen story hour became a battle over gender, sexuality and kids. Los Angeles Times. https://latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-02-22/drag-queen-story-hour

Mattern, S. (2014, June). Library as infrastructure. Places Journal. https://placesjournal.org/article/library-as-infrastructure/

Polger, M. A. (2022, September 1). Show and tell: Library signage and wayfinding design. American Libraries. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2022/09/01/show-and-tell/

Schwoebel, K. & Ross, E. (2020). What gets libraries sued: Measuring librarian fears against statistical realities. South Carolina Libraries, 4(1), Article 12. https://doi.org/10.51221/sc.scl.2020.4.1.20

Stephens, M. (2019). Hyperlinked library model [Lecture]. In M. Stephens, The hyperlinked library: Emerging trends, emerging technologies. Panopto. https://sjsu-ischool.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=a0569381-4d66-4e0a-a7fa-aab3010a8f3e

Tolin, L. (2023, August 22). Teachers and librarians describe a climate of fear. PEN America. https://pen.org/teachers-librarians-intimidation/