Assignment X: The Grounded Library & Gallery
In a topsy-turvy world, our minds are under constant pressure. The simple act of absorbing information—the very foundation of our profession—is a struggle when our brains are in a state of fight, flight, or freeze. If our job is to meet the needs of the community, I believe we must first look to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and build a foundation of safety before anything else. My solution is to become a facilitator of growth everywhere I go, much like Johnny Appleseed, promoting a pipeline to growth and self-actualization.
I’m building my own information collection by blogging in a way that feels somewhat vulnerable. The Hyperlinked Library model is the playbook that allows me to do this, linking myself and a global community of information professionals to resources and skills, creating a decentralized and accessible service that anyone with an internet connection can participate in. I believe focusing on a core demographic of people who do not have safe access to libraries will result in a high-impact solution for cultivating a safe learning environment.
Our mission is to create a space where people can first find a safe space, then open their minds to growth and exploration. This is a sanctuary. We can achieve this by adopting the “Healthy Library, Healthy Life” approach and strategic framework from Public Libraries Victoria, an institutional embrace of Wholehearted Librarianship. Showing up with empathy, transparency, and togetherness should not be underestimated in a world where divisiveness is the game of social media algorithms and networks.
Like the Greenbook publications, which helped navigate black folks towards safe spaces from the 1930s to 1960s, we need digital safe spaces where people can find the tools they need to meet their needs so they may learn to fulfill basic needs, with support , and ascend closer to self-actualization. This shifts our role from reactive service to a proactive one, setting the stage for receptive learning, establishing a foundation of wellness and trust, and promoting a mindset of prevention over cure and connection over isolation.
The Grounded Library and Gallery will explore multi-media formats and modeling techniques to make well-being a participatory experience before research. This is where tools like grounding/meditation techniques, whether through a designated quiet room or live-streamed social media video, provide a sense of shared purpose and accountability. This personal collection, a modern take on the Hyperlinked Library, will be a digital toolkit of resources to help people climb Maslow’s hierarchy. The IFLA Four Spaces serve as our physical and digital stations along this pipeline, from the social Third Place that fulfills a need for belonging to the creative Fourth Place that inspires personal fulfillment.
This is my vision for the future of library service: a radical adaptation to a world in crisis. Our websites are not just warehouses of knowledge; they are sanctuaries of trust, where people can find the peace and healing they need to engage with information and, in doing so, embark on their journey toward self-actualization.
How will you make your library a safe, grounded space for your community’s journey to self-actualization? For those inspired by this concept, how would you approach this space? What can you envision being included? What librarianship traditions are you ready to leave behind? How can you get people excited about the reality of success or failure in modern libraries and serve users with an environment conducive to learning when other options have failed to meet the moment?
I look forward to exploring the development of this seed of hope with future visitors and participants on the blog, whether through collaboration with other information professionals or any other participants who come along.
Hi CJ,
What a thoughtful and inspiring post. You really brought this vision to life (though I had no doubt you would!). I hope you’re finding ways to care for yourself in these turbulent times, especially given the important work you’re doing as a crisis counselor at SJSU.
I love how you frame libraries as sanctuaries for growth and self-actualization. That perspective feels both timely and necessary, and I see it as a powerful direction for the profession as we adapt to an uncertain future. Your ideas leave me excited to continue engaging in this conversation with openness, empathy, and curiosity.
To join in, I’d like to reflect on a couple of the questions you posed:
Which library traditions should we move beyond?
In my own work, I’ve been thinking about how the notion of “quiet libraries” no longer matches the needs of our communities. While spaces for focus are still important, I’m passionate about designing libraries that embrace activity and even joyful noise, so that libraries become true community hubs where connection and collaboration thrive.
How can we build enthusiasm when libraries succeed or struggle?
I believe storytelling is the key. Sharing real experiences of transformation helps people see libraries as more than institutions. For instance, we have a few families at my local public library that participate in Baby Storytime together. While the babies listen to stories and songs, their mothers bond over the joys and struggles of parenting. This is just one example of how libraries can become living, breathing ecosystems of care, resilience, and possibility.
Your vision sparks so much hope, and I look forward to seeing how these ideas continue to grow and evolve in conversation with others.
Good luck this semester,
Chelsea
Hi Chelsea B.!
You’re right- adaptation with a powerful perspective and direction with a moral compass is the kind of action-inspired mission MLIS professionals can adopt. As rocky as things are these day, hope is at the heart of who we are as librarians, and we are needed to faciliate this vision of modern, and future librarianship where every patrons’ needs matter.
I enjoyed your reflections regarding the outdated, and steadfastly stereotypical “quiet” library, and the power of storytelling for library success. I am completely on board. I, personally, think it would be fun to be a “loud” librarian (lol!)- an oxymoron of that nature is bound to turn heads! As someone who can be sound sensitive in a public setting, I think that as long as tools such as noise-cancelling headphones, or quiet rooms, spaces, and times are available, why not open up the volume a bit? I personally miss hearing the sound of children’s collective laughter. The library should be a happy place, and chasing away joy at it’s core by silencing, shushing, and berating the activities that bring joy doesn’t sound like a grounded approach to me. It reinforces a tale to children that libraries are strict and boring while suppressing the freedom of wonder and joy- they exact states of mind in which leave them primed for learning and reading.
Thanks for stopping by Chelsea B.!