![\"\"](\"http:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/thehyperlinkeddocket\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/613\/2026\/09\/Architectural-Walking-Tours-300x126.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
My library\u2019s strategic plan includes the word \u201ccommunity.\u201d We debated it at length and tried to replace it, finding it too vague, but nothing better emerged, and so it stayed. Perhaps that is why \u201cBeyond Buzzwords: Ten Invitations to Build Library Connection and Community\u201d resonated with me, even where I disagree. The first invitation points to Discord as a new model for intentional gathering, and the fourth encourages \u201cauthentic dialogue\u201d on platforms such as TikTok. These platforms certainly facilitate conversation, but whether that conversation is authentic remains an open question, as the debate around <\/span>The Anxious Generation<\/span><\/i>, a flawed book in its own right, suggests. For me, the most fitting invitation is the sixth: \u201cHonor Small Moments.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n This spring, my library partnered with two neighbors, a local civic association and a seminary, to offer architectural walking tours. Our campus, which serves about 500 students, now occupies the seminary\u2019s former buildings. The library itself is a 1996 building designed to match the Gothic Revival style of the 1924 originals. It suits a law school: imposing, steeped in tradition, yet meant to belong to its community, as the seminary once did. The civic association brought its knowledge of the town’s architecture, and the seminary’s library director and one of its professors brought the history of the place. Coordinating, printing brochures, and doing walk-throughs took weeks. Along the way, I came to know our wonderful guides, Kathy, Daniel, and Jack (pseudonyms), and the campus where I work, down to the 1924 tiles I step on every day.<\/span><\/p>\n At the start of the school year, while covering the desk, I noticed two people pause just inside the door, unsure where to go and hesitant to approach the large wooden desk. I was taught (by someone who is a firm believer in hyperlinked libraries) to make eye contact and ask the question before it reaches me, so I greeted them and asked how I could help. They were seminary students hoping to use our study space. I told them they were welcome, and asked them to say hello to Kathy and Daniel when they returned. A conversation began.<\/span><\/p>\n It was a small moment. It may grow, or it may not, but I believe it changed how those two students see our library. Such moments rarely come from nowhere; they rest on months, sometimes years, of work and relationship-building. To me, they are what authentic conversation looks like. These are also the moments when words like \u201ccommunity\u201d become really precise.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My library\u2019s strategic plan includes the word \u201ccommunity.\u201d We debated it at length and tried to replace it, finding it too vague, but nothing better emerged, and so it stayed. Perhaps that is why \u201cBeyond Buzzwords: Ten Invitations to Build Library Connection and Community\u201d resonated with me, even where I disagree. The first invitation points … Continue reading Hyperlinked Communities (Reflection Blog): Finding Community in Small Moments<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":885,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/thehyperlinkeddocket\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/thehyperlinkeddocket\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/thehyperlinkeddocket\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/thehyperlinkeddocket\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/885"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/thehyperlinkeddocket\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/thehyperlinkeddocket\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/thehyperlinkeddocket\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32\/revisions\/38"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/thehyperlinkeddocket\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/thehyperlinkeddocket\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/thehyperlinkeddocket\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}