Reflection Blog: The Power of Stories is How We Listen
Libraries are not just the house where stories and information live. They are the windows and the doorways and the cozy fireplace around which we gather to share ourselves. They amplify voices and empower users to give shape to their history and, more importantly, how they see themselves, through storytelling. As the Power of Stories module reminds us, stories have the amazing ability to link us across cultures, experiences, and generations so that we understand the heart of one another and break down walls, especially in times where the world feels so divided.
A powerful example of this philosophy is Vancouver Public Library’s Indigenous Storyteller in Residence program, which recognizes how storytelling can honor traditional Indigenous cultures and promote cross-cultural communication, understanding, and empathy. The Indigenous Storyteller in Residence program supports practices of oral tradition, memory keeping, and knowledge-sharing. Even more importantly, it creates space for Indigenous voices to be heard on their own terms. It is participatory, not performative, and demonstrates what can happen when a library listens.
Likewise, The Human Library is not just a story, but a conversation, and a classroom, and a platform. This program honors the fact that we all have a story, and that we can all still learn something new, even when we think we know what it means to be a veteran, a person living with depression, a refugee, [insert label here].
So often we assign labels before we ask questions. We make assumptions about others by the way they look, where they live, the jobs they perform, the families they grew up in. We don’t know, or try to know, what shaped them, even as we are desperate to be known ourselves. We even forget that, just like us, they have a story to be told. During a time as divisive as the one we live in, where assumptions and labels are enough to tear families and communities apart, library programs like the Indigenous Storyteller in Residence or the Human Library remind us that we are closer alike than we think, and connected at the core. The stories we tell about ourselves are how we reach across the divide and say “I see you”.
References
Fenton, C. (2013, April 9). The Human Library: Sharing the human experience. Public Libraries Online. https://publiclibrariesonline.org/2013/04/human_librar/
Stephens, M. (n.d.). The power of stories. The Hyperlinked Library. San José State University, School of Information. Retrieved July 26, 2025, from https://287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu/course-modules/the-power-of-stories/
Vancouver Public Library. (n.d.). Indigenous Storyteller in Residence. Retrieved July 26, 2025, from https://www.vpl.ca/storyteller
2 Comments
esperanza
Hi Chandler,
Wow! I love this. I had never heard of the Vancouver Public Library’s Indigenous Storyteller in Residence program and it is so moving. What a beautiful way to continue traditional oral storytelling and expand the idea that libraries are more than physical books. It has always been about connections!
Kristin Hirst
Hi Chandler,
I love the idea of the Indigenous Storytelling in Residence program. What a great way to give people an opportunity to share stories in the oral tradition and keep memories alive. You made such a great point about how it’s so common to create labels for others and to forget that each person has their own story to tell. I totally agree that programs like the Indigenous Storytelling in Residence and The Human Library are a great way to break down those barriers and remind us that we have more in common with each other than we might have realized. Thanks for sharing!