Reflection: The Power of Stories

I wholeheartedly agree that stories are incredibly powerful. so this module was super interesting. Libraries play such an important role for not only being a place to find stories but make and share them. I liked the little exercise of what you see as a little kid during the summer at the beginning of lecture and i want to do it with a group now. I saw the old above ground swimming pool and rickety swing set in my childhood backyard. Stories can take so many forms and i think libraries need to support them all whether it be through programing or collection development.

I got fascinated with human libraries and decided to do my inspiration report on a human library project. I think it is such an incredible way to foster connection in the library and share stories that might not have been told.

I was also glad to see StoryCorps as a resource with this module. I follow StoryCorps’ social media and always get captured by the videos. Somehow I did not know that they partnered with public libraries so it was cool to see that.

Using emojis to tell stories was such a fun idea. You can tell so much with just a few of them. I could definitely see a teen group having a blast with a emoji story activity.

References

Arne-Skidmore, E. (2021, April 8). New study on the impact of the Human Library. The Human Library Organization. https://humanlibrary.org/new-study-on-the-impact-of-the-human-library/

Dowling, B. (2013, April 26). The human library: Sharing the community with itself – public libraries online. Public Libraries Online – A Publication of the Public Library Association. http://publiclibrariesonline.org/2013/04/human_librar/

Sharing People’s Stories: StoryCorp Partners With Public Libraries. (n.d.). Retrieved August 8, 2026, from https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/blogs/the-scoop/sharing-peoples-stories/

Stephens, M. (2025). Wholehearted librarianship. ALA Editions.

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