Author: Shannah Carter

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.

I made a poster on my interpretation of my favorite concept learned over the semester.

Here is my inspiration report

https://canva.link/58lwtpdx8fisz7j

Here is my slideshow for my innovation roadmap

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1NWiuOBgdDKzW-n6FnCRYvPdemHXKlVddO1_3ICAghJM/edit?usp=sharing

I absolutely loved the quote Michael shared from his friend Erik at the DOK library in the lecture “Libraries should keep stories, share stories, and make stories. ” It sums up the entire reason i wanted to get into librarianship and combine it with my theatre degree.  I think this participatory service mindset is something that will keep libraries engaging to patrons and encourage more people to use the library.

Libraries need to be a space that people can come together in and feel like a part of a community especially now in a word that feels so isolating even though its easier to connect then ever. We need to have programming that facilitates this. The Heritage Browser at the DOK library is a great example of this. People can see these historical photos and places around the community and connect stories to them. Another example is the partnership that DOK Aarhus library created with Vaerestedet as a part of the Europe Challenge by the European Cultural Foundation. They saw that the people that used Vaerestedet also used the library and they saw a way to combine resources and create a even better community connection for these people by connecting programing, like a creative writing workshop that was at Vaerestedet to the library. People from all walks of life that may not have interacted with each other before even though they were only separated by a 10 minute walk are now connecting because of this.

I believe keeping in mind participatory service is what will carry libraries to the future and keep them relevant. Patrons feeling like and keeping in mind that they are just as integral to the library as the books is what will keep people coming to the library. This will create programing that people actually enjoy and connect with. It will create a library that is truly engrained into the community which i think is what every library strives for.

References

Stephens, M. (n.d.-a). DOK Delft takes user generated content to the next level – A TTW Guest Post by Erik Boekesteijn. Retrieved August 7, 2026, from https://tametheweb.com/2011/02/15/dok-delft-takes-user-generated-content-to-the-next-level-a-ttw-guest-post-by-erik-boekesteijn/

Stephens, M. (n.d.-b). Revisiting participatory service in trying times – a TTW guest post by Michael Casey. Retrieved August 7, 2026, from https://tametheweb.com/2011/10/20/revisiting-participatory-service-in-trying-times-a-ttw-guest-post-by-michael-casey/

Stephens, M. (2016). The heart of librarianship. ALA Editions.

Tales from the street – Dokk1 Aarhus Library. (n.d.). https://youtu.be/_sSdwyJEDTM?si=C0ExjDHlLqxt6x01

Hi My name is Shannah. I live in Ft. Worth TX and I have a very needy cat named Goose. I like Dungeons and Dragons and i play in 2 games week online that i really enjoy. I am in my penultimate semester of the MLIS program so i am very excited about that. I graduated from the University of North Texas with a Bachelor’s in Theatre and hope to connect both degrees working in a theatre library or archives in the future. I chose this course because i was drawn to the emphasis on the connections that libraries make and how much that has changed with how technology has developed.

Paying the cat tax- This is my boy Goose