The role of daydreaming and Imagination

Often when I am sitting in a meeting, a lecture, or presentation, my mind wanders. Early on in my career I found this annoying but over time I realized that this was my way of processing the information that I was hearing but also building connections to things I have read, seen, and heard elsewhere.

 One of the things that I miss about in-person lectures, books talks, and conference presentations, is the stimulation that these provide. Not only do I hear new, and hopefully interesting things, but my mind kicks in and starts building new ideas and new ways of thinking about my work. Interestingly with Zoom, my mind wanders but it doesn’t kick into this mode of thinking, creating, and imagining. Perhaps this is why I find large Zoom meetings and presentations so deadly.

 We have all heard that we must be disciplined and concentrate on the tasks at hand. This is what work expects of us and it is what we’ve come to expect of ourselves. For most of us, I presume, our minds wander from the pressing problem at work, or at home, to something else. We daydream. This is not a bad thing.

 American theologian, Will Willimon, agrees, noting that “daydreaming can be the mind’s incubator. When we’re hyperfocused, the possibility of the mind reaching into its reservoir and making an “Aha!” diminishes. In daydreaming there’s no controlling censor to whisper, “That’s ridiculous” or “Completely impractical.”

 The library profession is sometimes accused of being staid, unadventurous.  While we know that isn’t really true, we sometimes do get into our own way of doing things and don’t daydream or imagine enough.  Some of that lack of imagining comes from being overworked, pressed for time; daydreaming is seen as the enemy of the necessary. We also worry that our “crazy idea” won’t be appreciated or welcomed.

 Google is well known, as a company, for allowing their employees some “play time”. Typically up to 20% of their time can be spent on imagining or creating something new; something that is not necessarily part of their work assignment. This has served Google well. However the new work from home might end up being particularly challenging, as some early large scale studies have shown that while employees enjoy working from home, it greatly decreased their creativity.

 Sources of creativity often come from reading or seeing something new. The author Neil Gaiman talks about the role that fiction plays learning to imagine and create. He notes that when people have visited Google, Apple, and Microsoft to try and understand how they learned to be creative, they found that almost without fail the most creative individuals had read science fiction as children. Fiction allows you to imagine a different world. Fiction can breed discontent. “Discontent is a good thing: discontented people can modify and improve their worlds, leave them better, leave them different.”

The other factor that I have found that has inhibited thinking creatively and imagining a different future is the culture of scarcity. Decreased staffing levels and budgets always bring the specter of scarcity and indeed these can be challenging. They can however, if we allow ourselves, provide a moment to daydream, or imagine a different future, a different way to do things, a different way forward.

 The next time your mind wanders, don’t be so quick to chastise yourself.  Let those creative juices flow. You might not end up with a new work of art, or a new poem, or the next prize winning novel but you might have a renewed appreciation for your work, or a new idea of how to make work better or more interesting.

Remembrance, Veterans, ROTC, and Libraries

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
 Loved and were loved, and now we lie
 In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
 In Flanders fields.

These familiar words by World War I war poet John McCrae are haunting and poignant. While associated with the horrors of the trench warfare that characterized much of World War I, these words still challenge us to honor their sacrifice as well as continue to strive for peace.

One of my favorite World War I poets, Siegfried Sassoon, penned these incredible lines in his poem, Dreamers. They still ring true today.

Soldiers are citizens of death's grey land,

Drawing no dividend from time's to-morrows.  

In the great hour of destiny they stand,

Each with his feuds, and jealousies, and sorrows.  

Soldiers are sworn to action; they must win  

Some flaming, fatal climax with their lives.

Soldiers are dreamers; when the guns begin

They think of firelit homes, clean beds and wives.

I see them in foul dug-outs, gnawed by rats,

And in the ruined trenches, lashed with rain,  

Dreaming of things they did with balls and bats,

And mocked by hopeless longing to regain  

Bank-holidays, and picture shows, and spats,

And going to the office in the train.

War today, like that of yesterday is horrific, and none comes away from it unscarred. While poetry may seem, to some, an odd response to war, both World War I and II saw many notable poets. They used poetry to protest, to express angst, sorrow, and anger. My generation responded to the Vietnam War through song; songs like Fortunate Son (Credence Clearwater Revival), Gimme Shelter (The Rolling Stones), Draft Morning (The Byrds), and Cruel War (Peter, Paul, and Mary) to name a few. These and others ignited a generation of protest against the war.

In the rush of everyday life it is easy to forget the sacrifice and service of our veterans. They often become invisible to us, even when they are part of our family. Even though I never served in any branch of the armed services, my family is heavily steeped in military service. My father was a World War II Canadian veteran who fought in all the major battles of the liberation of Holland. His brother Nick and three of his cousins all served in WWII, two of the cousins dying in France. Two of his younger brothers all so served, one of them in the Korean War. Likewise my Father-in-law, served as medical supply coordinator, his two brothers served as navigator in a bomber and a forward scout, and all three of my wife’s brothers were also in the service; one in the DMZ in Korea, and one in Vietnam. So much impact: much to remember and be thankful for.

With more than 20 million veterans in the US, they are very likely to be our relatives, our neighbors, our classmates, and hopefully our friends. There are many veterans on our college and university campuses; some visible, others invisible. Some schools do an admirable job in providing a suite of services for veterans. While their needs are similar to other student needs, they have their own set of needs. They are typically older, off campus, and not necessarily involved in typical college life. Many have families and are also working full time. Many have health or mental health needs stemming from their years of service. Campuses often have a veteran services office which provides a strategic entry point for libraries. Libraries should partner with veteran services to understand veterans’ information needs and to develop services tailored to their needs. Veterans should be able to easily locate services for their needs on the library website as well as a librarian should be assigned as a point of contact so veterans know that there is a real person assigned to supporting their needs.

ROTC programs, which faded for a while on some college campuses, are back in force and it is not uncommon to see students in uniform walking across campus, in the libraries, labs, and classrooms. Some people may object to having a military presence on campus, so it is important to make these students feel welcome on campus and in our libraries. Libraries should strategize on how they provide services for ROTC students. Their schedules are busier than many students as they are usually carrying a full academic load and also spending many additional hours on their ROTC training courses and military drills. Libraries may need to add military science collections and appropriate databases to support these students. Another strategy to consider would be to host programs that allow veterans and ROTC students to share their experiences with the larger campus co

Libraries as Conversation and Story

I am a self-confessed architecture junkie. I find architecture to be innovative, inspiring, creative, and sometimes frustrating. I receive a daily email newsletter entitled ArchDaily from archdaily.com.  ArchDaily says its ”… job is to improve the quality of life of the billions of people who will arrive in cities during the next decades by providing inspiration, knowledge, and tools to the architects who will have the challenge to design for them”.  While the newsletter contains a daily dose of the most interesting architectural projects in the world, it also has a monthly theme that explores various topics. The theme for October was innovation.

As part of the “innovation” theme, they published an interview with Richard Saul Wurman, the noted American architect, graphic designer, and founder of the TED Conference. Wurman also coined the term “information architect” in 1975, a prescient move, long before the information revolution. Because of Wurman’s encyclopedic interest, the interview ranged from famous architects, to design, to music, and to knowing and unknowing. As part of the interview, he shared some thoughts from a letter he had written for a graduating class of architecture students where he talked about architecture as conversation. 

“Architecture is the thoughtful making of space and place. It shelters nearly everything that defines civilization: families, factories, football, and the sounds of a flute. Architecture holds formative conversations with everything. The near future is about conversations between those who are similar and those who are different, and about innovative ideas that come from such conversations. What will be your conversation?”

I was struck by the many ways that this idea might be applied to describing libraries. Libraries, like architecture, are about space (physical and digital) and place. Libraries are all-encompassing of civilization; they are global in scope. Libraries and their users converse with everything. Libraries are about intellectual engagement.

Conversation involves multiple ways of learning and knowing. Reading is a conversation that interrogates a disciplinary or interdisciplinary area. Reading opens imaginative space to create.  Likewise, writing is a conversation between ourselves and other scholars and writers. Conversation is both verbal and non-verbal; kinesthetic and gestural. Conversation allows us to see patterns and build connections. Conversation is performative; bringing music, art, and dance within its folds. 

Our libraries provide rich collections, spaces, technologies, and expertise that allow for conversation. Perhaps, looking at Libraries as “conversation” may help students to think differently about libraries and their student experience. Studying, reading, writing, using technology, accessing physical and digital collections are all part of their conversation between themselves, ideas, professors, and their fellow students. Like in life, some conversations are easy and friendly, some are difficult but worthwhile, some are abrupt and disturbing. Conversations both challenge and confirm. Conversation makes it okay to not know, to be tentative, to ask, to be silent, to ask again. The great cellist, Yo-yo Ma, talks about music being the space between the notes. Conversation is sometimes paused and silent. Conversation connotes multiple ways of knowing and doing; it allows students to grow, to change, to find their true selves.

The other idea that I have been exploring is the idea of library as story. For the past half dozen or more years I have been thinking about various metaphors that can be used to describe libraries. This particular metaphor comes from a job talk that I did at the University of Hawaiʽi in late September.  As part of my research into Hawaiian history and culture, I came across the Hawaiian word moʽolelo. While a simple English translation is “story” its essence is not so easily captured.  Moʽolelo can also mean history, legend, genealogy, tradition, and more.  Native Hawaiian culture was and still is, a rich culture of oral tradition. Storytelling was one way that this cultural knowledge was preserved and passed on.  Hula (dance) and mele (song) are closely related story forms that are used to tell, teach, and construct knowledge.

The thing that I like about the idea of library as story, especially thinking about Hawaiian moʽolelo, is that it looks at knowledge and knowing in a holistic and connected way.  Library as story is familial and not individualistic. It does not objectify knowledge in ways that are familiar to most Western ways of thinking. History and genealogy are connected to the environment, Music and dance are connected to governing and social relationships. The land, the ocean, and the culture are both physical and spiritual. In today’s quest for interdisciplinary research, the Hawaiian way of looking at the world provides a valuable lesson on the connectedness of all things.¹

Our libraries contain many stories, although we don’t often think about them this way, other than perhaps in our literature stacks.  Libraries actually tell stories about our cultures, what we value, the histories and ideas we think are important. While American libraries pride themselves on building collections that are broad, representative, and balanced, in many cases this is not so. We have tended to build collections that have privileged white, Christian, male culture. Some of this comes from being attuned to what is published in North America and Europe and not thinking more broadly about the stories that we have missed. Historically we have not done well with indigenous stories or stories from underrepresented minorities. Too often we have privileged stories about these groups written by members of the dominant society.

Many of us have been challenged recently to think about the diversity of our collections. We need to think about what stories our collections tell and what stories they enable.

Libraries are “conversations” and “stories”.  What conversations are we facilitating and what stories do our libraries tell.

1.       I am not at Native Hawaiian and I will not presume to say that my limited understanding of “aloha aina” qualifies me to make any judgments. In my reading, I have become impressed with the Hawaiian ways of knowing and suggest that moʽolelo or story is one way to think somewhat differently about libraries in a holistic and connected way. It forefronts indigenous knowledge as a legitimate and valued part of the cultural story. If these ideas resonate with any Native Hawaiian (Kanaka Maoli) librarians, I hope they will take up and develop this metaphor.

“The Hawaiian term, “Aloha Aina” literally means, love of the land. In its deeper sense, Aloha Aina means love of the people, family (past, presentʽ and future), the community, nature, the environment, and all that physically and spiritually comprise Hawaii. Hawaiian traditional values reflect Aloha Aina, incorporating the ancient Hawaiian practice of utilizing the talents and skills of everyone in the community, all working responsibly together in harmony, with a commitment for the present and a heart for future generations.” - https://bit.ly/2JWFtu5

Mercy and love: Challenging the “respectable” in our lives, our work, and our libraries

Several weeks ago, the pastor of our church, who often preaches on social justice issues, said that “mercy always chooses love over religious respectability”. Her emphasis was that we often let our quest for religious respectability focus on ourselves, to the detriment of others, and our community. While her sermon, obviously had a religious/spiritual message, I think the message is still true even if we change the words to “mercy always chooses love over cultural or social respectability”.

I’ve been letting this phrase rummage around in my brain, looking for connections both to my work and to issues that are important to me. Several things in the last few weeks have brought home how we often chose respectability over mercy. We often chose mere tolerance over mercy as well, where tolerance is barely above contempt for the other.

Respectability is defined as “the state or quality of being proper, correct, and socially acceptable”. This broad view, even in today’s more permissive and pluralistic society, exerts a control that is often detrimental to both individuals and communities. Depending on where you live, even in the US, it is not respectable to be overweight, poor, homeless, non-white, an immigrant, gay, a Muslim, and the list goes on and on.  Respectability becomes equated with a person’s value or worth as a human. Rather than being an affirmation of a person’s dignity, our personal, religious, cultural or corporate sense of what is respectable degrades the other. Rather than showing mercy and therefore love, we show disdain and disgust.

A recent email “In Defense of Nuance” from Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation, echoes a similar sentiment when he notes that “rather than building bridges and relationships based on mutual understanding or shared respect, this oppositional, nuance-averse posture rewards ideological purity and public shame—the very things that scuttle strong working relationships and incentivize people to dig in their heels.”

October saw the LGBTQ community celebrating “National Coming Out Day” and the US Supreme Court discussing if gay, lesbian, and trans people had equal protection under the law. For several weeks I have been reading books on Hawaiian history and culture and how Calvinist missionaries and their descendants who espoused Social Darwinism, in the name of Christian respectability defrauded native Hawaiians of their country, language, and culture. The Jewish community celebrated Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, collectively known as the high holidays and a gunman in Germany opened fire at a Yom Kippur service.

Also notable was Indigenous People’s Day, at least here in California; a replacement for Columbus Day and a recognition that indigenous people have suffered inhumane treatment at the hands of the majority. The Social Darwinism of the 19^th and 20^th centuries encouraged imperialism and racism, leading to the conquest and subjugation of many indigenous people. Of course, this was not new, as religious zealotry and bigotry had done the same in the conquests and settlement in North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, and Africa, and the subcontinent of Asia.

Having spent a lot of time over the past few weeks thinking through issues faced by indigenous people, as well as historically underrepresented groups, I come back to the pastor’s statement. In what ways have we chosen “religious, social, or cultural respectability” over mercy and love?   

The American Library Association has, at times, been criticized for taking stands on issues that some feel are not “library” issues.  Often, but not always, these issues are raised through the Social Responsibilities Round Table, the Rainbow Round Table (formerly the GLBT Round Table), or the Intellectual Freedom Committee. These issues have include LGBT rights, economic discrimination, intellectual freedom, right to privacy, and religious freedom to name a few.  Many librarians have become strong advocates that these are also library issues as they affect the diverse group of people we are trying to serve.

Libraries by nature are not neutral organizations as they exist within the cultural power structures in which they reside. In Western society, they largely reflect white middle class, Christian and heteronormative values.  Until relatively recently, libraries did not collect materials that represented non-white, non-Christian, and non-heteronormative in a positive light or were written by these groups. Our cataloging systems reflect many of these same values, which marginalizes these materials in our collections and makes them difficult to discover. Our HR systems also reflected these same values. Even as we have made progress in being more representative, our quest for normative “respectability” often gets in the way of serving people who look different or think differently from us. The pull of “respectability” is a powerful one.

The Oxford Dictionary defines mercy as “compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm”.  If we look at “library values” as they are expressed by ALA, or any number of our libraries, it is doubtful that mercy or love make the list.

You will, however, see statements around “social justice” and I argue that mercy and love are both elements of social justice, especially as they fight against religious, social, and cultural respectability as a method of disparaging and marginalizing others.

As we think of our libraries, I challenge myself and my readers to look at how our own views of “respectability” often prejudices our behavior and our thoughts of others. The challenge is to substitute mercy and love over respectability. It could make a powerful difference in our fractured world.

Leaning into a new imagination: Indigenous knowledge and culture

For those of us raised and educated in the western cultural and philosophical tradition, it is hard for us to imagine other ways of thinking and knowing. We assume that everyone should see the world in the same way. This thinking not only denies that most of the world is not western but that the western cultural tradition is neither singular nor unchanging. The western understanding of humans and the world over the centuries evolved from a largely spiritual (Judeo Christian) to one that is predominantly based on rational thought without regard to spiritual matters. I realize that this statement is a gross oversimplification, but it does represent the broad strokes of the last several millennia. Despite this evolution, the western tradition has shaped the world’s dominant structures of power and privilege and continues to do so.

Starting in the late 15^th century when westerners (read white, Christian, European/American), encountered native cultures in the Americas, Africa, Oceana, Asia, and the subcontinent, their western ways of knowing and understanding of the world clashed with those they met, and these native cultures were immediately judged to be inferior and uncivilized. Their epistemology (way of knowing) prevented them from any cultural or philosophical dialogue or exchange. No attempt was made to understand but only to conquer and force deculturalization, or death. This epistemology enabled a class and caste structure that elevated the white race and the western tradition as the gold standard.

As I prepared for an interview at the University of Hawaiʽi, I knew I would be interviewing at a place where no one ethnic group was a majority, and where the University was trying to embrace and instill Native Hawaiian ways of understanding the world. I read broadly on Hawaiian history and native Hawaiian culture and history and was immediately confronted by my own dependence on the western cultural tradition for my understanding of the world. To understand what I was reading, I had to set aside many of my preconceived ideas and understandings. One of the things I have most appreciated about encountering other cultures, languages, and histories, is that it forces me to think about my own preconceptions; it allows me to stop and recognize that my way of looking at the world is not the only valid way.

I will not attempt here to retell the Hawaiian story, as it is not mine to tell. Suffice it to say, the Hawaiian kingdom was overthrown by the United States in 1893. This was followed by a profound period of forced deculturalization where native Hawaiians lost not only their country, their queen, and their government but their language and culture were suppressed and devalued to the point where the language was all but extinct and many of the cultural traditions were almost lost. In the early 1970s there was, to the surprise of many, a rebirth, a renaissance of Hawaiian culture, language, and pride. Over the past fifty years, the language has been revived and is taught in schools and many of the cultural traditions and beliefs have been restored. Despite the renaissance, there is still much discrimination and devaluation of native Hawaiian customs and beliefs.

One of the goals of the University of Hawaiʽi is to be a Native Hawaiian Place of Learning and Indigenous-Serving Institution. As I began to unpack this idea in my own mind, I knew I had to read and try and understand Hawaiian history and ideas from a Hawaiian perspective and not from a western perspective where Hawaiʽi is merely the 50th state with an interesting past and a rich multicultural population. Nor could it be understood as tourist mecca where Hawaiian culture was Disneyfied and native Hawaiians reduced to serving the tourist trade. While I read several general Hawaiian histories to get the broad sweep of the story, it was Hawaii's story by Hawaii's queen Lili‘uokalani, and From a native daughter: Colonialism and sovereignty in Hawai'i by Haunani-Kay Trask that began to open my eyes to the broad issues of indigenous knowledge in general and native Hawaiians in particular. It became pretty clear that native Hawaiians who embrace their Hawaiian heritage and traditions see the world, their place in it, and the land of Hawaiʽi very differently from the traditional western cultural tradition. Even where the words used are the same, the understanding, orientation, and intent are often quite different. It also made me aware that many histories and cultures of a people are researched and written by people who cannot read or speak the language of the culture and therefore they never consulted the written works by that culture. This results in a highly politicized and biased narrative.

This “aha” moment helps me to realize my own biases and to make me read and understand more about their history and culture. For me, as a librarian, the bigger question/challenge is how the library approaches serving an indigenous population and collecting and preserving its culture when libraries are typically organized through westerns ways of knowing.

Here are some suggestions for better serving the indigenous Hawaiian people.

• Read extensively on the history and the culture. It helps to read books written by native Hawaiians. It also helps to read many of the standard histories as they will provide perspective on how Hawaiians have been marginalized in their own story.
• Encourage librarians and staff to read one or more books on Hawaiian history and culture or take a Hawaiian studies course.
• Work with OCLC and Library of Congress to establish an official Hawaiian language authority file that can be used for cataloging and discovery. Ensure that materials in Hawaiian and materials in other languages that discuss Hawaiian materials have appropriate Hawaiian subject headings.
• Enable Hawaiian language keyboards at public terminals to allow accurate searching of Hawaiian materials in the catalog as well as to allow native Hawaiian students to easily keyboard in Hawaiian. If possible, make the library search interface available in Hawaiian.
• Work closely with native Hawaiian librarians to identify barriers for native Hawaiian students and scholars in accessing materials and services.
• Work closely with the student affairs office for native Hawaiian students in order to fully understand student needs and to partner in order to help meet those needs.
• Have some signage and some art in the library that represents native Hawaiian history, culture, and language.
• Recognize that the Library of Congress classification represents a colonial understanding of the world and therefore will provide a somewhat biased approach to Hawaiian history and culture. 
• Recognize that native Hawaiian people own their own knowledge, so work closely with native Hawaiian librarians and scholars around digitization projects and metadata in order to avoid cultural misappropriation.
• Make use of research studies such as the Ithaka S+R report, When Research is Relational: Supporting the Research Practices of Indigenous Studies Scholars as well as E Naʻauao Pū, E Noiʻi Pū, E Noelo Pū: Research Support for Hawaiian Studies in making choices and setting priorities.

People reading the title of this post “Leaning into a new imagination: indigenous knowledge and culture” may not immediately understand my meaning or intention. For those of us with a predominant western cultural, philosophical, and spiritual background, it takes both imagination and intention to step outside of our internalized ways of seeing the world, and look at, understand, and appreciate the indigenous native Hawaiian way of looking at and understanding the world. The kanaka Maoli “native Hawaiians” deserve that intention and imagination.

Infrastuctures of Opportunity

I recently finished reading American Like Me: Reflections on Life Between Cultures, compiled and edited by America Ferrera. In this amazing collection of personal stories from thirty-one of her friends, peers, and heroes, we see how each develop a sense of identity as they struggle with what it means to be “American” while also maintaining their understanding of their other cultural identities. They are all immigrants, children or grandchildren of immigrants, or indigenous people.

While I was entertained, moved, and inspired by all of the stories, I was struck by a comment made by Joaquin Castro, a US Congressman representing Texas’ 20th Congressional District. In his story, he talked about the US providing an “infrastructure of opportunity” and the importance that infrastructure played in his family; from his grandmother with little education to him serving in Congress and his twin brother Julian serving as mayor of San Antonio and then in President Barack Obama’s cabinet.

Castro tied his comment on the infrastructure of opportunity to immigrants, people of color, and others caught in systemic poverty. This infrastructure of opportunity has been a hallmark of US culture, though often one that has been denigrated and denied to many. If we are to be a world leader we must embrace and grow the infrastructure of opportunity for all, especially to the underrepresented and underserved.

As I’ve reflected on Castro’s comments the world of libraries immediately came to mind.  Libraries, both public and academic, have provided part of that infrastructure of opportunity – an opening of the world of information and knowledge that can change individuals and the world. Two examples from the academic world help illustrate this.

In a recent post, a Tony Zanders, a colleague at Boston University, reflected on diversity residency programs after participating in the IDEAL Conference at Ohio State University. One of the key takeaways from his reflection, for me, is the need for academic libraries to build an infrastructure of opportunity for librarians of color that breaks down racism, does not tokenize the resident, and provides real opportunities for both the resident and the library that employees them. While he doesn’t provide a solution he does raise some critical issues on how the current infrastructure can be racist and tokenizes the resident in ways that doesn’t help these new librarians nor does it help the sponsoring library.

The second idea came from my own reflection on a question I was asked during a job interview by Dr. Barbara Turnage, an African American professor of social work at Middle Tennessee State University. She wanted to know what an academic library might do to change the opportunities for children of color in the local public schools. Having had a couple of weeks now to reflect on the question, I think that an academic library, especially one, that supports a teacher education program, could address some issues of structural racism in its children’s literature collection. 

Children’s literature in the US has been traditionally white, with few if any characters representing children of color in a positive and affirming way. In recent years there has been a surge of new books for children through young adult, which have children of color or LGBT individuals as main characters represented in a positive light. Now that this literature is being published and distributed by mainstream publishers it needs to begin finding its way into children’s literature collections in academic libraries. Making sure that this new literature is being seen by students preparing to teach could be helpful.

I will confess I’ve not given enough thought about school libraries, other than acknowledging that they can play an important part in a child’s education. In schools with a diverse group of students, it is critical to have library books that represent and celebrate diversity. Students should not grow up with books where they cannot see themselves as characters in the story.  Nigerian-American YA author Tomi Adeyemi, noted that she was able to write only white characters until she began to encounter characters of color. As part of building an infrastructure of opportunity, as a measure of community outreach, an academic library might help fundraise for books for school libraries or for classrooms. Every academic institution wants to be involved in and make a difference in their local community. The academic library could help lead a campus initiative that would involve the library, student groups across campus, and a variety of academic programs on campus.

Infrastructures of opportunity are everywhere if we want to look. Libraries are one place that are doing this consistently and where library leaders are always looking for ways to increase their impact.

What infrastructure of opportunity will you help build?

Challenging our Epistemologies: Reading as a Radical Act

I have always been a reader. I regularly hear that being a librarian must be the perfect profession because librarians get to read all day. The reality, however, usually is more like seeing thousands of books I want to read and maybe getting to read one or two.

Not working full-time for the past 16 months has had one major privilege; the opportunity to read voraciously. To say I have eclectic reading tastes in an understatement. I get my reading lists from wandering through bookstores, combing through lists like “ What Columbia University Business School professors are reading this summer”, New York Times bestseller lists, and browsing through library catalogs. A big thanks and a shout out to the Los Angeles Public Library and their fabulous collection for providing copies of the books that interest me.

These 17 non-fiction titles, along with 14 novels, are the books I’ve read during June/July 2019

Brené Brown. Braving the Wilderness

Ron Chernow. Washington a Life

Kate Fowler: Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I Have Loved

Joanne Freeman. Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to the Civil War

Mona Hanna-Attisha. What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story Of Crisis, Resistance, And Hope In An American City

Lindsey Hilsum. In Extremis: The Life of War Correspondent Marie Colvin

Janet Mock. Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More

Khalil Gibran Muhammad. The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America

Michelle Obama. Becoming

Susan Orlean. The Library Book

Anne Gardiner Perkins. Yale Needs Women: How the First Group of Girls Rewrote the Rules of an Ivy League Giant

Ben Rhodes: The World as It Is: A Memoir of the Obama Whitehouse

Eric Rutkow. The Longest Line on the Map: The United States, the Pan-American Highway, and the Quest to Link the Americas

Adam Rutherford. A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Human Story Retold Through Our Genes

Norma Stevens & Steven Aronson: Avedon: Something Personal

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor. How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective

Tara Westover. Educated

Each title has informed my understanding of the world but more importantly has challenged my beliefs and my ways of knowing/understanding people and culture. Reading challenges my own understanding of epistemology.

I first encountered the concept of epistemology in an introductory Philosophy course during my first semester of university. Basically, epistemology is the study of the nature of knowledge and how we know. Since the rise of the Age of Reason during the 17^th century, much of the Western epistemological framework has been based on rationalism, rather than feelings/emotions, our senses, or religion. While this rationalistic epistemology strengthened the role of science and fact-based inquiry and dominated the universities, religious and cultural epistemology did not disappear. Many people continued to frame their way of looking at the world through a cultural and religious epistemological lens; sometimes also embracing parts of rational epistemology, sometimes eschewing it.

There is a battle over epistemological frameworks in today’s society. The rise of fake news and the rejection of scientific proof around issues like climate change and medicine represent a rejection of a rational epistemology in favor of any number of cultural, personal, or religious epistemologies. The epistemology we adopt frames our ways of looking at others, at culture, at politics, and at science. We may consciously or unconsciously espouse an epistemology of oppression that marginalizes others.

As I have pondered these issues through the lens of what I have been reading, I think that our epistemological frameworks can be challenged and changed through reading and critical reflection. Reading can be a radical act because it can challenge our epistemological frameworks. It can and should cause us to stop and ask, “why do I see others [insert any group, race, ability, orientation, etc. here] in this particular way?” Why do I see them as less than me? Why would I consider causing them harm? Why do I see my way of framing the world as superior/correct and theirs as inferior/wrong? Reading can help us understand the historical and cultural context for the past but also provide us the freedom to break from that context to make the world different going forward. Reading can help us surface epistemologies of oppression.

One of the values that academic libraries can bring to the intellectual discourse on campus is to purchase books that inform, challenge, and motivate; books that go beyond mere support for the curriculum to books that provide intellectual collisions. Rather than just shelving these titles in the stacks, libraries must look for ways to engage the community through reading and dialogue. Libraries must become active partners in providing the campus a place and resources for intellectual dialogue, engagement, and critical reflection.

The Brazilian educator and philosopher, Paulo Freire, felt that the purpose of reading was to allow us to “read the world”, to interrogate it for meaning in order to understand the world.

Put your understanding of epistemology on an intellectual collision course. Read some books that challenge your world view!