Friday, March 29, 2019

Be a Catalyst, a Provocateur, and a Ripple of Hope


I recently listed to the audiobook, Robert F. Kennedy: Ripples of Hope: Kerry Kennedy in Conversation with Heads of State, Business Leaders, Influencers, and Activists about Her Father's Impact on Their Lives. In this book, Kerry, a human rights activist and RFK’s seventh child, talks to a number of interesting and notable people who shared their thoughts on Robert Kennedy’s impact on their life and the world.

I well remember the night RFK was shot and now, more than 50 years later, this book shows the impact that he had on many people, regardless of their political affiliation. The book highlights, among other things, the speech that Robert Kennedy made in South Africa in 1966 during the very difficult days of Apartheid. In this speech, he shares words that in today’s fractured political environment we need to both hear and heed.

"We must recognize the full human equality of all of our people before God, before the law and in the councils of government. We must do this, not because it is economically advantageous, although it is; not because the laws of God command it, although they do; not because people in other lands wish it so. We must do it for the single and fundamental reason that it is the right thing to do."

He also talks about the powerful impact that a single individual can make and how together we can change the world.

"It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

Even though I grew up in Canada and came of age in the late ’60s and early ’70s, I remember the Summer of Love in 1967, the death of Martin Luther King in 1968, Woodstock in 1969, and the shootings at Kent State in 1970. These showed a troubled time for many youths as they protested against the Vietnam War and for some, the seeming senselessness of modern life, with its phrase of “tune on, tune in, drop out.” It was a period of passion, angst, unrest, and ennui. In many ways, the zeitgeist or ethos of today is the same.

One of the privileges in working in higher education is getting to work with students, most who are at a point where they are excited about life and its possibilities and also when many of them are passionate about making the world a better place. Their optimism, energy, and passion gives me hope.

One of my interests is the role that academic libraries can play in creating intellectual discourse and engagement on campus. While libraries build collections and offer programming that is broad and aims for diversity, it is important to acknowledge that our historic collections and practices reflect a Eurocentric, Christian view of the world, and that we have systematically ignored minority views and materials that provide perspectives of billions of people whose experience of the world is different. This has increased the marginalization that students from underrepresented groups have felt, has limited their research opportunities, and also has kept the dominant group of students and faculty from learning about people and cultures unlike ourselves.

One of the key parts of almost every university’s mission is to prepare students to be productive citizens in today’s global world. Today, at least here in the United States, we are suffering from anti-intellectualism, xenophobia, racism, and a lack of tolerance for anyone’s view but our own. While we cannot quickly and easily fix all of past wrongs, we can, going forward, be more inclusive and create a dialog that leads to better understanding. Because Libraries belong to the entire intellectual and social endeavor of the university, we are uniquely positioned to play a role that facilitates at least some of the important, difficult, and challenging questions and conversations on campus.

Librarians and libraries play a number of roles on campus. We are collectors, distributors, teachers, planners, stewards, creators, etc. Two roles, that I like, are not often referenced; namely those of catalyst and provocateur. Dictionary.com defines “catalyst” as a person whose talk, enthusiasm, or energy causes others to be more friendly, enthusiastic, or energetic. - https://www.dictionary.com/browse/catalyst and “provocateur” as a writer, artist, political activist, etc. whose works, ideas, or activities are regarded as a threat to accepted values or practices https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/provocateur.

On the surface, these may seem to be strange roles for libraries/librarians but they are, I believe, roles we should play in order to use our spaces, collections, services, and staff to engender intellectual conversation in our libraries and on campus. Our collections, our programs, our exhibits should push the boundaries and make us think, reflect, and at times, change our minds.

I think libraries should celebrate events like Black History Month, Women’s History Month, and LGBT History Month, especially when the celebration goes beyond a mere book display. We should be using these opportunities to both make our libraries safe spaces but also brave spaces where we engage in difficult conversations that move our cultural understanding forward.

Here are some examples to consider in engaging the campus in ways that engender dialog.
  • Host a Native American spirit dance with a follow-up discussion on NA spirituality
  • Ask a political science professor to talk about protests in the modern era
  •  Invite the student groups that represent Muslim countries to host a conversation on the Muslim faith and what it means to be a Muslim in the western world
  • Host a conversation on changing gender roles
  • Sponsor a social justice day
  • Ask the diversity office to offer a workshop on microaggressions
  •  Have an education faculty talk on language shaming and the effect this has on students
  • Mount an exhibit on any topic that will challenge peoples beliefs
  • Create a competitive exhibits program that invites faculty to propose an exhibit and accompany a lecture on an interesting/controversial topic
  • Create a faculty lecture series that allows faculty to present their research to their colleagues and students
  •  Host a voter registration event, complete with information on how students can register in their home state or where they are attending school
  • Host at least one event that challenges the status quo either in society, on campus, in higher education, or globally
  •  Have librarians participate in student learning communities or in camps one book programs

 There are no right or wrong ways to make your library a center for intellectual engagement on campus. Pick some ideas and try. Be a provocateur and challenge people to change the world. Be a catalyst for individual and community change. And with the spirit of RFK, be a ripple of hope.

"It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance." - RFK


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