Thanks to everyone who attended my talk “Wholehearted Librarianship: Finding Hope, Inspiration, and Balance” at ALA last week in Washington DC.
We should bring our hearts to work, and qualities such as empathy, emotional intelligence, and reflective action are all part of this process. Service steeped in humanism, compassion, and understanding should be the cornerstone of what we do, and why we do it, for all members of our communities, including the underserved. Join Dr. Michael Stephens for an exploration of the importance of accessible, welcoming and responsive library environments that invite open and equitable participation, as well as an examination of which factors are preventing many libraries from ramping up community engagement and user-focused services.
The heart of librarianship is learning. It is a cyclical process of support, engagement and discovery with deep roots in the concepts of service, access and freedom to pursue interests of all kinds. No matter what type of institution, someone is gaining knowledge, finding information, or creating something new based on our facilitation. For librarians, taking the role of facilitator and guide is best delivered with humanity and heart. The library should encourage the heart!
The slides are available here.
Special Thanks to Immediate Past President of the American Library Association Loida Garcia Febo for inviting me to give this talk and the lovely introduction before we began. And for the selfie! I was honored to serve on Loida’s Presidential Advisory Board for the past year and a half. The work accomplished related to diversity, wellness issues and promoting how libraries create strong communities has been amazing. She also has focused on issues near and dear to me – serving with love.
Information about my book Wholehearted Librarianship: Finding Hope, Inspiration, and Balance is here.