If You Build It, They Will Come?

We built a giant chess set for the last week of school. It seems like a perfect symbol for the first leg of my teacher librarian journey. It is also a fine example of how collaboration and community can come together and lead to great things.

In May, I eliminated the center tables in our library because the chattiest/ most extroverted kids seemed to sit there and their noise seemed to spread throughout the room. I felt that eliminating those tables would  encourage more pleasant chatter. (I was right.) But, then I had the "problem" of what to do with all this space. My principal passed through the library one day and, according to one of my assistants in earshot, apparently said something to the effect of, "What's she doing now? Making a dance floor?!" He was kidding (I think), but you can see that it was important for me to come up with something clever and worthwhile!

I had talked about building a life sized version of my students' favorite game many months ago. There was buzz around it among some of our more enthusiastic students. It seemed like a perfect fit for this perfect square. The board was created by a social studies teacher who offered his assistance when I  blathered about our plan to anyone who would listen. He had been in the carpeting business and had bits of carpeting lying around.

If there is one thing that working in this community setting has taught to me, it's that communication is the key to pretty much getting anything done. Word of mouth generates interest. Taking interest in the health and happiness of the group as a whole builds our sense of community, encourages positive spontaneous interaction, and builds trust in the library's work. My direct contact with people every single day is the key to encouraging participation. 

• Grab a good idea and don't let anyone look at you askance. Run with it!
• Tell everyone about your idea. (Do not do this if you are not actually going to follow through. Demand follow through from yourself no matter what!)
• While talking about your idea, keep you ears open for partners. If someone seems interested, make them fit into your scheme somehow.
• Be flexible! Your original idea may not be what works best in the end. Be open to others' thoughts.
• Be prepared to change things up mid-stream. If something isn't working, try it another way.
• Be patient
• Share your idea and don't treat it like your sole property. Let others do what they want with it.

The chess board I  conceived many moons ago was to be made of floor tiles and stryofoam pieces, but the teacher's idea of carpeting was perfect. The colors he chose even  matched our room decor. (I don't know if this was serendipitous or his choice because he sees the careful attention we've been giving to making our space comfortable and coordinated.) The building of the board was slower than I had hoped, but when the tiles were finally brought in, it turned out that the timing was perfect. It was the last full week of school, the students were ready for summer and something a little different. The board was a perfect way to hold their attention for just a bit longer.

When we put the tiles out, we had photocopied flat pieces. Students turned these down for their play and decided to use little regular sized board pieces instead. And though they had a great time, I wanted bigger pieces. Our flat pieces became three dimensional with some velcro and cardboard developed by one of my assistant. We then put string on them with the hope that some students might be interested in using them around their necks and becoming human pieces. I told everyone in earshot that would be so amazing to see. (We also made checker pieces on the request of some students and they added yellow dots to one side to denote kings. Not part of the original plan, but a lovely addition to the concept.)

On day four, a bunch of kids (mostly my extroverts) were sitting on the floor around the library. "Guys, I know we are getting near the end of the school year, but we are still functioning as we normally do. Would you please find a seat in a chair somewhere?"

"Ms. Mannon, we are waiting for our turn at the board. Is that okay?" I was pleased as punch.

"Of course. Sure thing," I replied.

When two students finished their game with the pieces on the floor board, a flock of kids got up and began hanging queens and kings and rooks around their necks. Someone had helped us spread the word that the game was there and new users were joining in library activities. My assistants and I immediately got to work recruiting more board pieces to help out. One reticent girls got very excited. "I've been waiting all week for this! I don't know how to play chess, but I want to be a piece!" She was welcomed into the fold. (Maybe the experience will even encourage her to learn how to play.) The kids worked it all out themselves - picked team captains, decided who would be what piece, and let everyone play from all different grades and all different cliques.

When I first fell into this position as library media specialist, the library was a place to hang out with your friends. During my third year, it has become a place for interaction and communication for our larger school community.

Getting  to know your audience as a cultural heritage / information professional is key to what you do. I do not play chess. I know how to play, but I would not call myself a chess player. Watching my students enthusiasm grow for this game over the past few years has been exciting. At times, every table in our library has a chess board on it with students playing. I always tell my students that their time in the library is productive time, not time for gossip. When they play chess, I know that they are working their brains and growing appreciation for something that could play a relaxing and joyful long-term role in their lives.

My role as an information specialist gave me a platform for a. introducing something they might like, b. helping them grow their interest, c. building something big and memorable that they latched onto because of a and b. The moral? If you build it, they will come IF you have laid a foundation of trust, collaboration, and community.

*For those of you who have followed my journey in this career shift, I am pleased to report that I am now an official teacher, awaiting my approved and paid for teaching license in the mail! I have also enrolled to pursue a post-graduate teaching degree (CAGS.)

Cultural Understanding, Serendipity and the Human Library

The international Human Library Project aims to break down prejudices and stereotypes through one-on-one interactions with diverse people. Project coordinators offer a setting, time, and materials -- so-called "human books" with whom "human readers" can interact.  This past month, we ran our 2nd annual Human Library at my high school to offer students a chance meet professionals and learn about the diversity of people in varied careers. Students learn about varied paths to success, stereotyping encountered along the way that had to be overcome, a wide-breadth of lifestyles, and backgrounds of professionals. We want to show students they can be whatever they want to be regardless of their own circumstances. The program builds community and cultural understanding, with room for serendipitous discovery built in. The human library can be a particularly valuable tool/program to help museums and libraries fulfill their missions. 

Human books spoke with my students about their careers and challenges.

Our human books included people in fields such as engineering, finance, videography, military, aviation, journalism, fitness, entomology, construction, health and wellness, law enforcement, psychiatry, animal sciences, museums, space science, and chiropractic. More importantly, books shared information about how they overcame stereotyping because of their sex; how they overcame disabilities; how they moved beyond what was expected of them to create the lives they wanted.

Students speak with a human book. Some teens felt more comfortable talking to the adults
with a  friend rather than sticking to the one-to-one format.

 

A particularly wonderful thing about working in a place that has a mission to preserve human stories, educate, or exhibit ideas, is that we never know what doors we may open for people. Our opportunities for changing lives is broader than the mission we might see right in front of us.

Students had the opportunity to speak with their books for 15 minutes, sometimes more. In between sessions, I talked to them about the experience. One conversation in particular stood out for me and I want to share it with you. It is an example of the unexpected opportunities that cultural heritage institutions can provide when we arrange creative programs. ..

A student entered the room. He had participated in our Human Library last year and enjoyed the experience. However, this year he is an eleventh grader and his ideas about what he wants to do with his life are a little clearer than his sophomore year.

Me: "May I help you find someone to talk to today?"
Student: "I want to be a history teacher, but you don't have anyone in that field."
Me: "Hmmm....well, I have two museum people here today. One of them worked in a history museum before moving to a science museum. She might be a good fit for you."

He was willing to give it a go and came back to me after his session.

Student: "She was awesome! I thought we were going to talk about history, but she told me about her life. She told me about how she got into college and her struggle. I never thought about all of that!" Looking around the room he said, "Who else can I talk to, Ms. Mannon?" 

The Human Library has made a great impression on many young people in my town. They learn the value of communication, listening to new ideas, and being open to diversity. I look forward to running it again next year.

Empowering Innovation: Building Community and the Intriguing Follett Challenge

As with an community archives, our school's Special Collections represent who we are. The records of our past show our growth, embody our civic pride, and help lead us to a better future. These historical materials within a school setting serve another valuable purpose. They can be part of a strong program to "Empower Innovation," helping to weave together what may seem like disparate subjects to our young people. Furthermore, when we think of our archives as a part of a whole system of information -- learning, communication, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, facts, multiple perspectives, history, contemporary ideas -- we expand our purpose and can better explain the importance of our work as archivists, librarians, and cultural heritage professionals.

Introduction to the Follett Challenge

The school where I serve as "Information Specialist" is currently entered in the Follett Challenge. [I'll admit right up front that one reason I thought to write about "Empowering Innovation" this weekend is because Goffstown High is seeking support for its innovative library programming and I would like more votes to help us win the Challenge. BUT that is not my only angle here so please keep reading!]

"The Follett Challenge showcases and rewards educators who are aligning their curriculum and approach in order to teach the skills needed in the 21^st century, and who are implementing a collaborative program with others in their school. In order to enter, applicants must demonstrate how the program is preparing students for the demands of the 21^st century and complete the entire online application, which includes a 3-5 minute video about the program."

The idea of the Challenge was intriguing to me as an Information Specialist, educator, consultant, archivist and writer. How does one encapsulate so many great things that are happening in a program using a short paper and video? How do we reach our greater community to "advertise" our work? How do we engage young people? How do we ask for help from the people with whom we have collaborated? The Follett Challenge has allowed me to explore that and more with my community.

Community and Incubating Innovation

Goffstown, New Hampshire is a relatively small town of about 17,000 people. In 1960, during the final years in the life of the town's previous high school, the town had about 7,000 people. [Note that I found the information from the census record and not from the Wikipedia article that came up first! Teaching good research skills is a vital part of our work!] Our current high school building opened in 1965 and grew to over 11,000 people by 1970. Reflected in our school archives are the faces of the 369 students from all grades during our 1964-1965 academic year as well as our graduating senior class of 270 in 2014.

Goffstown population 1960 according to NH Census records

What you see above was the STEM learning of 1965. We still see kids at work in the chem lab today, but we also see what we have below -- informal learning that ties to things done in the classroom. Hands-on work has spread beyond the science and tech wings. The picture below shows a student with library resources from our makerspace. (Of course, I always try to ensure that the library documents the innovation that we are empowering.)

By offering a competition that encourages schools to focus on four areas: critical thinking, communication, creativity, and collaboration, Follett has also given us an opportunity to empower our community. In preparing a ten page paper describing our work and in making a video, to explaining the contest to our students, we have shined a light on the critical work of libraries and what they can do for a whole community. It is a very intriguing concept and one in which I am proud to be a part.

The Role of Community Institutions

This competition offers a lesson for us all. Businesses of all types have the opportunity to support schools in their work by giving them a platform and encouraging them to use their voices to highlight our 21st century models for education. Large companies and local profitable businesses can help boost the communities where they are located by showing interest in the young people in the area. Furthermore, I would like to see more small cultural heritage institutions involved in promoting community innovation. In Goffstown, our public library is supporting us in our large challenge. Such institutions might also think about designing smaller local competitions for community innovators. Pulling behind innovation on a local level is a boon to our locality, but also to larger layers of communities and geographic regions. For example, if Goffstown wins the Follett Challenge, it will reflect well on New Hampshire in general.

Finally, a note to local librarians and archivists, whether or not you have a competition to use to describe your work, do put down your mission and goals on paper and then set out to do a long-range plan. Everyone should have a plan that describes where they have been to figure out where they are heading.

Please vote for Goffstown High School to help us reach our goals and shed light on what librarians and archivists can offer communities.

**This post does not represent the point of view of the Goffstown School District. These are my thoughts as an information professional. 

Social Media and Community Documentation

Social media has extended each person's "community" beyond what we accepted it to be just ten years ago. This has created some interesting possibilities for the idea of community documentation beyond what archivists considered the appropriate institutional environment for this kind of work. In Cultural Heritage Collaborators: A Manual for Community Documentation I argued for the value of community documentation work within settings outside of an individual institution. I described the rings of communities one would consider for this kind of work. I did not explore our new online worlds, but I think this is a topic that will gain more notoriety over the next few years. Archivists need to take notice of the social networks individuals are forming and how they will change the collections we create..

These paragraphs posted on a friends' Facebook walls caught my eye this morning:


"In honor of Mother's Day I'm trying to see how many of you are willing to change your profile picture to a picture of your mother and keep it there till May 9th. I did and so have several others. If you will and like this idea, please re post this as your status so everyone gets the word and see how many beautiful mothers we can get on FB."


and 


"As we approach mother's day- I am very mindful of the children who have lost their mothers and the mothers who have lost their children because it is a day that can be so painful for them. Some are very dear friends of mine, and I hold them in my heart and thoughts for this coming weekend. borrowed from..."

Along with many of my friends, I have
featured my mother on my Facebook site

I would say that within my circle of friends, at least one-quarter of them have changed their profile picture to feature their mothers. Some have posted this paragraph, others have not. I began wondering how I could capture this early 21st century phenomenon of honoring a holiday and / or a person by changing profile pictures. I would love to see a "collection" (or at least a small series) of Facebook statuses over the Mother's Day weekend that included  updated Mother's Day profile pictures. The second posting has been less popular thus far. I have only seen one person post this, but it is clearly intended to honor Mother's Day and to honor a person. Would I make this part of the same collection if I were to somehow form an archival collection that featured Mother's Day 2011?


I realize that this way of thinking about collections may not be exactly accurate for this environment and in some ways is an over simplification of much larger ideas. But I think this is a good way to illustrate my point, which is that for my own work and particular area of interests, how can archivists  hang on to a very useful idea of "community" and apply it to a digital world? The proliferation of information online makes us think in larger terms - i.e. "archiving" Facebook or capturing tweets. How do we accurately capture smaller connections that help us better understand context? 


It was once easier to focus on an individual life, a community, or even a movement involving diverse individuals. Our subjects (for lack of a better word at the tip of my brain at this moment) had simpler means of communication,. We could follow a paper trail. They wrote less and the groups with which they communicated were smaller. Today we correspond with people all around the world in the blink of an eye and our relationships with them might by tenuous or short-lived. I may feel no need to directly correspond with someone on the Internet, but I might be influenced by that person's words and bring them into my community in a very lackadaisical way.


So I will leave with just some questions:
How can archivists ensure that information about our online communities is documented for posterity? 
How can we emphasize connections that make captured information more useful to researchers?
What level of capture and description can we expect to accomplish in this online world? For example, is it reasonable to expect that we may be able to create "collections" that can help researchers better understand modern trends and attitudes related to Mother's Day?  
How can we capture static information (i.e. the Facebook Wall archives) and changing information (the profile picture that matched the Wall posting at the time it was posted) to enhance this data about people?


None of this thinking takes into account ideas about privacy or the challenge of actually capturing and keeping any information in the first place. But I think as we work to keep up with new technologies, we need to consider the ways we've used information in the past. We want to keep the good practices and mold the role of the archivist to continue to do what we do best. We must continue to understand the communities we choose to document, seek their documentation, and attach the context of individual documentation to a larger world.

The Meaning of Culture

In my September 27th blog post, Archives and Community, I discussed what a community is and how cultural heritage institutions reflect communities. In that post, I mention the word "culture" without explanation. Here I wish to more fully explore the concept of culture and how it relates to individuals and memory institutions.

Anthropologist Raymond Henry Williams called culture “one of the 2 or 3 most complicated words in the English language." It involves overlapping disciplines and concepts related to both material items and shared traditions. As such, it is a reflection of societies, focusing on the designs of humankind, and the ways we order and relate to our world.

The Role of Archives

Archival repositories aim to document and preserve the combined experiences and shared stories that lead to the development of cultural heritage. This endeavor can be quite complicated. For one, culture develops over time based on gained group knowledge, beliefs and customs that communities develop together, and the creativity they let loose in the things they make. Archivists must try to track these changes in society to ensure they are creating a complete and accurate historical record that is reflective of community development. Additionally, culture is both tangible and intangible. An archivist must ensure that culture, in all its forms, is properly recorded for posterity. Furthermore, culture is a complicated web of communities and ideas. An archivist must work to understand connections and interactions to best reflect reality in their collections.

Definitions of Culture

Texas A&M provides some great definitions of "culture" that can help one shape their understanding of this broad-reaching term:

• Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving.
• Culture is the systems of knowledge shared by a relatively large group of people.
• Culture is the totality of a person's learned, accumulated experience which is socially transmittedbehavior through social learning.
• A culture is a way of life of a group of people--the behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that they accept, generally without thinking about them, and that are passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next.
• Culture is the sum of total of the learned behavior of a group of people that are generally considered to be the tradition of that people and are transmitted from generation to generation.
• Culture is a collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another.

You and Your Cultures

One identifies with particular cultures associated with the various communities in which one takes part. Sometimes you can choose to adopt a culture, finding elements created by a community that suits your particular outlook on life. You can move to a particular place, associate with particular people, celebrate certain traditions, create or buy certain items to secure your connection to a specific culture. Other times a specific culture is just part of you because of your existence and relates to where you were born, to whom you were born, and during what era.

We can reject certain communities, but take the cultural identity of that community with us. For example, I was born in New York, but I have not lived in that state for twenty-two years. I still identify with the culture of my childhood that sometimes expresses itself through my speech (the words that I use and the way that I say them,) my actions, my memories and my sense of self. Sometimes it is easier to reject a community than to reject the culture of that community for when we form a cultural identity, parts of it stick with us for long periods of time or for a lifetime.

Communities, Connections, and Culture

A culture can be made up of individual communities or individual communities that overlap. Sometimes the culture of these smaller communities enhance our personal values. Sometimes they do not, but they still have some affect on us. For example, consider my rural / suburban chosen hometown in New Hampshire. My family and I participate in the school system, as local volunteers in various groups, in girl scouts, and we associate with our neighbors. My daughter and I have library cards. We frequent local shops and make use of town parks... All of these small communities in which we participate together make a larger community. I primarily value a few parts of my local culture. One element I particularly value is the "culture of education" my town usually tries to embrace. In fact, that is one of the main reasons my husband and I moved here -- to adopt that culture that will help us build values we already possessed and transfer them to our child. That does not mean that the educational system is what all members of my various local communities value. My neighbor may value sports culture over education for example, but their kids go to school with my kids so certain things are expected of all them. We are all influenced by each other and our local "culture" and various community cultures are influenced by the connections.

The Importance of "Culture" to Cultural Heritage Professionals

As cultural heritage professionals, it is useful to define the various communities we wish to document and our various audiences. I think it is also particularly valuable to try to understand the diversity of various community cultures and the ways they interrelate. We should consciously think about the meaning of culture when collecting objects (material culture) or creating documentation methods for things that are not as easily passed down such as dance, music and language (intangible culture.) This will enable us to provide better access to the information we've accumulated by allowing us to point out connections across collections to the public. Using the idea of preserving "culture" in all its forms will enhance what we do and how we portray ourselves to the world.

Communication: The Value of the Give and Take

I began college as a communication major. One of the first things I learned as an introductory student is that communication involves back and forth dialogue, a give and take. If I speak to you and you do not respond back to me, we are not communicating. Communication, the back and forth, give and take, is very important in civilized society. For the purposes of this blog post, it is especially important to cultural heritage professionals and organizations that care to be successful in what they do. The give and take, smoothly flowing exchange of information, allows the conversation initiator to evaluate a reaction to what has been said and to adjust perceptions and activities accordingly. It seems like an easy concept, but the actual act of communicating to get intended results can often take a lot of concentrated effort.

As a writer, I often wonder how my writing is perceived. I worry if others enjoy what I've written, if they agree or disagree, or if my message has reached an audience at all. When I write a book and it sells, that gives me some sense of success. When I tweet or blog and someone starts following me, I get the same feeling that I'm doing something right. I know that someone finds at least my concept interesting, but it is rarer for me to get more helpful information than that to allow me to further evaluate what I've done. If someone takes the time to e-mail, that closes the communication loop and gives me direct feedback that can help me improve my writing and communication skills.

The challenge for institutions and individuals trying to communicate ideas is to encourage the feedback. How does a conversation initiator tell the receiver that a reply is appreciated and provide enough incentive for that receiver to accommodate the request? After all, replying to information we receive takes time and we have to (consciously or unconsciously) consider the act of replying worth our time.

For example, here's a not a- typical morning conversation with my six-year-old:
Me: "I bought a special snack that you can have after school today."
Daughter: No reply
Me: "I bought you a cookie at the bakery."
Daughter: No reply
Me: "Are you happy that I bought you a cookie?"
Daughter: "Yes"
Me (a wee bit aggravated): "How about a 'thanks for thinking of me mom'?"

On good mornings, the conversation may go like this:
Me: "I bought you a cookie at your favorite bakery. I bought the one with the colored sprinkles. You like the colored sprinkle one best don't you?"
Daughter: "Oh yes! Thank you mom!"

In the second conversation, I immediately offered all the information up front and ended with a question that invited reply. Because my daughter was excited from the start that the treat was a cookie from her favorite bakery and that I had considered her preferences in my decision about which cookie to buy, her excitement was ramped right out of the starting gate. It was worth it to her to reply to me, so that next time I was near the bakery I might again consider her and she'll again get what she likes. (She knows I'm a sucker for thanks and a kiss too!) In the first exchange, she was probably thinking whether or not the snack I bought was "special" for her or for me and then was considering what kind of cookie I got her. Rather than focusing on the conversational exchange, she was focusing on what she was getting out of this little arrangement I had set up. Notice too how much shorter the more successful conversation was. There was an immediate push pull. I gave information and asked a question. She answered.

Communication can be difficult one-to-one, like in the exchange with my daughter. It is much more difficult when it is one-to-many or many-to-many. Do you ever feel like you're jumping up and down shouting "look at me, look at me!" but you don't know to whom you are shouting? Do you ever look at all the entertainment and educational options that surround you and try to figure out how you can communicate to your potential audience that your institution is the one they should visit? The key to solving these issues is communication - not just the outreach from your institution, but devising means to get feedback.

The give and take allows you to change what you are doing. It shows your potential audience that you truly are considering their desires and feelings. It also makes individuals feel more empowered. Your organization becomes less stand-offish (a perception we all know that many have of us) and your approach is more personalized when you invite a response and user input. When I told my daughter that I thought she liked a certain kind of cookie best, it showed her that her opinion matters. I was less the bossy mommy and more the guiding mommy.

A few resources have come across my desk in the past few weeks to promote this idea of the give and take. Those wishing to pursue a give and take strategy should also consider that there are many ways to do it including one-to-one, to groups in person, through media, or on the Internet. Choose multiple strategies, but always make sure there is a way for users to give you feedback. Try to devise strategies that make them want to give you that feedback.

A few sources new to me:

Nina Simon's "The Participatory Museum" discusses multiple methods of encouraging feedback. Her handbook provides a great jumping point. You can pursue some of her suggestions or use her ideas to jog your own communication creativity.

Open Spaces: bringing new people to museums, libraries & archives through self-organised learning groups. http://bit.ly/bhJybw . This British program encourages institutions to create new programs that acknowledges an individual's desire and need for continuing education throughout their lives. It promotes the cultural heritage institution as a learning partner.

Meta Data games is an Internet based game for augmenting access to records http://www.tiltfactor.org/?page_id=1279: I am anxious to see how this pilot project by Dartmouth College progresses. Even more than libraries and museums, I think my beloved archives suffer from communication issues. (Maybe because people usually give me a blank stare when I tell them I'm an archivist, but if I say I'm a curator or librarian there is recognition in their eyes?) We have been working hard for decades now to provide more readily available access to archival materials. Archives are great communicative tools, giving us information and waiting for us to respond. Unfortunately, very few have access to archives and they sit on the shelves like a conversation waiting to happen. I think Dartmouth might help change that!