← Chapter & Verse: Storytime from the Stacks
Chapter & Verse: Storytime from the Stacks
Creating Safe Spaces: Outreach, Inclusion, and the Modern Library
00:25:28
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- [00:04]
Debbie McCullough
Welcome to Chapter and Verse Storytime from the Stacks. This is an original podcast series from the Michigan Library association and the Library Cooperatives of Michigan. We'd like to give a great shout out to our episode sponsor, Midwest Tape and hoopla. I'm Debbie McCullough. I'm the executive director of the Michigan Library association where we lead the advancement of all libraries through advocacy, education and engagement. And I'm joined by my co host.
- [00:36]
Mallory Devildes
My name is Mallory devildes. I'm the director at the Suburban Library Cooperative.
- [00:40]
Debbie McCullough
This is our seventh episode and we are going to be providing insight and inspiration from Michigan library leaders who bring purpose to their work and are proving that libraries positively change the communities we work and live in. And with us today is Olivia Olson, who is the head of Community Engagement at the Troy Public Library. Welcome to the podcast, Olivia. So nice to have you with us.
- [01:09]
Olivia Olson
Thank you. It's so great to be here.
- [01:12]
Debbie McCullough
I'm going to start at the very beginning. I want to know what your first memory of a library is.
- [01:18]
Olivia Olson
I grew up in Rochester and my very first memory of the library is the Rochester Hills Public Library Youth Room. So it's not the current location. It was the one just before this. So the current one was built in 1992. So it was a little before that. They had a stuffed Mother Goose that hanged from the ceiling and the youth room. And to me that was like at the time the peak of library innovation and like the best thing possible. I loved that stuff, Mother Goose. It was iconic. I don't know if they still have it, but it was immediately. I think a lot of kids do this when they go in the youth room. They really just gravitate toward the thing that they love best and that means a lot to them. That was my first memory.
- [02:05]
Debbie McCullough
I remember a lot of Mother Goose books and the COVID was always so cool looking, like it was just an iconic image of Mother Goose and the stories that went along with it.
- [02:16]
Mallory Devildes
So going on from your first memory to closer to now, what made you choose to work in a library?
- [02:23]
Olivia Olson
So I've been working in libraries since I was 14. I had a next door neighbor who was my best friend, but we were very competitive. So we had a competition when we were 14. We were old enough to work if we got a work permit and we would always compete. So we were like, who's gonna get their first job first? And so he got a job bringing in carts at Kroger and I got a job as a page at the Rochester Hills Public Library within the same week. So we Were like, neck and neck. He quit after one week and still fucking away in libraries. So that's why I got my first job. Truly, that was part of it. But the reason I picked the library is because it was a safe place for me. Have you heard of the third place, the idea of the third place? So your home is your first place, your place of employment or school, the second place. And then your third place is a place in the community where you feel safe and feels kind of like your home away from home. And the library was certainly that for me. I think it's that for a lot of people, and so that's why I chose it.
- [03:31]
Mallory Devildes
You got the better deal of that.
- [03:33]
Olivia Olson
First stop at 14.
- [03:36]
Mallory Devildes
We all want to be like, a marine biologist or veterinarian or something. Had you thought before then that would.
- [03:43]
Olivia Olson
Be a career path to you?
- [03:45]
Mallory Devildes
Or did working as a page kind of influence that decision?
- [03:49]
Olivia Olson
So I had no idea. When I was 14, I think I just wanted a job in a place that I liked. When I was 14, my work ethic was horrifying. I was like, I think my part of my job was to shelf books in the fairy tale section, which I was so, so happy about, because it was at the back of the library so I could hide back there and read the fairy tales. And I learned all these folk tales from around the world. It was amazing. No, I didn't see it as my career. I was just happy to be there. But then I got a job in serc, and one of my co workers here now actually hired me to work in serc. Even through college, I didn't really think of libraries as, like, a career until a friend of mine said that she was doing it. And it just clicked in my head like, of course this is what I want to do. I love the environment, and I thought it fit my skills.
- [04:39]
Debbie McCullough
Well, that's great. You've climbed up from the lowest of the jobs right up to being the head of this community engagement. What does your job entail right now? What is that?
- [04:53]
Olivia Olson
It's like in some libraries, call this department like outreach. We called it community engagement because, okay, so we got a millage in 2020 that enabled us to start this new department. And Kathy Russ was the director at the time, and she fel passionately that we should have more community engagement. We don't want to call it outreach because we wanted this department not only to serve seniors, which is, I think, what people associate with the word outreach. Our goal was to identify any populations that had been underserved historically by the library and try to reach out to them, meet them where they are in the community. So that does include seniors and other homebound people. We identified adults with developmental disabilities, people of all ages who are new to the country and learning English. Any sort of people that have a physical disability that makes it difficult to access the library. So that includes things like homebound deliveries. We have a bookmobile pretty recently. We just got one in September. So we take the bookmobile out into the community to reach people where they are. And it's been surprising to see all of the different people and all of their reasons for maybe having overlooked library services or not thinking that it's relevant to them. So our job is to take it out in the community. Lots of tables at events, lots of visiting people, businesses and registering people for cards, things like that.
- [06:26]
Debbie McCullough
That's great.
- [06:26]
Olivia Olson
It's a lot of fun.
- [06:28]
Mallory Devildes
Do you have any good stories from taking the bookmobile out? I feel like you get to go to so many fun events and different places that have such a different vibe from the library.
- [06:39]
Olivia Olson
Yeah. So don't tell the other stops, but my favorite stop is the Boys and Girls Club. So that's a. I think most people probably know what it is, but it's an after school club for kids, tweens teens. And we just had a Taylor Swift and Dum Dums dance party on the bookmobile the other day, which was a surprise. It was not planned. It was a spontaneous Taylor Swift dance party, which, as you do it was a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun to realize that sometimes the kids that we meet in the community. I was never a youth librarian, so this is my first time working directly with kids, which I'm realizing that I really love. It's being like the fun aunt of the community. You get to hang out with them for an hour and then you're like, bye, do your homework. We'll see you next week. And Dan's Taylor Swift. But I was surprised at. We knew that the bookmobile would be promoting literacy in the community, but there have been so many other things that have cropped up. Needs that the bus is meeting. And for the Boys and Girls Club, just having the kids needing one on one attention right after school. Like the kids will come up the stairs and immediately be like, I lost my iPad at school today. I was supposed to put it under my locker. I don't know where it is. I don't know if I'm going to be able to find it tomorrow. And they just like, like monologue at you Kids that I've never spoken to before, like, oh, man. So that's a lot of fun.
- [08:09]
Debbie McCullough
You call it like a magnet almost. You're just gravitating to tell somebody about what's going lives.
- [08:16]
Olivia Olson
I just got to get this off my chest. And it's so fun to hear their stories and their ideas. They all think we live on the bookmobile too. For sure. They all ask, like, they're picturing us, like, unrolling a sleeping bag, and they're like, where do you keep all your snacks?
- [08:34]
Debbie McCullough
I think when I retire, I wanna drive a bookmobile. So if anybody has a job opening close to me, maybe that's what I'll do. Will you talk a little bit about maybe some memorable moment when you feel like you have made a difference in whether it's one of those kids that are about the bookmobile or just coming into the library or somebody else that you've connected with through your work, when you feel like you've made a difference in their lives.
- [09:03]
Olivia Olson
Yes. So before I was community engagement librarian here, I was teen librarian for many years. And I would like to think that I made a difference in the lives of those kids. For those of you who don't know much about Troy, it's a very academically ambitious community. The parents are very ambitious for their kids. The kids are very ambitious, and the schools are great. That's why a lot of people move here is because of the reputation of the school district for being. They're just excellent schools. And so the kids have a lot of pressure to excel academically. And many of them do. They are really impressive kids. And I think I identified when I started as a teen librarian that my chob and the library's job for these kids might be different in other communities, but my job was to be a soft place to land for the kids that no matter what was happening in school or with their grades or their parents or whoever else they wanted to impress, that no matter what was happening at the library, they were enough. They were impressive no matter what they did, they didn't have to achieve anything. And I never asked anything of them other than coming to the library when they could. And I hope that being a safe adult who didn't expect anything of them was impacted their lives. One of the coolest things that I ever got to do was a louder than a bomb poetry slam. I got to put together a team of teen poets that represented the library. And we went to Detroit, to Wayne State. There were kids from all over the state who came different slam Poets and different teams. I had four students. They're probably all like neuroscientists now, but at the time they were teen slam poets. For weeks, maybe even months, they would write and rehearse their slam poems. And they were about things like academic pressures, fear of what it's going to be, what it's going to be like to go to slam school, body image, religion, all kinds of things that teens were dealing with. That was really interesting to me. And then they got to work together to write and perform Islam and they won. And it was great because I'm a writer, a creative writer and the arts are really important to me. And I think they felt like maybe the arts were secondary to more STEM pursuits. And so having that like extracurricular fun, artful self expression project, I think was hopefully made a positive impact on them.
- [11:53]
Debbie McCullough
It's so interesting that you started this conversation about talking about the safe space and a third place and what you have just described about how you come at your work is you called it a soft landing. I think you're emulating what you got out of it when you were younger to what these kids still need. And so you've just connected so many dots in terms of making sure that the library is a safe space for everyone and that there is a soft landing at the other end. And the soft landing might be the librarian 100%.
- [12:31]
Olivia Olson
And I remember as a kid, the first place I drove when I got my driver's license was the library. I didn't have a lot of academic pressure. I had some, I think, self inflicted, but I had all the other stuff that teenagers go through, like the very real hormonal weather that comes through and you just feel so angry. And I remember going to the library and getting art books and sitting there and just looking through the art books and it calmed some kind of storm that was in me. And yeah, it was so important to me as a teenager. So I hope that was true for the kids that I worked with too.
- [13:05]
Mallory Devildes
It's so funny. I also vividly remember the first place I drove when I got my license, like other than school was the library. And I was so really to be able to like just spend as much time as I wanted in the library with nobody rushing me to leave. Yeah, totally good destination.
- [13:23]
Olivia Olson
Yeah, you don't have to buy anything because who has money when they're a teenager anyway?
- [13:27]
Debbie McCullough
Yeah. Let's take a quick break to hear more from our episode sponsor.
- [13:33]
John Eldred
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- [14:05]
Mallory Devildes
So you've obviously been in libraries for a long time and worked in a lot of different positions and at different libraries. How do you think things have changed over that time?
- [14:14]
Olivia Olson
Well, it's funny because a lot has changed. I think that a lot has stayed the same. The first thing I thought of was that throughout my many years, there's always been this question that keeps coming up about the changing reading habits of the population. And I remember, like, when we first got ebooks and how that was a cause for concern for a lot of librarians. And that was 15 years ago, maybe it was a long time ago. And it seemed like anytime there was a new format for reading books, listening to books, it was exciting. But there was always also a little bit of trepidation about, are we going to be able to keep up? And it seems to me that libraries have done an excellent job keeping up while also maintaining those traditional services that are still important for people and for our patrons. I think the thing that has stayed the same is every time there's a new technology, there's a new wave of fretting about it and some, like, media stuff about it. So I guess part of what has changed for me is just realizing that there's a measure of riding it out.
- [15:26]
Mallory Devildes
I feel like as librarians, we are very good about fretting because we organize things right, like, totally. They're nice little box and in their place. And then something, a lot comes along to disrupt it, and we have to just relearn and figure out how to go with the flow. But I think anybody that's been in a library recently can attest that even with all the ebooks and E audiobooks and everything, libraries are still just such a busy, happening place.
- [15:54]
Debbie McCullough
I was really surprised at the libraries that I've been going to lately. You talked about technology, and I remember when libraries all of a sudden had all of these computer stations, and now the only thing that I see are electrical boxes in all of the furniture, in the tables, in the chairs, and it's like, why do you need so many electric plugs, like chargers? Everybody's bringing their own stuff now, and so they're removing even more of the technology like the computer systems because people are bringing their iPads, their phones, their laptops. But I was amazed at what that change. Funny to me, my husband's an electrician so he's. I'll never be out of business. I'll never. But I remember too, when I was technology has changed the. The face of what our libraries are providing. And I remember going into a couple of organizations when I was first starting and we had a database was a 3 by 5 card and you had to learn, you know, what to do and how to use the new computers. And I know there's a lot of classes and things like that, but it's really self taught about how we've come up through ages and I'm sure that libraries have come up through the ages and yeah, a little fretting. That's a good word about oh my God, something else. But yeah.
- [17:12]
Olivia Olson
Do you remember how ebooks used to be so much more challenging now and now it's so much easier. I do remember that like having to teach someone how to access ebooks at first was like, oh gosh, like you just had to get ready. So no, they brought in their candle or whatever. Now it's. And it's much easier.
- [17:30]
Mallory Devildes
Yeah. When I was in grad school, one of our classes, we had to teach like a practice class, pick something and teach a class on it. And I picked ebooks and taught like an entire 45 minute class on how to get an ebook from drive onto a Kindle. And now I can teach somebody that same thing in two minutes.
- [17:49]
Debbie McCullough
Interesting. So, Olivia, you talk a little bit about just some memorable moments of you making a difference. But what about a patron making a difference in your life? Is there, there any stories that you can tell about that?
- [18:03]
Olivia Olson
Oh, man, yes. They've all made an impact on me. I'm sure everybody says that, but I grew up in a community that was predominantly white at the time. There wasn't a lot of diversity in my high school. I wasn't really exposed to very many cultures and so I felt so lucky when I started working in Troy. I don't know if everybody knows this about Troy, but one in three of our residents speak a language other than English at home. One in three. So it's a very diverse community. And in working here, I learned so much about cultures other than my own languages. Other than my own languages. So many languages are spoken in this community. And part of my job now is to run our English language learning groups for people who have moved from other countries and are practicing English. People of all skill levels attend, and people from lots of different countries and regions, agents of the world attend. And I have learned so much about the world. The information that I just didn't have access to when I was young and in the way that I do now, that has made a huge difference in my life. I think being that removed from people who grew up differently than I did was an impoverished way to be when I was younger. And I really got to see that there is so much value and it just really is such an enriching thing to learn from other people who have had this experience and such courageous people too, that made such a bold move in their lives to come here where they don't always speak the language. I had just a small, tiny, little minuscule vision of that when I went to Quebec City. I was in a rural town in Quebec City where they only spoke French. I have not spoken French in a long time, but I was the only one in my travel group who did. And it's terrifying. We ate oatmeal every day in the Airbnb because I was so scared to order food over the phone. And it was like, I'm just always so impressed with the people that I talk to and their courage. We have a English Language learners book club, so we read like middle grade fiction usually and talk about it and just to have a perspective and to the cultural background. I don't know that I have any specific story of one patron, but that group of patrons changed my life without a doubt.
- [20:39]
Mallory Devildes
Olivia, I know you said that you are a creative writer. And for those that don't know, I also know Olivia personally. I used to work with her. So I just know firsthand that you're a very creative person. So if you could hold a conversation with any book, what would it say to you or what would you say to it?
- [20:56]
Olivia Olson
So the book I don't do you guys have this where you have a book that you feel like you keep buying to give people and then you never own a copy yourself because you just keep giving it. My book is Letters to a Young Poet by Raina Mariah Rilke. Have you read that either? So Rilke was a really famous poet at the time of the writing. And it's this young poet who was insecure about his creative life and even about his personal life. He felt very lonely and just wasn't sure how to live life. Right. Wrote to Rilke and he really admired Rilke. Rilke was famous. And so Rilke started up an exchange with him and saw something in this young poet and wrote letters back to him. And so it's a collection of this correspondence from Rilke. And he's such a wise person and spoke. I read it first, I think when I was in college, a young person. And it meant so much to me to hear that other people were lonely. I think it's something young people experience universally but don't want to talk about because it's shameful. It was revelatory to me that there was someone who was lonely, who wanted to be creative, who had no idea what the future would hold and was anxious about it. And that Rilke, who I also really admired, wrote back to him. And this beautiful advice about in your loneliness, creating a self, worrying about creating a self. Instead of throwing a mess of pieces into the world, create a version of a self contained version of yourself. And then when you meet people, you have healthy relationships because you both are fully realized people instead of a massive pieces. I don't know what we would say. I don't know what I would have to say back to that other than just like profound things. I guess I should read it again and see for sure. But it's a book that has spoken to me. One of those ones where you dip into and it speaks to you at various points of your life.
- [23:02]
Debbie McCullough
Now everybody will want to go get a copy though, so good. We had to go write it down and know that we'll both have copies.
- [23:09]
Olivia Olson
Soon, a lot of copies. So I can't give you what gives.
- [23:14]
Debbie McCullough
You hope, what most excites you about the future of your work in the library.
- [23:20]
Olivia Olson
I am a big optimist and I have just huge hope for the future of libraries. I see every day the importance of libraries in our community. I'm lucky to work in a very busy public library. Just the way that people have advocated for their libraries in lots of different ways. By coming together by telling me how important libraries are to them, by posting it on social media or other ways that people are talking about how important their library is to them gives me a lot of hope. And we have a very busy library. There are some Saturdays where our library is at capacity, where there are people who are like sitting on the floor to study or just absolutely packed in here. And a lot of those people are young people who come here to study or to gather in groups. And just to bring it back to that idea of the third place, I think they're more important than ever in battling an epidemic of loneliness in our country and our world. But also just having those communal spots where people can come together and have human interactions and feel seen by other people. It gives me a renewed sense of purpose, too. So a lot of hope.
- [24:42]
Debbie McCullough
You just talked about the heart of every community in the state of Michigan. Yeah, this was great. Thank you so much, Elaine Olivia, for joining us today. And thanks to everyone for listening to the May episode of Chapter and Verse Story Time from the Stacks. We want to also thank our episode sponsor, Midwest Tape and Hoopla. Join us each month for new episodes, and be sure to subscribe to our podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Much appreciation for listening, and we'll see you in June when Jennifer Balcombe, the co op director at the Mid Michigan Library League, and I will sit down with our guest, Tracy Logan Walker, director of the Cadillac Wexford Public Library.