Introducing Mijo's Library #mylibrary
If I had the technical know how, I would create a social media platform called "myLibrary". I'm not sure how it would work or how it would function to make people want to use it...I just had an idea... thinking about our lives as libraries these questions come to mind...
If you were a library what would the library be called? What kind of books would we find in your library that tell us about who you are and what you've experienced? What photographs would you include that tell a story of your family tree? What kinds of music would people be able to check out? Would there be any vinyl, CDs, cassettes, or would digital audio be available? What music genres? What kind of services would be available to the community in your library? What events would you host in your library? If certain time periods in our lives could be documented in book shelves what kinds of books would define your adolescent shelf? Would any of your family members have a book shelf or specific archive? If there was time to write a story book about a sibling, who would you want to write about? What would the book be called? What kind of book would it be? What would be on the cover? What kind of geography books or maps about your life and where you've been would be available? What languages would the resources in your library be written in? How would your library be designed when it comes to its architecture? Where would it be located? When would it close? One hundred years from now, what kind of value would a library about your life have to your family and community?
Ever since my childhood years, libraries have been an important space for how I engaged in learning outside of what we had to do in school. Whereas school tended to shape everybody's learning in similar ways, public libraries gave my young imagination a sense of freedom to look at reading as a choice. It gave me a chance to read stories that I could relate to. When it came to summer reading programs, it gave me a chance to look at reading as an incentive. Since I couldn't get to the library by myself as a kid, it also created a "learning bond" between my parents, myself, and younger siblings. Having those memories of my Mom and Dad walking me into the library and letting me wander the stacks is something I'll always remember. Especially when thinking about the authors and books I discovered as a result of those learning moments.
If my life was a library it would be called Mijo's Library. It would be located in El Paso, Texas in the neighborhood I was raised in. Everybody on my Mom's side of the family, especially my Mom and Dad, call me Mijo...til' this day. If you don't know Spanish, Mijo translates to "my son". This blog site and the Twitter I created @mylibraryep will help me find time to learn more about libraries and the opportunities that these spaces offer to people in the community. It's also intended to provide everyone that has goals to one day volunteer or work in a library with resources about library and information science. While I'm no expert in the area, as I'm learning, I'd like to have a space online to save info and share it for others with similar interest.
This #myLibrary concept is also inspired by a book that I read with my younger brother years ago titled The Library Book, The Story of Libraries from Camels to Computers, written by Maureen Sawa and illustrated by Bill Slavin. There is so much to learn and value about the role libraries have played in society for thousands of years and the role they'll play in our future.
Welcome to #myLibrary, Mijo's Library.
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