A web presentation on a new Digital Storytelling initiative launched in collaboration with the American Library Association. Find out how to document your unique personal story of library impact in a growing social media database. Living Stories, Living Libraries can be a platform for community building, library advocacy, and documentary style photography.

1. LIVING STORIES, LIVING
LIBRARIES
A digital storytelling initiative with The American
Library Association
Margaret Kavaras
Google Policy Fellow-OITP
Presentation for:
National Network of Libraries of
Medicine
August 13, 2014

2. Introducing the Project

3. What is Living Stories Living
Libraries?
 Photo-documentary style blog
Think www.humansofnewyork.com but for
libraries
 Database of stories
 Advocacy tool
 Space to share and build community:
*Tumblr: Living-stories-living-libraries.tumblr.com
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/livingstorieslivinglibraries
Twitter: @livingxstories #librariesinthewild

4. Sorry, who are you?
• Google Policy Fellow with ALA
Washington Office for Information
Technology Policy
• Recent graduate of George
Washington University
• B.A. International Affairs
• Graduate Student at Central
European University, Budapest
Hungary.
• MPA Public Administration

5. Project Origins: Research in
Romania

6. Research Findings:
 “Analyzing the Impact of Public Libraries
Powering Social Development: Romania as a
Case Study”
 Libraries are unsung liberators, and everyone in a
library has a story to tell
 Library is a hub of community development
 Vital to addressing the digital divide,
digital skills training, and health literacy
 Library level of development
 So much more than books

7. Why the Digital Storytelling
Format?
 Digital storytelling connects images with
powerful human stories of impact
 Relatable and individual, easy to consume
format
 Ease of social media enables sharing and
building connections across multiple fields

8. Examples:
“I am 45 years old and am in my
second year of nursing school to
become an RN. As an undergraduate in
the 1980’s I would retreat to the library
to study. Twenty plus years later, I still
do the same thing. Back then it was my
campus library, today it’s my public
library. I’m so much more absorbent
here. I love libraries.”

9. Examples:
“As a child I struggled with learning
how to read. I was diagnosed with
Dyslexia at an early age, and it
showed. It frustrated me to the point
where I didn’t even want to touch a
book anymore… I didn’t have the
money to get the materials I needed.
My teacher directed me to a section
in my local library completely filled
with books on tape for all ages. From
then on I was hooked. I began
reading more and more.”

10. Project Goals
 Interact: Use the social media format to build trust and mirror
the personal interaction people value in libraries-real people
telling real stories
 Show: Promote the image of libraries as vibrant community
centers that fill a variety of digitally evolving roles by building
a database of individual’s stories
 Share: Allow librarians to get ideas from this blog, to see
what other libraries are offering, and to share their own
successes using the #librariesinthewild tag
 Advocate: to create a tool to educate lawmakers for library
advocacy at both the local and national level
 Grow: to create new library users by reaching people on
social media and showing powerful, short, easy to consume
human stories of impact

11. Library relevance: a need for
advocacy
 91% of Americans support their library, but most
only aware of some library resources and
offereings
 Pew Research: If libraries seek to remain relevant
and integrate user experiences in the digital era,
they will need better PR and outreach to explain
all they do
 Only space in society for free digital training, and
equal access in an age consumer driven
advancements
 “Libraries could be doing more to tell the story of
how much they’ve changed-eg. Adapting to the

12. The value of stories:
 What do stories actually do, and why are they
important?
 Ex) 66% of libraries need more broadband-having
tools to be effective
 Untold stories: Libraries serve needs as diverse
as the people who use them
1. Can be used by library Friends, librarians, board
members as raw material to make case for support
2. Amplify and connect stories to intermediaries, like
reporters or library advocates= influence
 Social media underutilized free PR source

13. ALA Washington Office
 Government Relations and Policy
 Submitting Comments (FCC and Congress- on public
record)
 Ensuring libraries have what they need (broadband
speed, tech, e-rate, copyright issues) to support social
outcomes
 Libraries: good at collecting data, but stories needed
to illustrate data points (federal, state and local!)
 Engaging policy makers and looking to emerging roles
libraries can play in the digital revolution taking place
District Dispatch: www.districtdispatch.org
Makerspaces, publishing, telehealth, career assistance,
open access journals
Policy Revolution: how will global trends affect libraries?

14. Your Role:
 The importance of a variety of voices from the
wide library community
 Education about libraries of medicine, what do
you wish more people knew?
 Share your stories
Of library value and importance
Of personal/professional value to you
Of successful programs/initiatives- share your
success so others can learn from it!
 Libraries need advocacy to remain relevant and in
the public eye, and this project runs on
participation.
 Encourage your patrons to share their stories!

15. Instructions:
 Go to living-stories-living-libraries.tumblr.com and click on
“Tell your story.”
 Upload a photo and include your short story-please use
your zip code in place of your name**
Can be done on a Smartphone! Upload a selfie right in the
library
 So far, the most successful posts have been:
Succinct: the most shared and widely read stories have been
those under 250 words
Personal: told like a conversation rather than a news story
Relatable: told in a way that others feel the person’s
experiences: ie) not just a general statement “the library is
great” but
Specific: describing a specific experience “the library helped

16. Legal Stuff: Who owns what?
 The page material is licensed under a Creative
Commons non-commercial, share-alike
agreement. Anything on the site can be used and
distributed for any non-profit purpose. As long as
you credit the creator, you are free to:
 Share—copy and redistribute the material in any
medium or format
 Adapt—remix, transform, and build upon the
material
 The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as
long as you follow the license term

17. Why do you ask for zip codes?
 Living Stories, Living Libraries respects your right
to remain anonymous, and does not require any
personally-identifying information.
 Zip code information is used to illustrate
geographic diversity, and can also track
responses from different political jurisdictions.
Mapping where innovative services are being offered
Advocacy-providing representatives with real faces
and earnest examples of library-value from their
hometown
 Creating a database searchable by library-location

18. Where are we now?
 A tool for new libraries, a platform to connect
with a community, and perform library outreach
Spanish Fort Library in Alabama
 Dr. Wayne Wiegand- the value of ‘ground-up’
approach and need for aggregated database.
Upcoming book: Part of Our Lives: A People's
History of the American Public Library
 Free for All film:
http://www.freeforalldocumentary.com/

19. Next Steps:
 Publicize to get more stories
 Begin to publicize internationally (CEU-OSF)
 When the page has reached a critical mass of
stories, publicize to intermediaries (reporters,
NPR, TEDX)
 ALA interested in packaging info for policy
advocacy purposes
 Publish an outside paper in 2015
 Possible presentations at ALA Annual Conference,
IFLA summits, EIFL programs

20. Q&A:
 Please ask me anything! I welcome any
questions, feedback or constructive criticism,
and let’s hopefully have a discussion! I am
excited to hear your thoughts.
Thank you!!
Margaret Kavaras
mkavaras@alawash.org