My high school English teacher shared this transcription of Niel Gaiman's speech for the Reading Agency.
In his speech he talks about the importance of reading as building creative thinkers through imagination, escapism and empathy. Gaiman eloquently argues for the basic concept we continue to discover in our readings and discussions: that literacy is agency.For library lovers, Gaiman speaks for the preservation of libraries, pointing out their purpose in providing an integral, information-filled space that fosters social equity.
I think that when I design my course, I would like to incorporate the library. Not simply visiting the library for research purposes, but hosting study groups and reading hours. Libraries can be liberating, magical spaces for creating communities. Students who may have never spent time in a library may focus better in an environment where all people are publicly pursuing knowledge, information, and perhaps even escape.
Great bonus post. I came across the Neil Gaiman library article a few days ago and bookmarked it. I'll have to go back now and read it. I agree with your perspective on libraries and how the use of them might be incorporated into our courses. I also find it fascinating that college libraries now (or at least SF State's) are so different than college libraries were 10ish years ago when I was in college. There seems to be a lot of cultural and even pedagogical beliefs which have influenced those changes.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this bonus post! I really enjoyed the article and as a library lover appreciated Gaiman's advocacy. I have never read an academic essay by Gaiman, but I love his fiction, so it was nice to read his work from a different perspective and also to learn about his view on reading. Your idea of integrating the library into your unit plan is brilliant and I am looking forward to seeing how you integrate this into your course design.
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