Okay, that title should boost my hits from the Christian demographic on the interwebs...
But I actually refer to Information Awareness Month, which is an Australian campaign to to increase public awareness of the breadth of the information industry through a series of events all through the month of May.
So, firstly, to echo the "I AM" affirmations that are declared on the website's website:
I AM a librarian
Not an information consultant, knowledge manager, document controller, information disseminator, resource coordinator, information literacy specialist, audience developer, emerging technologies trainer, content manager, social media expert, reader advisor, user experience designer, literature reviewer, collection maintenance specialist, communications officer, copyright advisor... Yes, I have performed many of these roles to some extent at one point or another, because that's what I DO. But it's not what I AM.
Again, I repeat, I AM a librarian.
And I say to all you librarians, don't shy away from the title. Don't let our name be watered-down by the corporatisation of the industry. We can perform a wide range of duties, and the industry is so diverse that there are some areas of librarianship that I will never be an expert at, but one thing we all have in common is that we are librarians.
Wear it with pride. Own it. Declare it.
I AM A LIBRARIAN
*ahem*
Now, on the IAM theme of Diversity, I'd like to put my Reader Development hat on for the moment, seeing as that's the world in which I've been immersing myself for the past few weeks in my work at the State Library of Victoria. Particularly, I would pose these questions to you:
How diverse is your reading? How do you go about promoting diverse reading habits amongst your library users?
Now, I'm a self-proclaimed YA reader. I like to think my reading is fairly diverse - after all, YA is about a target audience, not a particular genre. And a lot of it is far more profound than a lot of adult fiction which I've read. I like themes of liminality and transcience in adolescence, the somewhat-psychotic personalities that emerge in this pivotal point in life, and the lessons that we learn as teenagers that we often forget later on in adulthood (and often re-learn from our teenage kids!).
Plus, I read across the genre, with male and female protagonists, leaning more towards social realism, but also read my share of fantasy and speculative fiction. If you have any doubt as to the extent of diversity in YA fiction, then just check out the line-up at the Reading Matters conference this month.
But that said, I do try to diversify my reading. I try to get through at least one non-fiction text and one adult novel, a handful of short stories, and regular political / current affair articles per month. Having lived in Darwin, I know all too well how easy and comforting it can be to inhabit a singular world, but unless you never plan to leave, you're eventually going to have to get back up to speed on the rest of the world. I remember the first day back in Melbourne, seeing a 20-something indie girl sitting on park bench, eating tabouli out of a plastic container, and reading Tsiokas' The Slap, and thinking "Yup, I'm not in Darwin anymore".
But I digress.
The point that I'm trying to get to is that I've been growing up in a library environment that promotes reader advisory. I've trained people in it, teaching staff all about genre, and getting them to glean from the library reader what they've been reading lately, what they like reading, and then finding them something that will match their reading tastes.
Which is all very well, if:
(a) the library user has actually read a book recently and / or knows what they like to read, and
(b) you want your libraries users to be boring readers.
Yes, boring readers. You know the type. They start their sentences with "I only read..." and end them with strangely specific things like "british police procedure detective fiction". This is encouraged through reader advisory tools, often bookmarks with "If you like X, then you should read Y", where X is a given author, and Y is a list of other writers who tend to use the same genre / narrative style / themes.
Which is all very well for getting a fix of more of the same, but not necessarily the healthiest of reading habits. It's a bit like having sushi for lunch every day, because I know that I like sushi, and it's not that unhealthy in itself, so what's the big deal anyway?
However, there's a whole range of literary cuisines out there! The wider we read, the more we learn about the world, and about ourselves. As librarians, it's our duty to encourage readers to be creative with their reading choices, and challenge them to challenge themselves by reading outside their comfort zones. Guide them into becoming a creative reader. Because, really, there's nothing quite like getting through one's first Dickens, or one's first Chabon, or Winton, or Asimov, or even Stephenie Meyer. It might not be your cup of tea, but you have a wider landscape to compare your reading experiences with, and it gives you something to talk to other people about.
So, here's your challenge for Information Awareness Month, following the theme of diversity. Read a book that you really don't want to, then tell somebody about it. If you don't have somebody to talk to, feel free to comment here. Then go out, and challenge your library's users to go and read something that they would never have. And be sure to ask them what they thought of it later on. It'll be interesting conversation, that's for sure.
Happy reading! And stay tuned - I have something special coming up for Library & Information Week later this month. :)
