Maya Smart

  • About
  • Books
  • Community
  • Raising Readers
  • Contact

In Austin library, a welcome glimpse of total inclusion

August 6, 2018

Austin Central Library

The stunning Austin Central Library, already a finalist for the International Federation of Library Associations’ Public Library of the Year, leaped in prestige by winning LEED Platinum Building Certification this summer.

The award confirms that the space’s design and construction exemplify the utmost concern for human and environmental health. The library scored high marks for its green power, water-recycling systems, daylight use, views and community connectivity. Yet, we should feel challenged — not satisfied — by this last designation.

Renewable-energy use, efficient landscaping and wastewater technologies are built-in, but considerable effort is still required to create real community connectivity. That is, the kind of bonds among people that exist beyond the realm of LEED’s neighborhood density and pedestrian access targets. We’ve built an impressive library, but what must we do to ensure that the people come? Not just avowed bookworms, architectural tourists, and downtown high-rise dwellers, but the broadest swath of our community possible?

Early indications are promising. The library staff, led by director Roosevelt Weeks, have stepped up efforts to welcome and wow diverse library visitors. I witnessed it recently when I accompanied a group of 30 black and Hispanic kids from the Children’s Defense Fund’s Freedom Schools summer program to the Central Library. Most of the kids hailed from underserved East Austin neighborhoods and hadn’t heard much about the library, let alone visited it.

Library staff greeted the bus and showed the awestruck guests every floor of the architectural wonder. In the special events area, the kids donned virtual reality headsets, learned to program tiny robots, experimented with electronic building blocks, and heard a story read by local author Willie S. Anderson. Staff also gave the students the low-down on getting books, homework help, and other resources through the library.

One small exchange exemplified the spirit of the visit.

“How many books do you think are in here?” a librarian asked, referring to the children’s section. The kids’ guesses ranged from 44 to millions. The truth was closer to 60,000.

“And who do they belong to?”

“The authors,” one shouted.

“The library,” another said.

“They belong to you,” she replied. “This collection belongs to you. Not just the books. The whole library. We just take care of them for you.”

The speaker, the statement, and the audience all struck me. I was happy to be present when the kids learned that libraries — even massive, glittering, “green” ones — are made for them. Though America’s public libraries have always professed a charge to serve all, they have a history of exclusion that mirrors that of the nation itself. Who counts as “the public” has been hotly contested. Witness the racial segregation laws that denied my maternal grandmother access to every branch in the Louisville Free Public Library system but one — the Western “colored” branch.

Years later, when my mother was born in 1946, less than a third of public library systems in the South reported serving African-Americans. That the majority couldn’t be bothered to provide even a bookmobile or segregated reading room conveys volumes.

For my mother, like her mother before, the Western branch in Louisville, Kentucky, was a haven. It spared her both the ignorance of having no library at all and the intimate indignity of entering the backdoors of white libraries to be confined to isolated colored reading rooms. The haven of that library helped her build the knowledge and skills that would carry her through graduate school and a career. At her retirement party, she quoted Walter Anderson, who said, “I read myself out of poverty long before I worked myself out of it.”

Everyone deserves that privilege. And in the Austin Central Library, standing with my own daughter, hearing a librarian’s declaration of inclusion, I saw a glimpse of the kind of community connectivity we should aspire to. It looks like caring people flinging the doors of our libraries wide open, intentionally ushering in new visitors, and making sure that they all feel at home.

Smart serves on the boards of the Austin Public Library Friends Foundation, the Texas Book Festival and the University of Texas Libraries Advisory Council.

Read full version here.

Leave a Comment · Community

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Hey There, I’m Maya!

Maya Smart

I’m Maya Payne Smart, a journalist, book lover, and literacy advocate. I split my time between deep reading and slow writing, often about dynamic women who lift as they climb. My focus? Promoting a #litrich lifestyle for families and individuals. I aim to show parents what it takes to raise fluent readers and to connect people of all ages to great books and authors. I also share productivity tips, interviews, and more, when inspiration strikes.

About   |   Why I Blog   |   Contact

The Smart Take

Sign up for a weekly digest of news, reviews and tools curated by Maya Smart expressly for women who make things happen (or aspire to).

Popular Posts

  • A Farewell to Remember
  • Wonder Women: Sex, Power and the Quest for Perfection
  • Are You Hitting Enough Home Runs in Your Life?
  • Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America (Revised and Updated)
  • When Books Are the Best Medicine: Fostering Literacy in the ER

Austin Lit Events

  1. KUT Book Club – The Gift of the Magi

    December 9 @ 7:00 pm
  2. Heartsong Music Storytime!

    December 10 @ 10:30 am
  3. Ms. Staci Storytime!

    December 11 @ 10:30 am
  4. Carrying Hope Storytime!

    December 14 @ 10:30 am
  5. VOYAGE OUT BOOK CLUB – Conversations with Friends

    December 15 @ 5:00 pm

View All Events

Instagram

  • Took care of some holiday shopping at @domainnorthside with a stop at Theory, Lush and Amazon. Great gifts for all the special people in my life and few treats for myself!
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
--
#DomainNORTHSIDE #ShopNORTHSIDE #OurSideHasItAll #do512 #igaustin #litrich #austin360 #atxlife
  • No matter where I am on Thanksgiving, I always pause to reflect on the years of family feasts I enjoyed as a kid at my Grandma's house in Cleveland. Love and laughter were always on the menu along with turkey, dressing, greens and sweet potatoes. Here are a few great picture books I discovered at the @texasbookfest that help us celebrate grandmas and grandpas and nanas and paw-paws year-round. The special ways grandparents love, teach and relate to their children’s children is proven fodder for vivid, powerful storytelling. May they remind us of our elders’ wisdom, wit and care, as well as the role we parents can play in fostering space for those irreplaceable bonds to bloom.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
--⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
#bibliophile #abmlifeissweet #kidsreadingforpleasure #literacymatters #readersgonnaread #childrensliteracy #morethanbooks #readersareleaders #readingisfundamental #litrich #familytime #thanksgiving
  • That nagging feeling, those recurring dreams, that idea that won't let go. Sit with them. Embody the lesson. Be free.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
--⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
#quoted #quotabelle #beautifullysaid #morethanbooks #litrich #quotesforyou #quotefortheday #quotesoflife #quoteslover #igquotes #pemachodron
  • Add camping—in a tent—to the things motherhood has made me do. I never thought of myself as the outdoorsy type but as a Girl Scout troop leader I’ve got to model the adventurous spirit we wish for our girls. So here we are at Pedernales Falls State Park for the Walnut Creek Service Unit Fall Campout. Yes, I am wearing a fanny pack. This is definitely one for the books!
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Photo by @instaeileen
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
--
#riseandclimb #gsctx #flashesofdelight #thehappynow #weekendvibes #livemoremagic #lessworkmorelife #simpleandstill #theslowdowncollective #howyouglow
  • I was traveling last week and missed The Library Foundation's Stories Gala, an incredible celebration of my very favorite library. Looks like my mom did a great job keeping the party going in my absence.  Thanks to everyone who raised funds and awareness to keep @austinpubliclibrary resources and programming strong. Nothing says community like a vibrant public library!
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
—
#aplambassador #bibliophile #flashesofdelight #abmlifeissweet #familyphoto #literacymatters #readersgonnaread #childrensliteracy #morethanbooks #readersareleaders #do512 #igaustin #litrich

Copyright © 2019 · Maya Smart. All Rights Reserved. · Privacy Policy · Terms & Conditions · Comment Policy.