 Next up on our lightning rounds here at Big Talk from Small Libraries is Dan Galway. He is our second, I guess international speaker. Previously we had a speaker who was based in the U.S. where we are. He's from up in Alberta, Canada, the Pinocchio Jubilee Library. Dan Galway talking about their life stories, community engagement through oral history. I'm just going to hand over to you to tell us what you've been doing up there with your community. Okay, thank you. So I'm the library manager of the Pinocchio Jubilee Library, and I'd just like to talk about one of our programs that we've been relatively successful with in the last three, four months. So we'll get started. I have always been fascinated and intrigued by the stories of our patrons. I love working the front desk of a public library because there are always conversations to be had. Recently I had a lengthy conversation with one of our patrons regarding the local history of the town of Pinocchio, and specifically regarding the origins of Alberta's infamous murderer Robert Raymond Koch. The man who I was speaking with is a local resident who is interested in the law enforcement history of Pinocchio, and specifically in Koch. He also tells very good jokes and comes in at least once a week with a new one that he thinks I might like. This is the kind of connection that we make every day in this profession, and one of the reasons why I love working in public libraries. But this conversation was important. There was something here. This man was interesting, and he had stories to tell. We talk at length about Pinocchio history regularly now, and we are hosting him as one of our guest speakers in our Life Stories series. I relocated from the Arctic to Pinocchio, Alberta at the end of 2016. Although the service size for the two populations was similar, there were differences to be sure. Nunavut is a very new territory with a very transient population, and it's still working out the kinks and dealing with the effects of intergenerational trauma. Pinocchio has a much more substantial history with residents who know each other and know and love their town. I arrived in November and wanted to put off a library event that would coincide with Rembrandt's Day, much like Veteran's Day in the US. I consulted with my then brand new staff to discuss. We did what most libraries do for these things. We brought in a veteran to speak about his experiences in the war. What we didn't know was that it would turn into a much lengthier discussion about his life than we had previously anticipated. The event was scheduled to last an hour and lasted for almost two. The audience was engaged with the speaker, asking interesting questions, and were generally curious about his life. We thought, you might have something here. The next month, we launched Life Stories and invited a former CESIS agent to discuss his time as a Canadian spy. We also hosted a practicing Wiccan who discussed her practice of Wiccan and fielded questions from the audience. This March, we are hosting a former motorcycle gang member who is terming his life around. Soon after launching the program and soliciting suggestions from the public through a monthly library newspaper column, we began to receive suggestions on which community members should be telling the stories. In just a few short months, we are now beginning to see the community engagement that we had hoped for. Specifically, I've learned much about Peter Mason, a Pinocca resident who previously served in Her Majesty's Secret Service and who wrote a memoir about his experience that was then recalled by the British government. We hold a copy of this book in our library. Mason is often referred to as the Real Life James Bond and will be speaking at the series in the next year. I would be remiss not to mention the fantastic work of Shirley Sire in coordinating and implementing this program at the Noca Jubilee Library. Shirley has done fantastic work in finding interesting community members, feeling requests from the public, and creating an environment in which our guests feel comfortable sharing their stories. Shirley is currently at a professional development conference and could not present with me as a result, but she has been integral to the implementation and success of this program. Through the creation and implementation of this program, we have gleaned a few observations, lessons, or whatever you want to call them. Number one, conversation with our patrons is an essential and important part of library service. At Pinocca Jubilee Library, we work from a community-led library approach, which you are all likely familiar with. We strive to respond directly to patron need. Perhaps one of the best ways to implement this approach is by asking. Although there are measures of community need that must be employed, direct community engagement is paramount. Number two, by engaging with our patrons in meaningful ways, we are able to gauge the needs of the community. Understanding our patron base is akin to understanding our community. Depending on the number of card holders in your community, the library can represent the entire community or a microcosm. We're always seeking to identify service gaps, and there is no better way to identify these gaps than by understanding what patrons want. Because I am a relative newcomer to the area, my staff have been my greatest resource in gaining a sense of the community. They are mostly long-term residents with long-standing relationships with our patrons. Number three, the connections we make with our patrons can lead to great ideas regarding programming and services offered. Many patrons may not necessarily feel that they are welcome to speak directly to the programs and services offered at the library. Creating a welcoming environment is essential to having these types of conversations. Patrons should feel as if their ideas and opinions are being considered and internalized by library staff. From these ideas, we create programs, events, and services that respond directly to patrons. Although it may sound like something of a trove, everybody has a story. It is important to engage with our neighbors and fellow community members, as their stories may have the capability to enrich you in ways you had not previously considered. These concepts are exhibited in large-scale archival projects, such as the New York Public Libraries Together We Listen campaign. This project seeks to not only document and make available the local history of residents of New York City, but to also foster community engagement in their libraries. This kind of community engagement is possible in all public libraries, be it an archival project, speaker series, or community forum. By utilizing a grassroots approach with curated selections of speakers chosen in consultation with our patron base, we have been able to create an appealing and interesting program that speaks to the importance of connecting with our fellow community members and placing value on what they have to say. We are now considering ways to take the life stories series further. Admittedly, I am a podcast addict. I love to hear people's opinions, opposing views, and their stories. This is something I would be very interested in doing. Perhaps an interview style podcast with local Pinocque residents. I see this as a really valuable exercise and a way to create a functional snapshot of Pinocque and its residents during this time in history. And that's it. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Dan. I was very interested in what you were doing there with the life stories. I know I've heard of other libraries that do similar things. They call it the Human Library, but you can check out people have one-on-one, but this is one presentation type thing. Yeah, CBC here, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. They've been doing Human Library for, I'm not sure how long, but it's exactly what you say. You generally have a room full of people with various backgrounds, and you then go and have a conversation. I love the idea of it. This is definitely, take some cues from the Human Library. This is more actual presentations. And somebody did, you have a couple of questions to do very quickly here for you. We are running a little long today. I don't know if you've mentioned, how do you find, you said the first one was just somebody you were chatting with. How do you find the other presenters for your different events? Well... How do you find these people? Well, some of the people we actually kind of tracked down. One of my co-workers, Shirley, the battle programmer, she was really interested in Wicca. She didn't know a lot about it. She wanted to meet an actual Wiccan. She really just kind of asked around and talked to other community members and people who were into this similar kind of mystical things. She found Sabine, who is our Wiccan presenter. Other than that, we've taken a lot of guidance from the community in terms of finding people. Peter Mason, I got his address from, well, I guess he's a patron of ours, but he was really passionate. He said, you have to get Peter Mason before he dies. He lives out on a farm and there's actually a very interesting story about his residence. If you go by at night, you will always see candles in the windows. In Pinocchio, apparently, people had been speculating on why the candles were in his window all the time. People thought his wife was a psychic, etc. His wife was actually also a spy. In reality, the reason why he keeps those candles in his window at night is because a sniper can't hone in on a target. If there's a candle in the window, it's impossible. It's his past and he's protecting himself. This man has a lot of secrets. I don't know if he's being overly paranoid because he's pretty old, but maybe not. You never know. So, basically, just keep your eyes open and learn about your community and what's out there. Thank you very much, Dan. That was very interesting. We're going to move on.