Edmondson Published in Public Library Quarterly | Compendium
Mina Edmondson

Mina Edmondson

Dr. Deborah Eicher-Catt

Dr. Deborah Eicher-Catt

 

York/Adams District Consultant,  Mina Edmondson and Dr. Deborah Eicher-Catt, professor and program coordinator of Communication Arts & Sciences at Pennsylvania State University–York recently published an article in the Public Library Quarterly, Reimaging Public Libraries as Learning Communities: What Library Stories Can Tell Us.

In 2014, Mina desired to document the growth library staff had achieved as a result of the Library of the Future Strategic Planning initiatives. Several training sessions had been conducted to support the Library of the Future in York County. It was noted that library staff had wonderful stories regarding libraries, from their personnel stories to the stories of library users.  Deborah and Mina had a professor/ student relationship in the past and have maintained a professional relationship over the years. Mina shared this interest with Deborah which sparked the possibility of a collaborative project with Penn State-York.

The article describes a study conducted in York County, Pennsylvania, focused on York County Libraries. Since storytelling is an essential aspect of culture re-imaging and change, narratives were collected from library personnel by undergraduate students at Pennsylvania State University-York as part of a service-learning initiative directed Dr. Eicher-Catt. In this article we assess the success of the initiative and make some recommendations for culture reimaging through the practice of storytelling. The findings of this study will be presented at PaLA in October.

 Eicher-Catt, Deborah, and Mina Edmondson. “Reimaging Public Libraries as Learning Communities: What Library Stories Can Tell Us.” Public Library Quarterly 35.3 (2016): 203-21.