Libraries and Socioeconomic Good

Socioeconomic status is defined as

An individual's or group's position within a hierarchical social structure. Socioeconomic status depends on a combination of variables, including occupation, education, income, wealth, and place of residence. (socioeconomic status, n.d.)

It is something that impacts us all in different ways. In a library, you will see people of varying socioeconomic statuses regardless of what type library you are in. Schools frequently train staff on how to talk sensitively with students of a low status, public libraries train on how to deal with issues arising from disruption. There is a lot of information out there on the good libraries can do to people from low socioeconomic backgrounds, case studies, guides. But I will say from personal experience in a school the best thing you can do is treat them like anyone else, feed their reading habit, allow them access to the tech if that is what is offered by your library and just be that smiling face.

Jason Kucsma is a librarian who didn’t intend on becoming a librarian. I do need to caveat and say TEDxTalks are opinion pieces, personal pieces of experience. I didn’t want to put in a video about homelessness in libraries, the most visible sign most of us will see of the low socioeconomic groups in our libraries, I wanted one that showed something of a spectrum of the positive impact that can be had by libraries. Jason Kacsma’s does that. Key to this talk is the concept of access for all. If we as library staff (as people even) live by that, not just in our work lives, maybe the world can be a better place.

References

socioeconomic status. (n.d.). In The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third edition. Retrieved April 13, 2018, from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/socioeconomic-status?s=t

TEDx Talks. (2017, December 8). Libraries may be the answer to what divides us: Jason Kucsma: TEDxToledo. [YouTube Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dySXX6JWGHw

The Sun Is Also a Star Review

The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon (2016)

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I think all the good parts of us are connected on some level. The part that shares the last double chocolate chip cookie or donates to charity or gives a dollar to a street musician or becomes a candy striper or cries at Apple commercials or says I love you or I forgive you. I think that's God. God is the connection of the very best parts of us. – Daniel Jae Ho Bae

There is so much to love about The Sun Is Also a Star it deals with some pretty heavy topics (immigration, deportation, suicide) with grace and dignity showing the humanity behind them. Natasha is a science-loving, illegal immigrant facing deportation back to Jamaica her values are facts, science, to her love is just chemistry. Daniel is a first generation American facing familial pressure from is Korean parents to become a doctor, his passion is poetry, to him love is everything, the very thing holding the universe together. Their very roles are wonderful because to me they feel like a role switch, usually it is the male character rooted in science and fact and the female in the arts and passion.

In some ways, Everything, Everything (which I have also read and enjoyed) and The Sun Is Also a Star are total opposites. While Everything, Everything is slow build gradual leisurely, The Sun Is Also a Star is so fast, all taking place over the space of less than 24 hours (excluding the epilogue). It is the sort of book that asks to be read fast, it is possible that the most enjoyment could be got out of it be devouring it in one or two sittings. Time is important, essential to the story. But the chapters are written in much the same way alternating between the two protagonists. To create reasonable breaks and a sense of world there are chapters telling other characters history's, futures and the explanation of concepts that are relevant.

One of my favourite topics discussed is time travel. Nicola Yoon has done a fantastic job of explaining multiverse theory in a way that is accessible. Multiverse theory becomes a core concept to the story. And it does allow the reader to come away feeling better about their place in the world. The God discussion (see the quote) is also fantastic, and it does align quite well to my personal views.

On a scale of books I think libraries should have to books I think are everyone must read (aka essential reads) I think this is somewhere in the middle. It is non-essential, I'm not sure how well it will stand the test of time, and the issues discussed by all the characters are so topical right now. But for many, they will see themselves or a version of what their life may have been should the universe have fallen a different way. For that, it is essential to libraries.

My reading experience in a gif:

Crossposted from Goodreads

References

Cover for 9780553496680. (n.d.-c). Penguin Random House. [Image File]. Retrieved from https://images.penguinrandomhouse.com/cover/9780553496680

Fuck Yeah Reactions. (2016). Anime girl reading. tumblr. [Image File]. Retrieved from https://78.media.tumblr.com/ef21c23991ec3dad1b4f52bfada7d6c0/tumblr_inline_ns8p2cgt0a1qafrh6_500.gif

McPherson, C. (2018a, April 9). Catherine McP's review of Everything, Everything. Goodreads. [Goodreads Review]. Retrieved from https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1974949090

McPherson, C. (2018f, April 9). Catherine McP's review of The Sun Is Also a Star. Goodreads. [Goodreads Review]. Retrieved from https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2353231282

Yoon, N. (2015). Everything, everything. London, UK: Corgi.

Yoon, N. (2016). The sun is also a star. London, UK: Corgi.