Community Reading Project: Front Desk (in person)

Front Desk: In Person Library Activity

As part of the Kobe Public Library’s #ownvoices reading challenge, middle-grade and young teen readers read Front Desk, a book about a young Chinese American girl who helps her immigrant parents by working at a motel while going to school. Author Kelly Yang introduces young readers to the lack of opportunities many immigrants to the United States face. She addresses educational and language barriers and discrimination based on skin color. Yang presents issues of racism, crime, poverty and exploitation for a young adult population.

Both community collaborative partners are invited to a free, in-person round table discussion at the library to talk about Immigration and Racism. The Students for Anti-Racism (SFAA) club at Kobe High School along with volunteers from the international organization InterNations will participate. SFAA works collectively to promote anti-racist pedagogies and practices in school and InterNations has a multinational member base of young working professionals who are ready to receive questions from teens about ethnicity, diversity, immigrants, and race.

The discussion and subsequent Q & A will last about 60 minutes. Attendance is free. A librarian will facilitate. Sample topics for conversation include:

• How do our intersecting identities shape our perspectives and the way we experience the world?

• What part do culture and history play in the formation of our individual and collective identities?

• How do our various group identities shape us as individuals?

• How do we remain true to ourselves as we move in and out of different communities, cultures and contexts?

• How do our similarities and differences impact the relationships we have with people inside and outside our own identity groups?

• How do power and privilege change the way we express and present ourselves?

• How could one person’s identity threaten another person’s rights?

• How does struggle help define who we are?

• How do our similarities and differences impact the relationships we have with people inside and outside our own identity groups?

The library will need the use of an open meeting space with enough chairs to accommodate speakers and audience members. The estimated participation total is around 30 people. Library staff (one person) will be needed at the circulation desk if patrons want to check books out before or after the talk. One librarian will be needed to introduce the speakers and moderate the talk. Another staff member can help facilitate directions for visitors to the library. A minimum of three library staff members will be needed for this event and the start up costs are zero. (Staff members are compensated for their time as part of their regular salary). Members of SFAA and InterNations are volunteering their time and experience.

This event will be promoted at Kobe High School in both classroom announcements and flyers/posters displays in public gathering spaces. Kobe Public Library will advertise the #ownvoices community reading program on the main page of the website. InterNations has agreed to publicize the event on their homepage. This program will be video-recorded for online playback from the library's website for those who are unable to attend in person.

Effectiveness of the community event can be measured by taking a brief online survey from the public computer terminals in the library in lieu of a paper survey. Here is an example of an online survey for this program.