Librarian as Creator

Publication year
2023
Journal
Caribbean Library Journal
Volume
7
Pages
1-16
Comment

Here's the abstract:

Through a reflective case study, the author explores how her creation and telling of stories served to provide information, convey messages, and raise awareness, about the issue of violence against women and girls. Her role as a librarian nurtured her creativity. She disseminated information from her creative works via roundtables, read-aloud activities, and presentations of the themes raised in her creative works, both face-to-face and online to students and the community. The author drew upon the literature in her discussion of how librarians may utilise creativity in the dissemination of information. She utilised Rolfe’s reflective model in her evaluation of the process. She concurs that the role and function of librarians can nurture creativity. As an interdisciplinary, third-space professional, she believes that writing creatively is not separate from her role as a librarian. She cited challenges encountered in writing and highlighted the significance of disseminating the works created and packaged by Librarians.

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 I will share how I utilised creativity in the dissemination of information, and how my telling of stories brought awareness to a varied clientele. This will be done against the backdrop of social and cultural trends in Trinidad, more specifically violence against women and girls. (1)

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My creative muse was nurtured not just by the growing incidence of domestic violence, but by the need to provide awareness to clients through the telling of stories they could identify with, whether as survivors, supporters, or bystanders. After my first creative project, users approached me asking where they may source other creative material on the issue. This articulated need of patrons led not only to engagement in a rigorous search for other such creative expressions but also served as a stimulus for me to produce additional creative works. Although it had been my intention to write just one novel, additional books were triggered by gaps witnessed in this particular subject area, as well as feedback from readers and information seekers. (4)

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 My literary publications currently include five novels, three of which are romance novels. (6)