Communities – the Libraries of Life
Libraries have been my sanctuary - the chairs, the alcoves, the stools in the corner, the smell of old and new books – unquestioningly absorbing the ebbs and flows of my life. In my mind therefore a library was shelves of books that revealed worlds, words and images where I could lose myself for fleeting moments or hours – in silence. More recently however, over the last 10 years or so, my libraries have expanded beyond the written word: they reside in people. They are built on life experiences where the words, images and experience are passed on by word of mouth, embedded in practice, from generation to generation.
For a lot of us, the written word dominates the way we learn, accumulate knowledge and educate ourselves. The mainstream education system lays a lot of stress on w...