Trustworthy Magazine, January 2021, Vol 10

Page 57

DOminique

Cooper

Y

Interview & Photography by Amina Touray

ou have a bachelor’s degree in Library and Information Science. What is it that intrigues you so much in the world of books? Ha, ha! The world of books! I like how you put that. I am intrigued because books are just that, a world! Just as our world has so many different places, cultures, climates, and traditions, it is the same with books. I can travel to London and learn about the holocaust, through the eyes of a twelve-year-old girl, with a club foot (The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker); I can experience how a young Black girl from the South Side of Chicago becomes the first African American First Lady of the United States of America (Becoming by Michelle Obama); I can feel the chill of winter snow as I read about kids having a snowball fight after a heavy snowfall (Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats); I can even go on an adventure and watch my favorite Disney characters battle their archnemesis (The Land of Stories by Chris Colfer). Books take me to places I wouldn’t otherwise see or experience. But to be perfectly clear, Library and Information Science (LIS) is about so much more than books. The library is the hub of information literacy. Information literacy is about researching, recognizing, and thinking critically about the tough questions people ask. I learned (and teach others) how to seek out, evaluate, and apply information to best answer a question. Oftentimes, one might think, “You’re a librarian! You must know everything!” And that is not the case (giggle). Librarians know how to research and find the answer or get you pretty close to it. My degree also helped me understand that there are different types of people in the community that I serve that have different needs. My absolute favorite book is, Out of my Mind by Sharon Draper. Ms. Draper writes about a girl named Melody who cannot walk or speak but Melody is brilliant and the

Vol 10

Trustworthy Magazine

57


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