The Johnson County Library wants Johnson Countians to “gather at the table” to share different perspectives on tough topics.
Driving the news: The Johnson County Central Resource Library hosted an event Tuesday evening dubbed “Gather At the Table,” billed as an open discussion for community members to share their points of view on current events and challenging subjects.
- This year’s topics of choice included the First Amendment, the impacts of social media and book bans.
Creating the discussion: Ashley Fick, civic engagement librarian with the Johnson County Library, said the “Gather at the Table” event started as a way for community members to practice having difficult discussions.
- For example, she said, the library began with a Thanksgiving-centered discussion about the tense topics that might arise around the Thanksgiving table.
- From there, Fick said it became popular among library goers — which, at the beginning, mostly included teenagers who would stop at the library after school.
- This led to other themed discussions around topics like climate change, marijuana legalization, school shootings and the #MeToo movement.
Coming to the table: Each year, library staff said the conversation is built around the current events and trending topics that might be on people’s minds.
- Fick said hearing different perspectives can help us humanize each other, particularly in a time when people might grow more polarized from each other.
In their own words: “Studies have shown that even just sitting down and talking to somebody who has a different view, even if you don’t necessarily change your viewpoint, you have a more nuanced and better understanding of their viewpoint and it sort of humanizes them,” she said. “I hope that they have a good conversation and hope that they maybe think about some of these issues a little bit more deeply than they previously had.”
When’s the next “Gather At the Table” conversation?
The library is currently in the process of planning another “Gather at the Table” event for this spring.
- After that, library officials say they may try to ramp up to doing it every month or every other month.
