UCM, LIS 5804 : Introducing myself

I am taking graduate courses in Library and Information Science through the online program at University of Central Missouri. For Spring 2023, I am taking LIS 5804, The Public Library. I made this video to introduce myself to classmates.

My first name is pronounced SIN-thee-uh. 

Among English surnames, my last name, Parkhill, is known as a habitational surname (House of Names, n.d.). This means the name indicated where a person was from: in this case from any of several place-names in the British Isles called Parkhill (one word) or Park Hill (two words). 

Our family traces its lineage to the sole survivor of a shipwreck near Torquay, England, a child too young to talk (Parkhill-Johnson, 1972). His foster father gave him the surname Parkhill, after his country estate, Park Hill Manor.

His grandson, David Parkhill, was born in Ireland, circa 1724 (ibid). David Parkhill came to America with his siblings around 1740 (ibid), and he and his wife Martha Murray comprise the third generation of our family. I am part of the 10th generation in David and Martha Parkhill’s lineage.

I live in Santa Rosa, California with my husband and our cat. I grew up in Calistoga, in the nearby Napa Valley, and my interest in public libraries was developed at an early age. 

One of my earliest library memories is of the public library in downtown Calistoga. I’d stretch out on an enormous bean bag in the children’s room in the library. I read so many books while lounging on that bean bag. I read the Choose Your Own Adventure books, and Thornton Burgess’s books about animal inhabitants of a meadow.

My mother brought me on trips to our local library at least once a week, and I’ve continued my habit of regularly visiting libraries. 

I got my start working in libraries as a volunteer shelver at the public library in Lake County, California. 

My main pursuit in librarianship is library service to young people. I hope to foster a love of reading and create “repeat customers,” lifelong users of the library.

I am especially passionate about diverse library collections.

Speaking as someone who is neurodivergent and queer, I have both personal and professional investments in diverse library collections, and I’ve followed with concern, a record-number of attempts to remove diverse books from libraries, as documented by the American Library Association (2022).

In 2021, the ALA documented “729 attempts to censor library resources” (ibid), targeting 1,597 books. This  “represented the highest number of attempted book bans since ALA began compiling these lists more than 20 years ago.” And as of this past September, the year 2022 was on track to exceed the number of challenges in 2021 (ibid).

These challenges frequently target books for LGBTQAI+ content, and when I advocate other readers’ access to books that speak to their reality and experiences, I’m uplifting my own access to these books as well.

Our ability to read these books is so critically important, to help us understand and explain ourselves and our place in society.

A recent quote by author Alice Oseman really stood out for me, that she didn’t even hear about her orientation until age 18 or 19, when she was at university (Mitchell, 2020). “I saw it mentioned online sometimes, but it took a long time for me to truly understand what it meant, or that it even applied to me.”

Readers need books that speak to their experiences, and uplift their identities. We also need the stories of people unlike ourselves, to help develop our empathy. And allowing children to read stories that feature LGBTQIA+ characters “isn’t about exposing children to details of sexual practices; rather it’s about “understanding, empathy, acceptance, and respecting basic human rights” (Dorr & Deskins, 2018, p. xxii). 

Through building their diverse collections, our libraries meet these vital needs.

I’m looking forward to an informative class this semester at UCM.

References:
American Library Association. (2022, Sept. 16). American Library Association Releases Preliminary Data on 2022 Book Bans: Total book challenges in 2022 set to exceed 2021 record [press release]. ALA News. https://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2022/09/ala-releases-preliminary-data-2022-book-bans

Dorr, C. & Deskins, L. (2018). LGBTQAI+ books for children and teens. ALA Editions.

House of Names. (n.d.) Parkhill history, family crest and coats of arms. https://www.houseofnames.com/parkhill-family-crest

Mitchell, J. (2020, July 13). An Interview with Alice Oseman. Julia’s Bookcase. https://juliasbookcase.com/blog/alice-oseman-interview

Parkhill-Johnson, V. (1972). Genealogy of the descendants of David Parkhill [informally published document].