Page 23 - Luce 2020

S enior C o mmon Ro om

I was unsuccessful in the role I In Semester
initially applied for, but I had a really Reading for Life 2, Deputy
amazing interview. As the interview Principal
went so well, and my values really One of the single, dog-eared books Margie
aligned with the Gallery, I was offered in my personal library collection Welsford, an
instead the role of Gallery Technician. is Steve Leveen’s, The Little Guide avid reader,
This primarily involved installation, to Your Well-Read Life: How to get recommended
allowing the vision of an exhibition to more books in your life, and more Maggie
come together practically. life from your books (Levenger Press, O’Farrell’s
2005). There is a quote by Gustave Hamnet,
I have recently been offered and Flaubert in the introductory material: the fictional
accepted the role of Gallery Officer. ‘Read in order to Live.’ And from the account of Shakespeare’s son who
This is a wonderful progression for outset, Leveen contends that finding dies of the plague in the sixteenth
me, as I love the more managerial and the time to read results in living a century. This beautifully written novel,
curatorial aspects of being a Gallery ‘larger life’ – a life connected to ‘the largely about loss and grief, won the
Officer, such as visitor experience, world, yourself, and your untapped prestigious Women’s Prize for Fiction
administration, and exhibition design. I capabilities’. just as we were reading it!
love that the Gallery is run by the Rural
City of Wangaratta council, as it is very Having served as an academic It bears mentioning that, in spite of our
community minded and accessible. It librarian for many years, I have best efforts to encourage students to
has definitely clarified my Community noticed anecdotally (though there participate in these communal reading
Arts career direction; working for art would certainly be substantive data events – each of which culminated in
spaces within councils, to ensure that to support what I have witnessed) that a virtual book club discussion – the
projects are really connected with undergraduates and grad students first comprised mostly JCH staff and
residents and are available for all. read fewer books nowadays than in tutors, and the second, JCH staff and
the past; even when it comes to the alumnae. Ideally, I would love to see
Whilst I love working in regional internet, they do not want to read an exchange of ideas between JCH
areas, I am very excited to be able more than three-to-four web pages students and alumni, as well as staff,
to work with No Vacancy Gallery in deep. Their level of engagement with who are reading some of the same
the Melbourne CBD for my internship the written word is more tenuous; and books and conversing broadly about
subject. This will allow me to develop the written word that once captured them, learning from one another, so
curatorially, as well as honing my arts the imagination through storytelling, that we may all live our best lives.
and cultural management skills learnt for example, appears diminished.
across the course of my degree. It’s Interestingly, this comes at a time Stay tuned as the library sponsors
great to have the opportunities to work when there is more published material several events during 2021 with JCH
in so many different spaces. available now than ever before. Writer-in-Residence, Alice Pung. The
first event is intended to be a student-
Do you have any advice for students With these ideas in mind and serving led interview with Ms Pung about
in terms of career aspirations and as JCH’s new librarian (working her writerly life; the second event will
planning? primarily from home during the 2020 focus on a new novel by Ms Pung that
academic year due to COVID-19), I will debut later in the year.
Planning is definitely a great thing to determined to provide JCH students
do, however, I do feel strongly that with particular opportunities to Cindy Derrenbacker
sometimes we can get a little bit too read, especially for pleasure, as College Librarian
caught up in it. I’m very guilty of this! they navigated the challenges of the
There is a real pressure that so many pandemic and the lengthy Melbourne
of us put on ourselves to ‘get things lockdown. And while my hope is
done’ within a certain timeframe. For to foster a community of readers at
example, thinking ‘I need to do this JCH, if possible, I would love for the
undergraduate degree within three community to read communally, i.e. to
years and then my master’s within two, share ideas, to break down common
then I can get a job by the time I’m stereotypes and to increase in
24...’ but that mindset closes us off to understanding, and to be challenged
so many different options. Sometimes together in our thinking. To that end,
it just takes a little bit of extra time to I organised two ‘One School, One
get where we need to be, and that’s Book’ community reading events.
completely okay!
In Semester 1, the library promoted
Tara Westover’s internationally
acclaimed memoir, Educated. This
extraordinary book highlights the
transformative nature of education in
one woman’s experience and inspires
life-long learning against all odds.

J anet Clarke Hall 23