Vanilla: Hello! I’m Vanilla and I don’t think we’ve formally met.  

Jamal: Hi. Well, my name is Jamal Park. I work as a library associate for adults. I also work at Main, but we've never crossed paths.  

V: Do you ever come into children's? Or I should say, when we were open, did you ever come into children's? 

J: I have! I've seen all of your city structures and watched you guys do a video for the Fresh Grass. [Jamal attended the Homeschool Friends movie premiere and got a movie poster] That picture is still up in place. It's a beautiful, fond memory.  

V: Unfortunately, I was not at that movie premiere. I was not invited, but I did get to see the movie. It was a pretty good movie!  

J: Some of those kids are hilarious. So good! 

V: So you've been into the children’s department and you've seen the beautiful stuff. Have you seen any of the super cool displays? Like, we did a bear display at one point that was pretty cool. 

J: I don't actually get to see too many of your displays. I get kicked out pretty quick. But I do get to see some of your displays down in the main display lobby, and those are always too much because it makes adults look bad. Like we're not trying as hard as we could be. 

V: Well, friendly competition is not bad. And children's, we just have our own expectations that maybe adults should try to meet.  

J: Yeah. When we lost Nina, we lost a lot. She was doing all the really cool ones.  

V: We miss you, Nina!  

J: Come back to adult! Yeah, but I love seeing the lobby displays because children’s displays make me put in more effort to express my ideas. 

V: Well, Children’s doesn't want to put any pressure on adult, but it is nice that we are upping the ante a little bit.  

[Both laugh] 

V: So along those lines, do you do any programming? I hear adults do very different programming from children's. 

J: I feel like we do. There's less whimsy over in adults, sadly, but it's kind of our goal to bring whimsy back to adults.  

V: Is that true?  

J: Yeah, well, that's a personal goal of mine. As I am working in branches, I realize that all people love whimsy. Everyone I work with is an adult, and they all love the coolest things. 

[Vanilla laughs] 

J: So I've witnessed a lot of really cool programming. Like, there's a vinyl listening party crew. There's someone who does book clubs that are just focused on musicians. They're people who do open mic nights where they have people come in and showcase their musical talents.  

V: I saw that on Instagram!  

J: There are videos floating around. Ashley Armstrong runs it for the Green Hill’s location. So, I feel like a big push that motivates me when I see all of these kinds of programming in the community that I would never have thought possible. There's a very big difference between branch life and Main life. 

V: That is wild! I never would have thought that 

[Both laugh] 

V: So being at the branches. What branches have you been at where you've seen all these amazing programs? 

J: So here, Southeast.  

V: Yes, we are doing the interview at Southeast.  

J: Green Hills. I'm doing a partnership program at Edge Hill. I've been to a few of them, but, like, those are the ones that I've got to stay at for several days or weeks. So, Ive got the chance to partake in or witness a lot of their really cool programming.  

V: Still pretty good. That's more than me! I’ve been blessed to be at Donelson the majority of the closure. Which Donaldson is really nice, but while I've been there, I have noticed a difference in adult and children programming. Not in a bad way! But like Donelson really focuses on story times for children and then for adults they do a lot of self-betterment. Like, they have a yoga class, they have tai chi. They have a lot of things you would probably see on people's New Year's resolutions, and it's just so different from the stuff I've even seen at Main.  

J: Wow! They do a lot! 

V: So, I guess the kids are moving and the adults are moving.  

J: It's so sick. I see people doing cool programming at branches and I'm like, are we a part of the same organization? Because how was I unaware that we were doing something like this? 

[Both laugh] 

J: So, it makes it really cool to visit places. I've been, like, ‘stealing’ ideas. 

V: I’ve been doing the same thing! Take a picture. Stealing that, bringing that to Main.  

J: Yeah, so there's been a lot of really good opportunities to learn from the branches. Like, being at these other locations has given us a lot of creativity, a lot of new ideas for programs. 

V: What's a really cool thing you saw that you would like to take back to Main?  

J: So, two things. One, I saw when I was at Edge Hill the other day. Like I said, they have a vinyl listening party and we have a vinyl collection. That's already a dope idea I like. Hey, I've got some light snacks and Capri suns come in and we're going to listen through the entire Sleep Token album on vinyl. Like, no doubt we can do that. Green Hills has a thing where they meet once a month and they just talk about what's in the news. And they've got a moderator that says, here are all the things that we are talking about. And then all the people that show up to it, they get an email saying, these are the topics we're going to be talking about that are in the news. Be respectful. Let's break this down. What are your takeaways? What have you seen? I was like, that sounds amazing. 

V: Why couldn't we do that? Is that like a discussion, or is it like a debate? 

J: More of a discussion. I feel like probably debates can show up at it where you're like, oh, I really believe in this, and you believe in that. So why can't we do that and do a program about it being like, here are the 10 articles we're going to be talking about. Let's go. 

V: That's true. I think that's something that our patrons at Main could do.  

J: I think that's something that anybody could do. 

V: Maybe not children. I don't know any kids that read or watch the news. But I do think that would be really cool to see at Main, for adults. 

[Both laugh] 

V: Now Jamal, I hear you have a blog. 

J: I write for the blog.  

V: Do you write about bears?  

J: I have not written about bears yet. 

V: Wow. But you can.  

J: I do have to write one about anime. Surely there's a bear in an anime, right?  

V: I know one! 

J: You do? 

V: I did some research on you before this interview. I know that you run an anime club. I'm aware of a bear anime. But let's see if you are. 

[Jamal laughs] 

V: Do you have any recommendations for a young polar bear looking to get into anime?  

J: That's such a broad question. But, like, I know you're looking for representation. I know that you have to wait, like, a thousand episodes for a bear to show up in One Piece, but there is a bear in One Piece. But I would never throw that at you. That's a lot to get through.  

V: That’s true, but I have already seen One Piece! 

J: Love to see it! But besides One Piece, okay. You know, we're just meeting for the first time.  

V: I'm aware of you. You're not aware of me. Let’s do this. What anime or manga would you recommend just based off vibes? 

J: Just based off vibes? 

V: Yeah. There's no wrong answer.  

J: Okay! Let’s try and do just the things that are in our collection to help narrow it down. If they're not in our collection, have you heard of the internal library loans?  

V: Library loans? 

J: You can check out almost anything through ILL. But let’s recommend The Faraway Paladin. Amazing. Probably the best story about how to be a Paladin. It's so good.  

V: That sounds good! 

J: Blue Flag. Blue Flag is also pretty brilliant. 

V: Is that a BL?  

J: You are a knowledgeable young bear! You know that one? 

V: I read that one! Halfway through, and I was like, wait a second.  

J: Someone's cooked here. Yes. Blue Flag. I don't need to tell you about it. You were aware of it. 

V: If I see good representation, I’m gonna read it. We love LGBT representation! 

J: Love some representation! 

V: The one I was thinking of was Polar Bear's Cafe. It's about a polar bear that owns and runs a cafe. And it's very cute, very slice of life.  

J: That is a really good recommendation. I'm going to have to look it up.  

V: Yes, you should! Especially if you're going to write a blog about bears. 

[Jamal laughs] 

V: It's very cute. There's a penguin in it too! Another good series that features a polar bear as the main character is Polar Bear in Love. It's about a polar bear that falls in love with not a polar bear. It's very controversial, but love is love.  

J: There is that one that Danielle [Geiger] loves about the panda. A panda is a type of bear.  

Both: Mr. Villain’s Day Off! 

J: That one's so good! 

V: So we've been talking about how you’ve been looking at other programs at other locations. Has this made you want to switch departments? Like, do you think you'll stay an adult forever? Are you open to working with teens or children?  

J: I'm, like, open because my last library position I worked at was the Rutherford County Library System, which is struggling. But that was a place where we talked to everybody. Like, you talk to kids, you talk to the whole thing. I'm definitely open to it because again, the library is for everybody, and there's lots of cool ideas and things you can do under the right kind of leadership and environment kind of thing. Yeah, I would absolutely love to work with children and teens, not just adults.  

V: I'm going to say that was a really nice, almost beauty pageant answer. 

[Both laugh] 

J: So, I'm going to summarize. Maybe. Anything is possible.  

V: I love that. Yeah. Speaking of, I really only work with kids, and they're cool. Babies are cool. They try to grab me a lot. Some of the babies kiss me. And that's cool. I would be open to working in another department. Maybe.  

J: I think teens would respond well to a young polar bear. 

V: Don't work with a lot of adults.  

J: I don't know, maybe they would.  

V: There's only one real way to see, though.  

J: Yeah, you got to come into it. Like to try it. You keep showing up consistently and they'll come the right people. 

V: There's got to be polar bear enthusiasts out there. That are adults.  

J: Someone's going to walk through that door and see you being like I'm exactly where I need to be.  

V: Which kind of leads me into my next. I wouldn't say it's a question. More of, like, I guess, a prompt. My mom, [Haylee Blystone] she tells me that you guys are working on a potential collaboration between children and adults. Do you want to talk any about that? 

J: Absolutely! Yeah, a movie collaboration. There’s plenty of films that are allowed to be played in public settings like a library, and we want to start showcasing those to everyone. There's the anime overlap of that or it could be Ghibli films, ideally something that's not going to make you cry.  

V: Releasing emotions is very good. We teach the babies that all the time. 

J: You know what? I'm learning things from you, young bear, all the time. A young bear in the world of Nashville. 

[Vanilla laughs] 

J: I think there should be more collaboration between the adult and children's department. 

V: There's a big opportunity to do more family-oriented stuff and what are families made up of, if not kids and adults.  

J: Right.  

V: So, a cool family movie thing would be nice. I'm sure people love would love a good reason to come downtown, or wherever this program will happen, for a free movie night. 

J: Especially, we get a lot of things that are just got out of theaters we can still show. So a free thing that you can do with your family, because I have a coworker who's always saying that you don't have to focus just on adults, because a lot of adults have kids, whether they be their kids, whether it be nieces or nephews. Younger siblings. And when I'm promoting an event like this event that I'm doing later, it’ s for teens. I'm not a teen. I don't work with teens all the time, but I'm still putting up those flyers in places where you may not see a lot of teens, but they have families. They have the older brothers and sisters, parents, grandparents. I saw this thing about anime. I knew Lil Tommy likes anime. I could tell him about it. 

V: Yeah! A lot of adults want to relate to their children. A lot of adults want to learn and be up to date on all these things that kids like. So, it's an opportunity for these different generations to coexist in the same space and maybe we should do more of that. So let me know when you're going to do that. I'll show up! 

[Jamal laughs] 

V: My mom will have to bring me, but that'll be fine. 

J: She'll be there anyway.  

[Both laugh] 

V: My next question. Do you have any other future projects that you're looking forward to? Anything you want to tell the people at home to look forward to? 

J: I'm going to be going to Hermitage soon, so I'm very excited to hear what kind of programming they do there and what kind of things that kind of strike me with that particular base. Because it sounds client based.  

V: Patron based.  

J: To my knowledge, they have a large group of some individuals who come in and pretty much will run their own programming. And be like, hey, yeah, we really like this thing. We'll just set up a space and you can kind of do that. And I was like, wow. Because, again, the material conditions of every location can be a little bit different. So I'm excited to see what that environment is like.  

V: That's how Donelson is. For the fitness program, there's a fitness lady that comes in and teaches the class. So, the adult associate and librarian make sure the room is ready. They have the supplies they need, but they're not the ones leading the fitness class. 

J: I think that Crystal [Deane] does that for some of the music programs or, like, the bigger programs. I think we're paying money for these people to come in.  

V: I'm pretty sure they pay the fitness lady. I don't think she's doing all that for free. It is a workout. They are sweating.  

[Both laugh] 

V: Well, I think we've covered pretty much everything I wanted to ask you, except for one really, really important question. 

[Jamal waits in anticipation] 

V: What is your favorite bear?  

J: My favorite bear? 

V: There is a right answer for this one.  

J: Polar bear.  

V: There it is! No hesitation. He didn't need any prompting or anything. 

[Jamal laughs] 

V: Well, thank you so much for taking the time to answer all of my questions. 

J: Absolutely!  

V: It's been really nice to get to know you.  

J: Thank you. It's always good to see a young bear on the ground.  

V: Do you have any last things to say to the people?  

J: Books are only half the story.