We’re librarians – we love stories. Elementary librarians tell them to kids all the time. When I was a high school librarian, I often used Patricia Polacco’s picture book Pink and Say to connect students emotionally to the Civil War before beginning a research project on the topic. Ask a group of librarians for their favorite book and you’ll be in for a spirited conversation.

But there is danger in stories, too. The stories we heard told by people of certain beliefs, along with the stories we tell ourselves, can lock us into a rigid way of thinking unless we are exposed to newer ones that reveal what we hadn’t seen. Whether the readers are children or adults, stories can help us understand a world bigger than ourselves, bring out our empathy and broaden our perspective and understanding.

What is it about them? Why do they impact us so deeply?

The answer is emotion. Stories touch the deepest places inside us—for good or ill—and help make us who we are. I frequently remind school librarians that while data is great, it needs emotions to send that information home. A powerful story can break through an idealized belief.

As leaders, the emotions we create and develop in the people we support make a difference in our ability to grow – and protect – our programs. In Scott Van Voorhis post Looking to Leave a Mark? Memorable Leaders Don’t Just Spout Statistics, They Tell Stories he discusses how if you want people to hear and remember your message — tell a story. How does this help? Here’s some data (funny, right?) about story:

• Measuring Memory – A research study conducted by Thomas Graeber (Harvard Business School), Christopher Roth (University of Cologne), and Florian Zimmermann (University of Bonn) revealed differences in how long we retained different types of information on beliefs. They found that a story’s effect faded by about one third within a single day. A statistic faded by 73% in one day. The reason why stories last longer in our memories is that they usually have “distinctive details or context” which help us remember them. Being abstract, statistics and numbers give our memories less to cling to. Van Voorhis says these are also more likely to get jammed by other irrelevant information. So much for your beautiful charts and infographics.
• A Story That People Will Remember – To be effective, a story needs a strong relationship to the data you want to present. If you are trying to get additional funds for books, focus on a subject of interest to your audience. Talk about something outrageous in it. Having the book with you helps. Some examples from my past life as a high school librarian in the late 1980’s: A book that said Harvard was only for males. A book that said the Conquistadores brought civilization to the “natives.” A biology book that didn’t include DNA. All three together created a story that showed students, teachers, and administrators the importance of updating a collection and how our knowledge and presentation of a subject grows and changes.
• Beware Extreme Stories – While I hope none of us will be guilty of this, it is wise to be aware of this caveat which Van Voorhis uses to conclude his post. As he showed, stories by their nature are more easily remembered. We are attracted to them, and because of that conspiracists, among others, use them freely to send their message. They raise stakes, create drama and conflict where there may be none. Too many of you have been at the receiving end of these extreme stories. Hopefully you can change that narrative with empowering and truthful stories.

The bottom line is a good story has more power than any piece of data no matter how artfully that date might be presented. Start telling you stories. Share them widely and encourage others to do so, too. We are natural storytellers. Let’s use this talent to support our leadership and our schools and send our message of why libraries are valuable to everyone.