Nostalgia is gaining popularity at the moment as people seek a sense of longing for a past period, place, or experience.
It may be in the music that you listen to, e.g., a preference for pop songs from the 1980s and 1990s.
It may be in having a meal at a place that holds good memories, e.g., the revival of Pizza Hut dine-in stores in the United States, decked out in 1980s decor, or a hotel chain seeking to revive Sizzler Restaurants here in Sydney.
It may be reading a book published during a particular period.
It may be rereading a childhood book favourite of yours, e.g. Harry Potter or The Hunger Games.
For those who love their history, like me, it may be books containing photos of Sydney from decades past, such as Retro Sydney or Australia Remember When? series.
How can we support it in our school libraries? It got me thinking.
My colleague has for many years supported classic novels and has given its own permanent book display. We have permanent display shelves to promote the classics. Not only do they challenge readers, but they also allow one to truly appreciate literary works over time and the period in which they were written.
If you want to pick a specific time period, e.g. 1980s - Do a display promoting literary works of the 1980s and/or current novels set in that decade. You might be surprised by how many current novels were set in the recent past. Family of Liars (E. Lockart) was set in 1987.
I'd also recommend that libraries purchase books such as Retro Sydney or Australia Remember When? . They are good for students to understand what Australian Society was like and how it has evolved over time. Interestingly, some books are spin-offs of social media pages tracing history. The Australia Remember When? series is inspired by the Facebook Group of the same name.
And finally, my website - Fab Sydney Flashbacks has its place in nostalgia as well. It's a resource in itself with newspaper clippings of how Sydney has evolved since the end of World War II. It focuses on Urban Development, but each week I post an old real estate advertisement that was published in newspapers, giving an insight into how affordable housing was in the past (even if it didn't feel like it because in the old days, it was much harder to get a bank loan and for those who lived in the 1980s, Interest Rates of 17%).
I even run a Remember This? series twice a year, focusing on old retail advertisements, advertisements for television and radio shows and stations or even events of interest.
Students doing studies of the urban setting in Sydney for Geography will enjoy learning our recent past, and those with a love for history can enjoy what life was like a generation or two, or even three generations ago.
