[In this video, six people are having a conversation. The people’s names are Chelsea Jordan-Makely, Charissa Brammer, Amy Bahlenhorst, Sara Wicen, Carol Peeples, and Renee Barnes.]

Chelsea Jordan-Makely: How would each of you describe your interviewing style.

Charissa Brammer: I don’t know why I’m kicking off each time, but that’s a thing that I do. Apparently, I try to make connection with people by making little jokes and so, you know, I just did a lot of like trying to connect with people and, you know, human to human interaction. But then I was the one that listened to all of the transcripts before we destroyed, or to all of the interviews before we destroyed them to make the transcripts, and so I had to listen to all of my little jokes for months, repeated back to me, which was an experience [laughter]. But yeah, it was very much just the same as you would with any kind of interview. You’re just trying to get that human to human connection, and my strategy is little jokes.

Carol Peeples: My strategy is, Charissa, is like a trust like, rapport…I’ve worked on a reentry guide that a lot of people knew about and I think I would bring that up most the time in my introduction to what I had done, just to let them know, “Hey, I’m here to listen to you and learn from you.” So yeah, and I try to be pretty informal. I probably came across in the recorded the transcripts and the recording.

Sara Wicen: I think it was really important to make space for showing understanding and empathy throughout the conversations and playing that role as the facilitator, as well as like I would try to stay pretty neutral though and make sure I’m not leading anyone to certain responses being better than others because we really, yeah, we really wanted to hear from people with all different perceptions of the library and we did and I think that was great. So just yeah, maintaining some level of neutral persona to the responses, but also being there to listen and making sure that that was clear and everything from what you were saying back in response to the responses and body language and just yeah, giving them the time and space they needed to share what they would like.

Amy Bahlenhorst: I think I was kind of halfway in between Sara and Charissa. Like what I thought were super funny jokes that maybe weren’t so funny, and then also trying to stay on topic and be neutral. It’s a hard, hard balance, but I think that one thing I realized I was doing was trying to make the environment that we were in as welcoming as possible and as comfortable as possible. So that looks like greeting somebody as they walk in the room, making sure plates are set out, offering food to people having casual conversations before a focus group began…just trying to kind of set the scene of a welcoming, trusting, comfortable environment.

Chelsea Jordan-Makely: I think from my perspective that comes through because in a number of these interviews, we hear people talking about how much they have appreciated this experience and feeling heard and having this opportunity to be with you. So that’s an outcome we weren’t looking to study that is unintended but nice to see.