Readers can learn a lot of the world through books, but what if those books could talk back?
Not in the audio-book sort of way, but in a full-fledged dialog and conversation?
That’s what the Summit County Library wants to happen when it hosts a Human Library from 11 a.m.-2 p.m., on Saturday, Nov. 4, at the Kimball Junction Branch, 1885 W. Ute Blvd., said Susan “Murph” Murphy, the Coalville Branch manager.
“We are hosting the event at Kimball Junction, simply for space reasons,” she said. “They have a large auditorium there.”
The concept for the Human Library is simple, according to Murphy.
“In a regular public library, readers come in to check out hard- or soft-cover books, but in human libraries, readers come in and check out human books,” she said. “These human books are people, individuals, who have experienced bias, discrimination or prejudice, and often stereotyped, perhaps because of the way they look, what they believe or simply because of who they are.”
The idea is for readers to engage in 20-minute, one-on-one conversations with the ‘book’ in a safe space where they can ask questions and get to know them, Murphy said.
“We’ll have eight to 10 human books at our event, so there will be a lot of choices,” she said. “Human books in other Human Libraries have included Native Americans, people who are blind, Muslims, and, perhaps, a homeless person. And our human books will be similar to these, and we’ll reveal who they are the day of the event.”
The ultimate goal of the Summit County Library’s Human Library is to build empathy and understanding in the community, Murphy said.
“We’ll have a list of suggested questions to get the conversations rolling, but readers should know that the human books have gone through two hours of training to prepare for the program,” she said. “While it will be vulnerable for the human books, they will be open to any type of question that a reader would like to ask.”
The Summit County Library’s Human Library, which is sponsored by Friends of the Summit County Library, is a drop-in event, Murphy said.
“A reader doesn’t have to be there for the entire three hours,” she said. “They can drop in, check out a human book for 20 minutes and then go on with their day. But people can stay the whole three hours and check out multiple books.”
The event is made possible through a partnership The Summit County Library has with the Human Library organization that is based in Denmark, Murphy said.
“It has been around for 23 years, and we’ve been wanting to do the program for years,” she said.
Human Libraries have been held in 87 countries around the world on six different continents, according to Murphy.
“They are also held in museums, at music festivals and conferences,” she said. “Talking with the other librarians in the other Summit County Library branches, we all feel the way to bridge gaps is at a community level and not necessarily at a national level. And if our Human Library goes well, we would love to do it again.”