September 2024 | Volume XLII, Issue 3 »

Public Libraries and “The Human Library®”

September 3, 2024
Lynette Bromiel, Naperville Public Library

Anoticeable trend has seen libraries branching out to provide access to “non-traditional” items and services. While often physical, this movement also includes providing opportunities for meaningful conversation. The Human Library is a platform for such interactions. The official website for The Human Library states: The Human Library® is, in the true sense of the word, a library of people. We host events where readers can borrow human beings serving as open books and have conversations they would not normally have access to. Every human book from our bookshelf represents a group in our society that is often subjected to prejudice, stigmatization or discrimination because of their lifestyle, diagnosis, belief, disability, social status, ethnic origin, etc. (The Human Library Organization, 2022a). Allowing conversations to grow organically between the human books and their readers is a way to grow understanding, respect, or in the organization’s words, an opportunity to “un-judge someone.”

The Human Library (Menneskebiblioteket in Danish) was originally developed in 2000 by a team of 4 creators for the Roskidle Festival in Copenhagen, Denmark; currently, the trademarked concept of “The Human Library Organization’’ exists in more than 85 countries (The Human Library Organization, 2022b). While their website mentions “libraries, schools, high schools, and festivals’’ as potential host sites, this article focuses on events held at public libraries in the state of Illinois. Three libraries who have hosted such events over the course of the past year include Glen Ellyn Public Library, Naperville Public Library, and Prospect Heights Public Library District. All three libraries mention patron and staff interest, including specific requests for such events, as the number one reason for choosing to host The Human Library at their locations.

Geneace Williams, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Manager for the City of Naperville, feels that partnering with Naperville Public Library (NPL) and the Naper Pride nonprofit organization to host an event supports the piece of the city’s mission that seeks to find opportunities for “creating an inclusive community that values diversity.” As Williams states, “It gave human books an opportunity to share their stories and readers an opportunity to hear stories from persons with different life experiences.” Anjelica Rufus-Barnes, an Adult Services Reference Librarian at the Prospect Heights Public Library District (PHPLD), says, “For the third year of the DEI Committee, we wanted to focus on easing patrons to the concept of cultural humility.” Rufus-Barnes views hosting The Human Library as a way to allow patrons an opportunity to “look beyond prejudices and stereotypes.”

A key element for such an event is the careful selection of books. J9 Vaughn (spelling preference their own), Adult Programming Librarian at Glen Ellyn Public Library (GEPL), says of the selection process, “We contacted individuals and organizations we work with who are part of different marginalized groups. Then we sent out a call to the Glen Ellyn community through our social media and newsletter.” Karen Luster, Adult and Teen Services Supervisor at the Nichols location of NPL, also references the focus on marginalized groups; she states, “The organizers reviewed the Human Library’s 15 Pillars of Prejudice and prioritized the topics we wanted to have at the event. We then invited friends and acquaintances to participate. I also reached out to the Glen Ellyn Public Library, who had hosted a Human Library event, and they sent event information to the books who participated in their event. We secured one book that way.” Prospect Heights Public Library District had an online application available on their organization’s website, which is how most of the books registered. Of the recruiting process, Rufus-Barnes says, “Our first book was a faculty member from Morton College, who J9 originally connected me with.” Their library also utilized many community groups and organizations; books were found through community flyers, requests through RAILS listservs, through a request from The Human Library Organization, and finally from a Connecting Our Community Networking Group meeting, at which Rufus-Barnes promoted the event.

To allow potential readers insight into the life experiences of a book, each book is asked to submit an original title and topic. At GEPL, the eight participating books wrote blurbs for themselves as well. Vaughn provided samples of these, such as for the human book self-titled Living the Dream (centered around the theme of Affordable Housing), whose blurb states: I was never aware of how difficult it could be for people to find affordable housing. Two years ago, however, I found myself in quite the precarious situation. I was lucky to have been able to have Section 8 for a time, but very few landlords in Glen Ellyn were even aware of what the voucher was, or were not willing to find out about it, let alone accept it. The landlords who did accept it owned properties [that] left a lot to be desired. When I got a promotion at work, I made too much money. Some people were not too fond of affordable housing in the area.

Topics such as home insecurity are potentially sensitive for books and readers alike, and for this reason, organizers of these events are required to undergo training. Of the extensive information and training provided by The Human Library, NPL’s Luster says, “Once approved [as an event host], organizers and books must attend their own unique training sessions. These trainings explain the methodology, prepare books/librarians for possible hiccups, and offer opportunities to do practice readings with other books.” Rufus-Barnes also appreciated the extensive training offered by The Human Library Organization. Books were required to complete a virtual training administered by The Human Library, which was a two-hour, self-paced, virtual training. Staff members who were volunteering at the event also attended training sessions; at PHPLD, this included members of the library’s DEI Training, Assessment, and Programming (TAP) Subcommittee. Rufus-Barnes says, “[Members] of the TAP Subcommittee attended an orientation for publishing partners and did a short, self-paced training module from the Human Library Organization. The Organization also provided opportunities for us to participate as readers during their monthly virtual Human Library events. I went to 3 of them, and they were awesome!”

After so much preparation and training, advertising these events to community members is essential. GEPL advertised in the following print and virtual promotional pieces: social media, a weekly newsletter email, the library’s circular online and in print, and on their website. In addition to this, librarians engaged in verbal promotion as well by highlighting the event at related library programs. Of PHPLD’s multi-month publicity plan, Rufus-Barnes says, “I spent a great deal of March and April [for the May event] submitting requests to the PHPLD Communications department about flyers, banners, social media posts, and newsletter blurbs. They worked diligently and did an excellent job. After receiving the survey results from the books, I contacted our summer reading t-shirt vendor to make Human Librarian and Human Book shirts for the event. TAP Subcommittee members also worked on swag bags for the books and planned the books’ dinner.” Naperville’s Geneace Williams says, “The event was advertised through a press release, the city website, the library website, social media posts, flyers, and word of mouth.” In addition, the city of Naperville did a follow-up promotional piece through the local television station NCTV-17 to explain the event, and resulting feedback, to the larger community.

Feedback from community members for all three library events has been overwhelmingly positive. Vaughn feels feedback from patrons who attended the GELP’s event was very positive. They say, “The patrons who did show up found it to be very powerful and they each said they learned something.” Williams said of the city of Naperville, Naper Pride, and NPL’s joint venture, “The community response to the event was excellent, especially since this was the first time the Human Library was conducted as a community-wide event in Naperville. We had over 50 attendees and 115 reads.” Such numbers indicate that multiple readers chose to read more than one book, which was an outcome seen at PHPLD as well. Rufus-Barnes says, “Several of the attendees read other books for a total of 38 readings. They appreciated the books’ openness to tell their stories and enjoyed learning about people that they may not normally be in contact with.” All three locations have since received multiple requests from their patron base to hold future events.

All three libraries are planning to host an event again in the future, and have learned key take-aways which will help in future planning. Vaughn mentions, “There were so many facets to the planning. The time I anticipated was tripled. The biggest thing to keep in mind is that the Human Library has many requirements on how things are run and marketed.” In the future, Vaughn would like to collaborate with a high school or college group; they say, “[These events have] such a clear educational side to it, I wish we had tapped into that.” Rufus-Barnes says, “We plan to have another Human Library Spring 2025. Planning is a lot of work but it’s worth it to see members of the community learn from each other’s differences.”

WORKS CITED

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