It started on June 29th in 2000. On a small patch of grass at a local music festival, participants were invited to borrow a person as an open book. More than 50 different people were published, among other a muslem, a journalist, fans of rival football clubs Brøndby and FC Copenhagen, a policeman, a parking officer and Bente, a woman from Freetown Christiania in Copenhagen.

The idea was – and still is – to challenge prejudice, stereotypes and to educate about minorities and people, who differ from what is considered “the norm”. People can borrow a human book from the library and “read” the book. The human book, in return, will tell its story, present its points of view, answer any questions, and share any thoughts.

Bente from Christiania has met many different people through the Human Library over the years. She remembers a class of school children, shortly after the library had its first events:

“Some of the children saw people from Christiania as thieves and addicts, and I realized: ‘Wow, what a difference we could make as books’,” she says. 

Occasionally, Bente is still a book at the Human Library, but the stereotyping of people from Christiania has lessened. She says:

“It is still as important now as ever to challenge prejudice, to demystify and to simple talk to each other to understand others, but maybe now it is more important for other groups to be on the bookshelf.”

Expanding

Since 2000, the Human Library has expanded from presenting small selections of books at local Danish events to publishing a wide range of books all over the world.

Ronni Abergel, the founder and leader of the Human Library, has been part of the journey since day one and seen how the library has grown from a pop up event in schools and colleges. To a global movement embedded in communities and institutions from Bangladesh to Brazil.

“The idea is fairly simple. We arrange for people to meet and talk in a safe and secure environment. That has proven to be a useful and effective method for allowing people to get to know about each other through conversation,” he says.

Educational institutions, companies, NGO’s, and libraries throughout the world, embrace diversity by inviting the library into their programming and large brands are working with the HLO to help develop their employees and their inclusion and diversity work.

“We are fortunate to have some dedicated friends of the library and a wide range of diversity partners that help enable us to build more permanent infrastructure for the library, while we help them create more inclusive workplaces.”

Making a difference for everyone involved

A disabled book with a group of readers in the garden. (c) Elin Tabitha 2020.

And the range of titles has also expanded considerably. The Human Library now includes a variety of topics based on 12 pillars of prejudice, including ethnicity, mental health, disabilities, social status, occupation and religion, so the readers have a real choice when they select their human book.

“All people judge and so we are not here to change your mind or to tell you not to judge. We are here to make information available to you in a safe setting. So you can make your own decisions, but hopefully better informed decisions. Based not on a quick judgement, but after more careful consideration and after meeting someone that knows about it. Gives you a chance to unjudge someone”, explains Ronni Abergel.

Dan has ADHD and AS, which is a type of autism. He has been a book in the library for five years and says:

“The more people, who understand what autism is, and get to understand how to show consideration and be inclusive, the better for me and others like me.”

The Human Library also makes him feel less different.

“People come here to learn from my story, and that is much less likely in a room full of NT-people,” he says.

NT means neurotypical and is the abbreviation used for “people with a normal brain”, and Dan enjoys being with people who are not just NT-people but share the experience of having a different background in some way.

Human Libraries in different parts of the world not only challenges prejudice and stereotypes, it also creates a safe space and extended “family” some say, for the books, who help and support each other, when facing a world that sometimes feels less safe and welcoming.

Inside the Human Library you will find one of the most diverse groups in your community. All bound together by a motivation to help build a greater understanding for people with their background, but as they become “books” and take their place on the bookshelf, many realise that they are in the same boat as many other people from different groups.

A permanent home

Copenhagens Mayor for Culture, Franciska Rosenkilde inagurated the new library and garden.

Now the Human Library has opened its first permanent book depot in Copenhagen. The building and the surrounding reading garden– a place designed especially for the books, librarians, and readers to meet and an opportunity for schools and other groups to visit the library.

The Reading Garden in Copenhagen is open for visitors on select weekdays and weekends. It serves as a permanent space to have a conversation about diversity. The garden was opened with a ceremony on June 26th by the Mayor of Culture Franciska Rosenkilde and with lots of hardcover books, E-books, and international editions published.

The Covid-19 pandemic and ensuing lockdown has forced the library to find new ways to meet readers and continue the conversation: The Facebook Live readings and the virtual Readers Corner events. Are both examples of how readers now can join in larger groups or connect with a book, who cannot be present in person, online instead.

For example, a transgender from the Human Library in London is published live at the “World Library”. A virtual event that ran concurrent with the opening event of the new library in Copenhagen. A family is asking questions and they are moved by the honesty and openness of their book: How the parents reacted when they learned of the desire to change pronouns from she to he, and to change name from a female name to a male name and later changing his sexual orientations.

“The Human Library is an amazing charity, and I have met so many people and made so many friends,” he says.

Unjudgement Day celebrations included the inauguration of the Human Librarys Reading Garden, a virtual world library featuring books from book depots around the globe and a childrens library.

The post Unjudge someone at the Human Library appeared first on The Human Library Organization.

Ben – LA Book Depot Manager

After volunteering as a book for the Human Library last year, Ben started as depot manager in LA in January. That means he only had a few months as depot manager before everything went digital when lockdown was implemented in the US. Fortunately, however, translating the idea of the Human Library into a digital space has been going well and he admits that “during this pandemic, it has been a source of hope for me and a source of connection. It makes me feel positive about the future.” The LA depot will host their first virtual event on Unjudgement Day using Zoom with fifteen different books available to readers.

Ben is passionate about the Human Library and its capacity for change: “This is what the planet needs right now to get past our predispositions for war and violence and get to a place of diplomacy and care towards one another.”

He also emphasizes that the Human Library is relevant to current BLM protests. “The protests point out how important telling the stories and lifting the voices of black people is in this country,” he says. The Human Library can play an important role here: “This project is important because it holds a space in which black people can be heard and share their stories, and where white people can show up and learn and expand their consciousness, allowing someone else’s story to take center-stage.” The LA depot can help, as it has “some great black books, who are great at telling their stories in moving and powerful ways,” Ben explains. Their stories, among the stories of other books, can be heard for the first time during LA’s Unjudgement Day event this weekend.

Katy – UK Coordinator

Katy has been involved with the Human Library for eleven years as a book and three years as organizer and trainer based in the UK. Even though the UK’s Unjudgement Day events have been cancelled due to the pandemic, some UK-based books will be available to read on the international digital Unjudgement Day event.

Katy feels that the value of the Human Library lies in its ability to create opportunities for personal change through one-on-one conversations: “I found that one-to-ones are often more powerful than the one-to-manys, and even though that means that it will take a lot longer to improve the world we live in, if you multiply the one-to-ones happening, it can actually grow very quickly”.

The BLM protests have made her even more aware that the Human Library needs more people of color to be part of the local book depots, Katy thinks. Simultaneously, however, she emphasizes how this also means that the Library should be platforming more police officers. Furthermore, the focus on accessibility counts for all books: “As the Human Library, we should be making sure our events are not white – but also not cis, and not able-bodied. That is the whole point of the Human Library, we never focus on one group. All of our events have to have a minimum of six diversities, preferably eight, out of twelve broad categories that we recognize.”

“We are about creating the opportunity for everyone to improve and create a better world themselves,” she says, “We are not creating the world, we are creating the opportunity. And the opportunity is always a conversation.”

Rafsan – Bangladesh Book Depot Manager

Rafsan got involved with the Human Library in 2017 and played a role in co-founding the Bangladesh depot in the capital Dhaka. They have also published the books at a virtual event recently and with the feedback so far more are in the pipeline: “I think the nice part was that people were able to have a positive or thought-provoking experience in the middle of everything that has been going on. We were under strict lockdown during that time. Therefore, many were getting frustrated staying indoors day after day. Readers were able to have a fresh experience and something to think about in the middle of all this chaos.”

Like Katy, Rafsan values the Human Library for its intimate setting: “The one-on-one intimate conversation method is unique and great for impactfully sharing the message,” he says, adding that “The stories are the heart of Human Library.” While this can also happen digitally, Rafsan does miss the feeling that face-to-face conversation brings.

Currently, he is busy engaging in fundraisers related to the pandemic and helping to distribute protective material to health care workers, as the lockdown has partially lifted but cases are increasing. This is also the reason BLM protests have not taken places as much as in the UK and the US. Furthermore, racism in Bangladesh is different. 98% are ethnically Bengali, and racism comes more in the form of colourism. Still, the global protests have sparked tough conversations about this issue, and he is planning to continue this conversation in the Human Library in Bangladesh.

Need for Unjudgement

While Ben, Katy and Rafsan have been with the Human Library for different amounts of time and work in different parts of the world, their experiences and motivations for continuing their work for the Human Library during these trying times are very similar. It is all about creating opportunities to find common ground and perhaps some mutual understanding – in short: a chance to unjudge each other.

Follow the Human Library on FB to stay updated on events in connection with Unjudgement Day.

The post Unjudgement Day – why it matters, especially now appeared first on The Human Library Organization.

Our Human Library Book of the Month is a series of portraits of our books created with the purpose of offering our readers a chance to understand the diversity and variety within our bookshelves around the world. It also provides unique insights into the motivations and values of being a book and volunteering for our organization.

Two years on the bookshelf has helped our Book of the Month learn as much about himself, as he has about his readers. The journey has not been easy, but it has always been rewarding, says Leonardo Blas Urrutia or Leo as his friends call him. 

He is a young man, full of life, ambition, energy and optimism. A man with a gentle nature and a quiet pleasant presence. He takes time to find his words and you can tell he is very keen to be clear, as one former US president liked to say. Because there has been some misunderstandings for the 22 year old college student from Peru, now living in Californias Bay Area. 

“I joined the Human Library two years ago after I saw an ad on campus for an upcoming event at Foothill College, where I study. The ad made me realise that I had rarely questioned my stance on how other people treated and perceived me. I tried to ignore and normalize experiences like being underlooked for being a community college student, or being called a Mexican despite asserting I’m Peruvian.” 

For Leo the library has been an opportunity to better understand himself and his readers.

“When I learned about the library I felt an impulse I knew I had to follow, and I haven’t stopped. I’ve used the Human Library events as avenues to engage in conversation with myself and my readers, and have scratched the surface of topics I never thought were part of my life. For instance, after opening up during my first event, at Foothill College, I noticed that I had several misconceptions about myself, and that the most rational action I could take was to visit a counselor, which led to a PTSD diagnosis. And during one of my most recent events, hosted by UCLA, telling a Japanese family about my personal struggles while studying led me into counseling again, and an ADHD diagnosis.”

Human Library events take place in high schools, colleges, universities, libraries, community centres but also in work places. One of Leo´s finest moments as an open book happened during a reading for staff from eBay.

“It was my first corporate event and I was published at eBay’s headquarters in San Jose. After opening up to a group of four employees and telling them about the financial and socioeconomic struggles my family faced during our early stages, a lady of african american background empathized and resonated with my story. I saw tears dropping from her eyes as I spoke about the violence and insecurity I faced as a child and how my parents worked hard to pull my family out of that environment. After the reading we approached each other and hugged. It was a very heart-warming experience for me.”

Leo is on loan from the Human Library Bay Area Book Depot and this month among other he will be published online for staff from MASCO Corporation and as part of the collection for Unjudgement Day at the end of June. Helping us mark 20 years of Human Libraries across the world.

More information on Unjudgement Day

Apply to be published as a book in the Human Library.

The post Book of the Month: From Peru to the Bay appeared first on The Human Library Organization.

The Covid-19 crisis has proven a tremendous challenge for very many including the Human Library. We have stopped all activities across the world and spent time adapting to a new reality. Where sitting in groups close together and having couragous conversations about diversity is no longer feasible.

However it is important that the conversations continue and that is why we are now offering the Human Library online at both public and private events.

Unjudgement Day online

At the end of June we celebrate 20 years of human libraries around the world with Unjudgement Day. Our initial plans of hosting events across many continents was foiled and instead we are offering public events with reading opportunities online. Follow our SoMe channels to stay updated on our Unjudgement Day offerings.

Masco first to host online readings

Libraries and universities were not the only Human Library partners having to postpone events. Our corporate diversity partners were also impacted and many are still not able to resume their inclusion and diversity work. However MASCO Corporation have invited us to deliver a series of events online. Staff from across different business units will become the first corporate readers of the Human Library online.

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