With the succesfull launch of the new book collection at Heineken UKs headquarters in Edinburgh on Tuesday October 1st and the public event hosted two days later at Edinburgh Business School, the city joins a growing list of communities across the world, that host a Human Library Book Depot.

A collection of people

The Human Library book depot is a group of volunteers that are available to be published as open books on topics that can help us better understand our diversity. The Human Library is a safe space for conversations, where difficult questions are answered by people with personal experience that volunteered to share their knowledge.

Heineken a diversity partner of the library

One of the new books from Edinburgh in talks with a reader at Edinburgh Business School.

The new book depot, a first for Scotland, has been made possible with support from our Diversity Partner, Heineken UK.

Jane Brydon, HR Director, HEINEKEN UK says of the project: “It’s been fantastic partnering with The Human Library over the last three years. This is really at the forefront of inclusion and diversity and it’s great to be able to help engage more people from the local community and our employees in the programme.

“Our main goal for investing in The Human Library is to support the Scottish community, as well as encouraging our employees to establish a culture of inclusion – Something we believe is key to happiness in life and business. We want to continue to create an inclusive environment that nurtures creativity and innovation, values differences and allows employees to be their whole authentic self at work.”

A community book collection

The book depot was officially launched on October 1st, at Heineken UKs offices in Edinburgh, hosting an event for HR professionals from the Scottish Leaders Forum. The response was overwhelmingly positive and invitations to engage with more local partners are already incoming. The next public event is scheduled for November 21st at Edinburghs Central Library.

Once the bookshelf is stocked with a diversity of topics, it is expected that the book depot will be able to host 12 to 24 Human Library events annually. Human Libraries take place in schools, colleges, universities, libraries, festivals, conferences and at work places.

More details about the next event is available here and you can follow the development in the book depot here. If you are a potential book please consider applying to be published using the online application form available here.

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Tomorrow marks a historic day for the Human Library in the UK and especially for our readers in Scotland. It is the day where our new book depot in Edinburgh start its operations and journey toward sustainability. Soon readers will be able to take advantage.

Two years with support from Heineken UK

The new book depot is part of a two year project to build a sustainable book depot, that will enable us to serve our readers and partners in the city. The new book depot has been made possible only with support from our first and largest diversity partner in the UK, Heineken.

Human Libraries available in Edinburgh

For the members of the community in Edinburgh this means that soon we will be able to accommodate invitations to publish our books and to meet the demand from our readers. Typically we host our events in schools, libraries, universities, festivals and work places. It is always free to readers.

Books and librarians needed for the bookshelf

You can have no library without a proper book collection so readers can dive in. Soon we shall start advertising for new books to join our book depot and for other volunteers to join us as librarians. And so the recruiting and training of new books and librarians is underway. We expect to be able to offer our readers access to the first events in the fall of 2019. A book depot with critical mass can typically host 24-30 events annually (Copenhagen carried by 140 members).

Want to get involved?

From now on and onward, we will always need more great books to fill up our bookshelf. To help us answer questions from our readers. If you are able to speak openly about a stigmatizing topic and through your experiences help us challenge the prejudices and stereotypes, then please think about signing up to be published or to become part of the librarian team that does.

How demanding is it to be a volunteer in the Human Library?

If you volunteer with the Human Library, it is because you are able to donate at least 4-6 hours of your time a month. To come out and be published at least once a month. Sure if you miss one month that is fine, but this is what to expect. Before you can be published we must verify your content and provide you with training to become a book.

More information on how to join the Human Library can be found here:

How to become a volunteer book

To reach out directly to our book depot manager in Edinburgh, click here

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Human Library in partnership with Heineken® UK

The Human Library has entered into an exciting new partnership with Heineken®. A partnership that involves becoming part of the Heineken® Open Your World campaign in the United Kingdom and staging a series of Human Library events offering opportunities for finding common ground through dialogue.

Shared values

For more than 150 years Heineken® has stood for openness, believing that the simple act of sitting down and having a conversation over a beer, helps bring people together. Now Heineken® is putting it to the test with a new campaign and partnership which aims to explore if the benefit of finding common ground with one another, can ultimately lead people to be more open. The Human Library share values with Heineken® and appreciate the opportunity to reach millions of potential new readers of the Human Library.

Historic partnership

Cindy Tervoort, Head of Marketing, Heineken® says: “Open Your World is the first-time Heineken® has launched a campaign of this nature in the UK. Joining forces with The Human Library is a way for us to inspire more people to focus on the things that unite us rather than divide us. We don’t all support the same football team, listen to the same music or share the same taste in clothes. We know we’re never going to agree on everything. But that’s the point. Whether it’s 1950, 2017 or 2027, being open lets us get more out of life. It makes the world a more interesting place. And it makes every story worth listening to.”

More events in the UK

The partnership will include Human Library events around the United Kingdom and a flagship event at Wilderness Festival 2017. Readers are encouraged to take advantage and come down and meet one of our many bestsellers.

Worlds Apart film

The campaign launched on Thursday 20th April and sets out to prove that when you see past the labels, even the most divided groups can come together to find common ground.

Watch the campaign film “Worlds Apart” here and join the social experiment.

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