The concept of the Book Bus was introduced last year, as the pandemic eased its grasp on the everyday life of the Danes. 

The aim of the tour is to reach areas of Denmark, where we have not yet had the opportunity to offer axcess to our Bookshelf. Inclusion is also about being inclusive to our Readers, and to ensure that the Human Library is not a phenomenon exclusively available in the large cities. 

From festival to festival

This year’s Summer Tour launched at Northside Festival, and we are fortunate to have been invited to publish our Books at quite a few festivals. This means that visitors at “Tinderbox”, “Grobund Building Festival”, and “Musik i Lejet” will get the opportunity to borrow our Books. And as always, The Human Library is free for all. 

The festival scene is a special meeting place for Books and Readers. A place where many people get together and are eager to discover new things. The ambiance of joy, coexistence and relaxation creates an accommodating environment for Readers and Books to come together and engage in dialogue about our diversity. Creating a framework, where you can safely experience and explore your own unconscious bias. 

Community events

Besides the “festival” stops the book bus will also visit a range of smaller towns and publish books at pop up events. One of the stops will be at the beach in Kerteminde. A town where many Danes like to visit during the holiday. 

The Tour will include books from our local book depots in Aarhus, Esbjerg, Odense and Copenhagen. Offering an opportunity for books and librarians from across the country to connect.

For more information on the Human Library Summer Tour and other Human Library sessions:
Human Library Events Page

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Daniel Lee, 30, from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia works with leadership management in sports. He is also currently training to become a wheelchair racer and he serves as an Open Book with the Human Library. His topic within the library is Wheelchair User and he is helping provide his Readers with the perspective of a man, who sees his wheelchair as anything but a limitation.

Stopped walking at 3 years old

Daniel suffers from Osteogenesis Imperfecta which means that his bones break very easily. Children fall, but for Daniel falling meant breaking a bone every single time. Because of the condition, Daniel stopped walking at 3 years old and his mother had to carry him around, as the family couldn’t afford a wheelchair at the time. 

As Daniel couldn’t run around and play like the other children, he felt like he wasn’t a part of his local community. He had to rely on his mother to carry him around, which limited his possibilities for socializing with the other children in the neighborhood. 

Wheelchair brought independence 

By the age of 10, Daniel finally received his wheelchair. From not being able to move on his own for the last 7 years, Daniel finally felt free when receiving his wheelchair, 

“I became more and more independent. And I love being in my wheelchair. I can go places on my own without the help of others,” he says. 

From the perspective of an able-bodied person, being in a wheelchair could seem like a limitation, but for Daniel it is anything but. 

“My wheelchair is a symbol of freedom, not of limitation. My condition is the limitation but my wheelchair helps me break the boundaries of the condition,” he explains. 

This perspective is exactly what Daniel brings into the conversation when publishing at the Human Library. 

Challenging people’s preconceptions

“I really enjoy challenging people’s preconceptions, and the Human Library provides a platform for exactly that and an opportunity to connect. When engaging with the Readers, I can feel a shift in perspective. A lot of people have good intentions but lack an understanding of what disabled people can and can’t do. They don’t expect that we can use public transportation or become leaders. Being out alone in public in a wheelchair is inspirational in Malaysia but good intentions and inspiration is not a way of normalizing the view on the abilities of disabled people”, he continues. 

Therefore Daniel is involved with leadership management in sports, 

“I use disciplines such as Sitting Volleyball and Blind Football as a way of promoting inclusion in sports. I just returned from a conference in the US helping people understand what they should take into consideration for the people in their communities, who have a different way of life than themselves”. 

Sports as a way of impacting communities 

Daniel has always been interested in sports. When he was younger, he competed in the Asian Youth Para Games in Sitting Volleyball, and he is currently training to become a wheelchair racer. Daniel has found a way to combine his passion for sports and his devotion to inclusion,

“I use sports as a way of impacting communities. I share my life experience with students and companies to motivate and inspire others”. 

He wants to empower disabled people as much as he wants society to understand that being in a wheelchair should not limit your possibilities. 

“I wish there would come a day that being out in public is not inspirational, but just normal. If you want to be inspired, be inspired by all the other things that people can do,” he states.

Daniel can be found on loan at Human Library events in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and online.

**Disability and indeed diversity language varies internationally and individually. This interview reflects the book’s own words and views.

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A new program developed in partnership with the University of Glasgow’s School of Medicine will see more than 300 future Doctors become readers of the Human Library.

“We hope to run the program every year so all Glasgow graduates will learn how to ‘unjudge’. This will benefit not only our students but also the patients and colleagues they will encounter in their future careers. Medical students need to have a wide knowledge base that can be learnt from traditional books, but to be truly effective and compassionate doctors they need to develop more nuanced skills – communication, empathy, listening, reflection – and what better way to achieve that, than through interactions, and connections, with people and their lived experience – the human books,” says Dr. Lynsay Crawford, University Lecturer.

Equality in health care has long been a global challenge, and the pandemic has not helped improve the situation. One step towards more understanding and inclusion could be the reading exercises facing students from the University of Glasgow.

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Get a coffee and an open book

The new format encourages readers to grab a coffee and check out a book in café-style surroundings. You get to choose your topic and sit for up to 30 minutes asking questions of your open book. The loans can be one-on-one or in small groups. It is intimate and quite personal and not really built for larger groups of readers. Balancing demand and supply can create a slightly longer wait at some points of the day, nevertheless the feedback from readers was still excellent. 

Happy books and readers

With books available on topics such as Queer Parent, Raised In Care, Blind and more, our readers used the opportunity to explore diversity and learn about how different groups in society experience being judged by the cover of their book. All books were on loan for the entirety of the session.

One reader commented on their experience, “It was quite amazing gaining that very personal perspective, and it is very unusual in day-to-day life to get that very personal perspective. I think in the world today with a growing divide between people, events such as these help us to bridge that gap.”

Another reader remarked, “Having that connection with people instead of assuming and guessing. We assume that people have a certain life, but really, we don’t even know ourselves that well, and so how do we think that we could know other people better? Without having any expectations, I came out of this library reading feeling a lot more inspired.”

Why safe spaces in the community are important

This reflection is helpful in understanding how the Human Library works. Most people are keen to better understand those who are different from them and to an increasing degree accept a soft encounter with their own unconscious bias, but obviously a safe space is needed to do so and knowing that the person volunteered to be an open book on their lived experience, makes all the difference.

Perhaps, the strong demand underlines that we live in a time where many exchanges happen within echo chambers provided by social media and that there is an increasing awareness of the need for meaningful social interaction aimed at helping us better understand the diversity in our communities, helping us learn how to relate and engage across cultures and backgrounds.

A safe space to engage in dialogue with people, whom you might not have the social courage to engage with outside of the library space, is a rare opportunity.

More events on the horizon 

That Sunday afternoon at the premises of the Society of Authors also left us with tremendous inspiration. Seeing the great turnout, feeling the ambiance, and talking with a lot of happy readers, it was evident that there is a need for these accessible formats such as the Human Library Book Café and so we are already planning more opportunities for readers in London, Norwich, Edinburgh, Warwick, Manchester and Plymouth for 2022.

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UGI has committed to a sponsorship role with the Human Library for the creation of a digital learning platform that will expand the reach of the Human Library’s diversity experiences across the globe. The company began working with the Human Library in 2020 for diversity and inclusion education for its leadership development, supervisor training, and new hire onboarding programs. At least an additional 500 UGI employees will participate in Human Library “reader sessions” in the coming year.

The Human Library offers diversity training for companies that want to raise social and cultural awareness in their workforce for better partnerships with customers and the communities they serve. The learning platform addresses cultural, religious, social, and ethnic differences by offering direct conversations with people experiencing stigma, discrimination, or prejudice, and challenge stereotypes.

Roger Perreault, President and Chief Executive Officer of UGI Corporation, said, “We are excited to announce this strategic partnership with the Human Library and help to promote this mission globally.  We launched our Belonging, Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity (BIDE) program in 2020 to promote greater diversity of thought, inclusive leadership, and equitable treatment of our employees, customers, and the communities we serve.  We think our partnership with the Human Library will help us along our journey to become an even more innovative and inclusive company.

”Before COVID-19, individuals participated in Human Library experiences at a local library, university, or their workplace. In the past year, these live sessions became virtual, allowing an organization’s employees to meet people with diverse identities from around the world, ask questions about difficult issues, and promote more inclusive communities.

Ronni Abergel, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of The Human Library, said, “With this important support from UGI, we will soon be able to offer our safe space online and publish people as “open books” to help us better understand our diversity. The app and community we are building together will be a home for curious and courageous conversations with people everywhere.”

About UGI Corporation

UGI Corporation is a distributor and marketer of energy products and services. Through subsidiaries, UGI operates natural gas and electric utilities in Pennsylvania, distributes LPG both domestically (through AmeriGas) and internationally (through UGI International), manages midstream energy assets in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia and electric generation assets in Pennsylvania, and engages in energy marketing, including renewable natural gas, in twelve states and the District of Columbia and internationally in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK.  Comprehensive information about UGI Corporation is available on the Internet at https://www.ugicorp.com.

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Nichola Swallow from Tring in the United Kingdom started her Human Library journey as a Reader and is now a part of the community as a Human Book. She has been involved with voluntary work for many years, bringing awareness to the challenges connected to eating disorders.

Recognizing the bias

Nichola, who has worked as a Diversity and Inclusion Manager, thought she was an inclusive person, but becoming a Reader at the Human Library made her recognise that she had biases that she wasn’t even aware of. 

“It is an amazing opportunity to hear stories that people would otherwise never share with you, and it has made me realise that I have biases that I didn’t even know about”, Nichola says about her experiences as a Reader. 

Joining the community 

Nichola was inspired to become a Book herself, because she realised how the Human Library concept could help her challenge stereotypes on eating disorders. 

“At the Human Library, I can help challenge the stereotypes that eating disorders look a certain way. Having an eating disorder in a larger body is not recognised, and no one talks about it publicly,” she says about her inspiration for joining the Human Library as a volunteer Human Book. 

Nichola joined the organization during the pandemic and has therefore been published primarily at online workplace events. The Virtual Book Depot knows no national borders and is therefore able to publish English speaking Books from all around the world. Nichola highlights this as an unexpected benefit.

“Being a volunteer in the Human Library makes you understand perspectives from people around the globe, as you are exposed to a lot of different life experiences”. 

Teaching girls to value themselves 

At one of her readings she was asked by a father of daughters, how he could help prevent his girls from suffering from eating disorders. She told him that it is important to think about not only complimenting them on their looks, but instead teaching them that their looks are not the most valuable about them. 

“We need to teach them to value themselves, not only their body or their looks,” Nichola says about the prevention of eating disorders. 

“The man understood my message and said that he was really going to think about his interactions with his daughters. It was kind of a light bulb moment”, Nichola says about the interaction. 

Interacting with readers 

Prior to becoming involved with the Human Library, Nichola has done a tremendous amount of voluntary work as the ambassador for a charity. She has done the speaking at events and conferences and sat on advisory panels and therefore she has a deep insight into the challenges connected to eating disorders. 

She highlights that the voluntary experience at the Human Library is quite different from what else she has engaged in before.

“At the Human Library you allow letting the Reader read you, otherwise I just talk about stuff that I can recite in my dreams”. 

This interaction has the unexpected benefit that Nichola has started to think differently about herself.

“The interaction with the Readers makes me look at myself differently. Like maybe I should be a bit more kind to myself”. 

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A global leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of branded home improvement and building products is helping the Human Library develop an app for interactive equality and diversity experiences

Imagine logging on to an online library service full of real people that have volunteered to go on a “loan” with you as their “reader” and talk about important issues. You can “borrow” a transgender person and learn about their transition or a refugee from Syria or a person with a mental health history and ask anything about their topic. You can browse a world of diversity, engage with people from around the world and perhaps unjudge someone as you realize your own unconscious bias.

One step closer

The pandemic has brought about many challenges, but also forced us to find new ways to develop our work and achieve our goals. The Human Library has long dreamed of creating a safe space online where our readers can explore, learn and perhaps unjudge someone. That dream is now one step closer to becoming a reality as Masco Corporation has become a founding partner of the Human Library Online, an app that will host conversations about diversity.

To adapt to COVID-19, Masco was one of the first Human Library diversity partners to offer virtual sessions for its employees. With a strong belief that diverse perspectives and an inclusive workplace make them stronger and can deliver better possibilities, Masco planned sessions for employees at Behr® paint and Liberty® hardware, with the option for employees across their entire family of companies to join. 575 employees across Masco became readers of the Human Library from home in 2020; an additional 1,200 employees are slated to attend online sessions this year.

Masco the first contributor

Masco President and CEO Keith Allman was among the first to engage and has since continued to “read” more Human Library Books. “My personal takeaway is that we all have common ground to connect on. We are surrounded by so many incredible stories with people overcoming adversity every single day. Expanding this learning experience to its full potential creates more access to conversations that help us better understand these important issues. The sooner we can do that, the sooner we can create a more inclusive environment in our organizations and communities.”

The Human Library app is a further development of the success and experiences gained from last year’s online work and allows the Human Library to unite our human resources from local book depots all over the world.

“Before Covid-19 you needed to be on location at the local library, university, or festival to become a reader, or maybe you could access it through work. With our own app and human books in more than 80 countries, we can connect more people with information. Creating a safe space to explore diversity will help us better understand each other, while scaling up by reaching more readers for an even greater impact,” says Ronni Abergel, founder of the Human Library.

About Masco

Headquartered in Livonia, Michigan, Masco Corporation is a global leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of branded home improvement and building products. Their portfolio of industry-leading brands includes Behr® paint; Delta® and Hansgrohe® faucets, bath and shower fixtures; Kichler® decorative and outdoor lighting; and HotSpring® spas. For more information about Masco Corporation, visit www.masco.com.

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The first impact study of the Human Library online format shows that Human Library events help Readers understand a broader scope of diversity and recognize that inclusion is more than acceptance – it requires action. 

Danish research consultancy, Analyse & Tal, was commissioned by Z Zurich Foundation to conduct a qualitative study to investigate the impact of the Human Library. The study was based on three virtual events the HLO hosted for 200 Zurich Insurance Group employees from different regions of the world. A group of participants who took part as Readers in September 2020 were interviewed before the events and again three months later. 

Jakob Kristensen, Analyst at Analyse & Tal says the findings indicate high satisfaction and significant short-term impact among the participants, “We focused on the intensity of people’s experiences. I was surprised to see that so many participants were able to recall vivid details of the event, as well as the recurring thoughts they had about their experiences in the months that followed. The level of detail and excitement they could recount was impressive. Based on our experience, we would label this as a significant impact.” 

Readers began reflecting on own biases

Readers found the format of the event to be both surprising and refreshing. It was frequently mentioned that being faced with another human being inspired them to reflect on their own biases and resulted in an increased sensitivity towards the diversity that exists beyond physical appearance. 

After the event, most Readers learned to identify stigmatized groups that are typically less visible and not included in their previous DEI experiences in the workplace. They also articulated a realization that inclusion goes further than acceptance or non-discrimination – it requires conscious action. Some mentioned they had changed their behavior based on their experiences at the event. This result is exciting, as it demonstrates medium-term impact which spreads further than the individual.  

“There are definitely proven impacts that were supported by a whole host of verbal comments and a clear desire to repeat the experiment.”  says Mark Heasman,  Head of Activism at Z Zurich Foundation.

Diversity Partners Inspired to Continue the Dialogue 

On Wednesday 24 March, Diversity Partners from all over the world came together to learn about the outcome of the impact study. After Jakob presented the results, there was an animated discussion between our Partners about how they can embed the Human Library into their organizations existing DEI efforts. There was even talk of collaboration between different friends of the Human Library and so we are helping create new networks and forums to share learnings and outcomes.

“Social equity is an important pillar for Z Zurich Foundation and if we’re going to change things within that space, we need to break down stereotypes,” says Mark Heasman, “The Human Library fits in really well with what we’re trying to achieve, and we see a lot of value in the platform as a tool to engage our employees.” 

Nadia Younes, Global Head of Employee Experience, Diversity and Wellbeing at Zurich Insurance Group, says, “We want to implement the Human Library into broader development programs and make it a more systemic approach to learning, particularly among our leaders. We want to weave this into how we operate as an organization in the long term rather than just a one-time event.” 

This small impact study has provided some exciting evidence that the Human Library has a lasting positive impact on those who attend our events, and we are thrilled to see it inspire our Partners to strengthen their commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. To aid them in this process, we plan to build upon Analyse & Tal’s research to determine the extent of our impact in the long-term. 

From staff to reader to book

One very concrete outcome from the sessions is the case of Ray Chaaya, Employee Experience & Culture Lead for Zurich in Canada. Ray shared his journey from becoming a reader through the Zurich sessions to signing up as a book for the library.

“When Z Zurich Foundation sent out the invitation, I was on vacation and quickly skimmed the invite, thought it sounded intriguing and hit okay. What I didn’t realise at the time was that the event was actually taking place at 1:00 a.m. my time so when the day came I was pretty bummed out that I had to wake up at 1:00 a.m. to do this, but I set up my alarm, I sat in front of my computer and the next 2hrs flew by. It was 3am and I couldn’t go back to bed. My mind was buzzing from the impact I had just experienced from talking to these Books.  

The next morning I went online and signed up to become a Book.  

I thought this was an interesting way of doing what I already do in an organized, structured, virtual and now global format where I can reach more people and hopefully make a bigger impact”. 

To learn more about the impact study contact the Human Library secretariat or Z Zurich Foundation.

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