Linda from Copenhagen, Denmark, has one of the more unique titles on the Human Library bookshelf; Psychic healer. In 2018, she came across a Facebook post about The Human Library Organization, which sparked a desire to join once she had the time and mental capacity. Linda has now been a part of the Copenhagen book depot since June 2022.

Never Alone

Since childhood, Linda has lived with a sense of people being around her; “When I would ask them something, I got an answer. It was not just a feeling of yes or no. It was long and complicated sentences. Answers that I couldn’t have thought of, unpredictable answers. I have always felt that they were on my side.”

A Sixth Sense

Linda’s abilities are called Extra Sensory Perception, shortened as ESP, or popularly called a sixth sense. “It’s when your senses exceed the physical ones. We all live with the five senses that we know, but with extra sensory, I can see memories that are not my own, for example.”, Linda explains. “If you asked me about something from your childhood, I can close my eyes, tune in, and see the situation you’re talking about. A situation you’ve never told me about that no one could know without having been there.”

Bullied by her Bosses

Linda’s readers have the opportunity to learn about her abilities and her job as a healer, but for Linda, it is equally important to touch upon what it has been like to live as an outsider. “Because I’m a psychic, I have been bullied to the point of having to see a therapist. I’ve had to leave four different jobs because my co-workers were bullying me. At two of those places the boss was also part of the bullying.”

“Since I was a teenager, I’ve talked about clairvoyance and being psychic, and I have met a lot of resistance. It definitely has not been fun, and there have been times where I’ve thought, ‘Maybe I should just shut up about it’.” Linda says when asked about her reasons for wanting to become an open Book. 

“I’ve also had to deal with depression regularly because I have felt like there was no room for me in society. So it was actually a way to fight back.”

Challenging the Stigmas and Stereotypes

The fight Linda talks about is not only about her own experiences but also those of her colleagues within the alternative treatment community and their clients: “There is this stigma about psychics, which is what I represent, and other alternative treatment providers, that we’re crazy, that we’re naive, and we’ll believe anything. There are so many prejudices about what we are and who the people that come to see us are.”

Lockdown Changed Attitudes

But this attitude has recently started to change; Linda herself believes that the lockdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic have led many more to research alternative medicine, healing and clairvoyance while in self-isolation.

“I think many people have been watching Netflix and YouTube at home on the couch and come across alternative documentaries, of which there are some amazing ones, and started thinking, ‘maybe there is something to it’,” Linda says. “Now, when I tell people that I’m psychic, people say, ‘Wow, that’s exciting; tell me more’. It used to be, ‘Oh, so you’re someone I’m allowed to bully’.”

“It’s a completely new society that I’ve returned to.” She laughs. “It used to be a discussion about whether clairvoyance is real. Now, it’s more of a dialogue about how it is possible, whether I’ve always had these experiences, and how it feels. They are curious about what is going on within the psychic. I really like talking about that.”

Read Linda in Copenhagen

One way to get the opportunity to read Linda is if you drop by the Human Library Reading Garden in Copenhagen. We are open to the public every Sunday from noon to 4 pm, and as always, the services of the Human Library are free to our readers.

Want to know more about our Books? Read about our last Book of the Month, Paris.

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More people than ever before have joined the bookshelf of the Human Library. In total 437 new Books have been trained, edited and published at events in 2022.  

It is a feat in itself to be able to add over 400 new editions and it speaks volumes to the growing interest for the Human Library from Books and Readers around the world. 

New Content from 22 Nations

This year we are fortunate to have been able to welcome new Books from 22 different countries. Adding more opportunity and more diversity to our local Book Depots. The new Books have joined us from Australia, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, India, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Greater Diversity in Content

As the Human Library continues to grow, we are excited to continue to expand the range of topics that we can offer our Readers. From individuals who have experienced homelessness to refugees, survivors of domestic abuse to people with Bipolar disorder, our Books offer a unique opportunity for Readers to engage with people from many different walks of life.

If you are thinking about becoming an Open Book for the Human Library then please visit this page for more information.

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Ben Caron

Artist, activist and singer-songwriter. Now add book depot manager of the Human Librarys depot in Los Angeles to the list and you have a jack of all trades. Ben joined the newly formed book depot as a book in the fall of 2019 and quickly assumed a central role in the build-up of the new book collection.  

Despite the global pandemic limiting the options, Ben has been able to train around fifteen new books since January and is also training more librarians at the moment. However, he has not been alone and is thankful for the support from the HLO team. Talking about the team, Ben’s enthusiasm is clear: “every single person I have come into contact with through this project is so lovely”, he says, “everyone’s heart is in the right place and so willing to help each other and to make it work.” This attests to the kind of movement the Human Library is, he thinks: “The Human Library attracts really incredible people, people with big hearts and a drive to make the world a better place, and those are my people”. 

Before the Human Library, Ben was already involved with activism related to poverty, environmental justice, racial justice and fighting for equality related to gender and sexuality – which are all interconnecting issues, he emphasizes. 

Being a depot manager is time consuming, so why did he accept? “I believe that the thing the world needs most now is compassion and empathy, and this seems to me one of the most effective projects that I’ve come across to help build that,” Ben explains, “any project aiming at that kind of future I am willing to lend my time, energy and heart to.”

Besides, the project has been personally rewarding as well: “I have been really happy to do it because it makes me better and it makes my life better,” he says. Especially during this pandemic, the book depot has been a source of hope and provided a sense of connection. “It makes me feel positive about the future,” he admits, “and who doesn’t need hope in this time?”.

His favourite aspect of being a depot manager is training the books: “the most rewarding thing about this project so far has been watching the books share their experience for the first time in training, and understanding how powerful this experience can be”. Explaining how most of the books have never attended a Human Library event before, he adds: “The first time they experience it and their face lights up, you can just tell they are so excited about the possibilities with this library.”

The stories of the books affect him as well, both as manager and reader. An 80 year old man publishing as ‘gay’, for example, made an impact on Ben, who also published as ‘gay’: “to hear what an elder’s experience of being gay was, to hear how different it was, and how similar in some cases to my own story, was very powerful to me personally”. On the other hand, he also learns about issues he never knew much about before, when training a book publishing as Schizophrenic for example: “it’s always really powerful to check out a book that I have no idea about, then everything I am learning is new.”

In less than a year, Ben has been trained as a book and published for readers from UCLA. He has then been trained as a book depot manager and put in charge of developing the LA book depot into a community of books and librarians. His experiences have taught him that “there is a huge appetite for this kind of project in the world. We have this need to connect, need to tell our stories, a need to really listen to one another; a need to get out of our comfort zones and our bubbles and meet people that are unlike us.” Ben has noticed that many people are enthusiastic about the concept: “people are ready for the Human Library.” 

The Human Library LA Book Depot is still accepting new books. If you live near LA and have personal experiences that can help challenge stereotypes and prejudices or you want to help us publish our books at libraries, schools, conferences, festivals and virtual? Then click here to learn more from The Human Library Book FAQ!

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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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One of the worlds most diverse neighbourhoods is about to get its own Human Library Book Depot. Full of people that volunteered to answer difficult questions and booming with the energy that has made the city more than famous. That is what we are creating in Brooklyn and you can be part of it.

A book depot

A Human Library Book Depot is a collection of volunter books and librarians, spearheaded by a book depot manager, that organise and host Human Library events at schools, colleges, universities, festivals and work places.

The depot is a local chapter of the Human Library and operates as a community service to help increase the volume of events and create more safe spaces for dialogue, while using less ressources. You can say we republish our books and continously add on to the collection to ensure that we always have a diverse content to offer our readers. Book depots are in operation in some countries, while the Human Library is available in more than 80.

Who can be published?

Human Library tag cloud with examples of topics.

We are looking for people that have personal experience with stigma and negative stereotypes. People that have disabilities, people that have a minority background, people that have experienced mental health challenges and people with a lifestyle that has raised eyebrows, to name but a few. We are also looking for people that escaped conflict and others that have overcome hardship due to their ethnicity, background, gender and much more.

The Human Library methodology is based on our 12 pillars of prejudice. All of our literature belongs in one of the pillars. The pillar on religion would contain topics such as the Agnostic, Buddhist, Christian, Catholic, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and many more. While the pillar on occupation could carry a Journalist or a Politician or a Police Officer. The people who have a little time to give and valuable experiences to share, are typically ideal books.

Why become a book in the Human Library

Quite simply put, because it is incredibly rewarding to help others better understand and it is a good opportunity to be part of creating a more inclusive and understanding community. It is also a way to

be heard and to provide knowledge to others. To inspire and to challenge what is being said. And to be part of something much bigger and across groups in the community. To walk should to shoulder with others just like you and yet very different. To find common ground and to be part of a place, where it is always okay to be you and where people volunteered to answer difficult and sometimes quite personal questions. Visit our Human Library Book FAQ for find more details about your publication.

Whats next for Brooklyn

The depot manager and the team of librarians are getting ready to host the first trainings for the new books. So if you are living in the Big Apple and you have an open book inside you. Then maybe you can help us challenge stereotypes and stimulate dialogue about our diversity. The NYC book depot in time is expected to have capacity to host 12-30 events annually at schools, libraries, universities, festivals and conferences. We hope to host the first local events in Brooklyn by the fall of 2019.

See our online book application form here

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We have hosted thousands of events. Facilitated more than a million conversations. But we have never published 80 books to serve 420 readers at the same time. That will be the scene on June 22nd, when members of the Danish Labour Union HK become readers of the Human Library at Hotel Nyborg Strand.

Books sourced from four book depots

It is no easy feat to assemble 80 volunteer books that can all be available on the same date. It has taken more than three months to coordinate and gather our books from four different book depots across Denmark.

The depot in Copenhagen, which is also the largest in the world, naturally is yielding the majority of the content we will publish, but our local book depot on Fyn close to Nyborg will also contribute and so will the book depots in Aarhus and Esbjerg. Making it a national team effort and a historic day in more ways than one. In our 19 years of work, we have never had this many books and so many book depots in operation.

Recipient of HKs Honorary Jytte Award

The Human Library and HK have a strong history. In our daily life, we work closely with library assistants whenever we visit public libraries across the country. Since 2017 we have hosted several events for different member groups of the labour union, typically as part of conference programming. In 2017 we were honored to receive HKs Jytte Award from the Library Assistants Association, in recognition of our contribution to the public library sector.

Record readers come from dental clinics

When they are not participating in a labour union conference, the readers on this record making day, all work in dental clinics across the country. In their daily job many of them are in contact with a very diverse group of patients and this session perhaps can add to their knowledge and understanding of diversity.

This event is not open to the public.

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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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This Easter weekend book depot managers from England, Estonia, Netherlands, Romania, Scotland, Ukraine and the United States will come together in Copenhagen for the Human Library Book Depot Manager Training.

New sustainable book depots

They come here from all over the world to help us build strong sustainable book depots for the Human Library in their communities. Some have hosted many events and others are starting from scratch with only their skills and dedication to help create a more inclusive and understanding community.

A resource to the community

A Human Library Book Depot is just like it sounds, a collection of books and librarians ready to render a Human Library. A book depot receives invitations from local partners to bring out the books and publish them to readers. Typically the invitations come from educational institutions, libraries, festivals and some from the private sector.

Making events easily accessible

A book depot with enough volunteer books and librarians, can publish anywhere from 12 to 30 times a year. Some book depots have been in operation for many years and hold over a 100 different books. With a local book depot events can be rendered with very high quality in content, delivery and methodology while keeping preparation time down. Something that has stopped many from repeating events despite the tremendous impact.

Depot Manager is key to the collection

The book depot manager is the person overall responsible for the operation and development of the book depot. All matters regarding recruiting, delivering events, care taking for books and volunteers and keeping quality, are matters for the book depot manager to handle. It takes the right person and the understanding of our vision along with the skills, tools and network to build it. But when you built it, they will come. Books, librarians and readers.

New cities and developing existing collections

The training in Copenhagen will help us launch new book depots in Edinburgh, New York City, Prague and Kharkiv. While reinforcing our presence and adding to the positive work already done in cities like Bucharest, London, Tilburg and Tallinn. For more readers and books to take advantage. Soon readers in the mentioned cities will be able to more easily take advantage of the safe space the Human Library provides. The space to ask difficult questions and get an honest answer.

This program is funded entirely by the Human Library Organization and our volunteers.

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The software giant is turning towards a more analog format, when it comes to working with diversity and inclusion.
It started in 2018 with an invitation to present the Human Library at Microsoft’s annual flagship diversity event known as the “Confluence” in Hyderabad.

The more than 100 readers that took part in the “Reading Hall” were quite enthusiastic about their outcomes and so this year, the Human Library has been invited to expand our collaboration with Microsoft in India.

More events across India

This means that in connection with the 2019 Confluence week activities, the Human Library will deliver events at Microsoft locations across India. The entire week from April 8-12 will offer opportunities for Microsoft staff to become readers of the Human Library.

Events are scheduled to take place in the cities of Bangalore, Mumbai, Gurgaon and bringing the week to an end with more than 200 readers expected at the Confluence main event in Hyderabad on the 12th of April.

Local book depots to supply the content

The many events and the content we are publishing will be delivered from our book depots in the same cities. The Human Library has book depots in operation in twelve of the largest cities in India.

At the Human Library we are honored to be working with Microsoft on the important mission of building inclusive workplaces and enabling people and organizations to better reap the many advantages of our diversity.

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The news are good if you are living in the city of Hamburg. With the help of a local group of dedicated champions of the Human Library, it has been decided to open an official book depot for the Human Library.

The Human Library so far has had limited presence in Germany and predominantly in local ngo partnerships. This will be the first book depot to be organized and operated by the Human Library Organization in Germany.

“We are excited and grateful for the opportunity to build a strong and sustainable book depot that can serve thousands of readers from Hamburg over the next years”, says HLO founder and library creator, Ronni Abergel.

The Human Library Book Depot in Hamburg can also set an example for other German cities to draw inspiration from. Once fully stocked and with critical mass, a book depot can host anywhere from 10 to 30 events annually. Our books are published in schools, libraries, universities, festivals and workplaces.

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