Introducing the Human Library Online. A software developed and devoted to help facilitate our open books to readers in a safe space. With support from Masco and UGI Corporation we are launching our new library software to help us scale the volume of books we can publish and the amount of readers we can serve.

A dream becoming reality

It has been a long time dream to be able to publish our books online and to offer readers a more flexible access to our learning opportunities. In the past we have been limited by several factors. For in-person programming it would be about distance and availability. While online we have been hosting curated sessions using Zoom as the primary hosting software. The learning opportunities in the curated space will continue and be complimented by the new virtual bookshelf.

Increasing the volume of readers

The time has come to add another dimension to our work and strengthen our global reach. An online bookshelf with books publishing every day and readers joining at a time that is suitable for them while also offering the choice of topic.

“I am very proud to see this project go live and excited to see how readers and books will embrace the new opportunity to connect and perhaps Unjudge Someone”, says Human Library founder Ronni Abergel.

The first year the new library service will be available only to organizations, institutions and our corporate diversity partners. A public offering is expected in 2024.

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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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As an intern at the Human Library, you will be working closely with and be responsible for coordinating and implementing independent projects. As part of the secretariat team, you will also be involved in tasks from different areas of responsibility, collaborating with other interns, volunteers, and employees. We value making use of each other’s resources and perspectives across differences, and experiences. You can read more about the different positions here:

• Internship at our International Department
• Internship with International Corporate Partnership Team

We are always interested in applications from skilled and engaged persons regardless of ethnic background, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities, religion, or age. We also encourage candidates with special needs to apply.

Send your Cover Letter, CV, and relevant material to Head of Secretariat, Silke Bech no later than Monday March 28th at 12PM. Interviews will be held shortly after. 

Read more about the Human Library

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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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The Human Library has local Book Depots spread out around the world. A few are in South America and one of them is in Lima, Peru. This is where we publish Jonathan, or as you will discover, Samantha. She has been a part of the Human Library since 2017. 

In disguise

Jonathan, also known as Samantha Braxton, publishes as the topic “Transformista” – also equivalent to “Crossdresser”. It all started at Halloween 17 years ago, in 2005, when Samantha first came to life. “I am a big fan of pop music, especially Madonna and Britney”, Samantha says, so she decided to go as Madonna, “Halloween is the perfect moment to be in disguise” she adds. The following years Jonathan repeated the experience, and this was how Samantha was first introduced to the world. 

Soon she was discovered by people in the creative industries and started singing and dancing in clubs, then moved to making social help videos and sharing her story online and quickly found recognition. She then joined the Human Library: “I always knew Samantha was a character that was going to challenge boundaries, inspire, and make people feel good”. 

Joining the Human Library

Samantha joined the Human Library after she participated in an exhibition called “Intolerancia” at a local gallery. One of the Librarians from the Lima Book Depot saw it and reached out to Sam. “I had just come out of a bad relationship with an abusive boyfriend who did not accept Samantha” she says, and then the Human Library invitation came along: “And it was an important time for me to share my story and feel like myself”. 

Even though Samantha is real, you can’t see her every day, “You are not going to see her drinking a cup of coffee or see her dating. She has no life. And that is the magic of Samantha”, Jonathan says and adds, “I am the one giving life to Samantha”. She is created to inspire people and make people feel good: “I feel great about myself every time I tell my story at Human Library events”. 

Helping expand readers perspective

“When I am published I feel like I get to experience how my readers erase the image they had in their mind”, she states. Many of her readers have been gay and lesbian and often they have not been openly out of the closet to their friends and family, and so they have come for advice and for insight into her journey. 

“My friends have always supported me, but at first my parents thought I had a fever when I told them about Samantha”, now Jonathan’s parents are actively helping with Samantha and are big supporters: “That is the best feeling”. 

Samantha is grateful to be a part of the Human Library Lima Depot. One of the things she highlights is that they are a strong group, “Many of the books and librarians have known each other for years now”. She hopes to help inspire readers and open their minds: “I am happy that I get to help educate people”. 

Follow the work of the Human Library Peru for an opportunity to read Samantha.

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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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We are often told not to judge a book by its cover, but that is exactly what you need to do with the new diversity quiz from the Human Library. The methodology is simple, look, judge, swipe and reflect. The purpose of the quiz is to help our readers better understand how our bias influences the way we engage with other groups in our community.

“We recognize that it is part of human nature to navigate diversity by way of our unconscious bias and the quiz will help us understand that,” says HLO founder Ronni Abergel.

Reflecting on our bias

One of the questions in the new diversity quiz.

It takes less than five minutes to test your unconscious bias and complete a set of the questions. In short you are presented with an image of one or more of our books and a statement along with the choices you have.

You then swipe your answers according to your first instincts. The exercise ends with an opportunity to reflect on the judgements passed and mirror in how others judged.

Volunteer books

The content of the online diversity quiz is based in part on the experiences of our volunteer books from around the world. This means many of the stereotypes and prejudices included in the quiz are faced by real people everyday.

The project was made possible with support from the Danish Welfare and Research Foundation for Educators. 

Helping prepare readers to unjudge

The quiz is available in English and Danish for now, but more versions are in the pipeline. The quiz will primarily be used as part of preparing our coming readers from schools, colleges, universities and workplaces, for their visit to the Human Library. Follow the link below to try the new quiz.

https://quiz.humanlibrary.org/

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We are proud to announce the introduction of a new Human Library book depot for New York City. Over the past months members of many different communities have come together and joined forces to help us create safe spaces, where we can learn about our diversity.

Based in Brooklyn

New York now joins a list of cities across the US to host a local Human Library Book Depot. San Francisco, LA, Chicago, Muncie, Fort Wayne are others. It is not an easy task to build a book collection from scratch and to establish a strong group of librarians that can help publish our books to readers.

Technically the new book collection is based in Brooklyn and spearheaded by among other librarian and book depot manager Leslie Lucas Gallager.

“New York City is such a big place, but it’s really a patchwork of neighborhoods and personal networks. It has been a wonderful challenge for me and for our librarians to tap into those networks and find our friends (and friends of friends) who not only have a challenging aspect of their lives but are also willing to talk about it”.

Human Library founder Ronni Abergel is excited about the potential for impact in the city.

“New York and especially Brooklyn is one of the most diverse places on earth. So it is wonderful for us to finally be able to help build understanding across the many communities living here. With the resources now in place, we will be more available to local libraries, schools, colleges, universities, festivals and work places”.

Partnerships that are crucial to the sustainability of the book depot.

Publishing virtually at first

Due to the pandemic the first meeting with readers will be online and its planned for January 24th. A selection of the new book collection will be published using the Zoom platform.

Among the titles expected to be available you can find books on: “Unseen Disability”, “Homeschooler”, “Mother of a Transgender Daughter”, “Intersectional Blackness”, “Refugee”, “Mother of a son with Down’s Syndrome”, “Transracial Adoptee”, “PTSD”, “Non-binary”, “Lesbian”, “Lonely”, “Buddhist”, and “Formerly Incarcerated”. 

Rising demand online

The demand for the Human Library’s online events is rising sharply and more than 60 sessions are already planned for 2021. The January 24th event is free to readers and you need to be able to set aside two hours to become our reader.

You can find more information about the opportunity to participate in the launch of the new book depot for New York City by following the link below.

https://fb.me/e/13glTh8i0

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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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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.

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