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Thursday, February 9, 2012

Life Human Library

Posted by Gillian Anderson on Thu, Feb 9, 2012 at 11:05 AM

With all the fuss lately about what’s going on in libraries, here is an interesting story out of Canada. The Ottawa libraries are sponsoring the Human Library program:

Instead of a book, patrons of Ottawa’s city libraries will have a chance to check out a stripper, a prostitute, a Somali refugee, a judge, an HIV-positive man, a Peking Opera performer, a woman born as a man, a police officer, or a bipolar man as part of a Human Library program. Billed as “real people, real conversations,” the Ottawa Public Library is bringing dozens of people with diverse experiences into its branches, encouraging patrons to check them out for a 20-minute, one-on-one chat.

“I’m actually really nervous. I’m going to be sitting in a chair with a sign behind me saying ‘HIV-positive.’ Does it feel a little like a human zoo? To some degree, but my hope is that anyone who comes to this is interested in a two-way conversation,” said Grant Cobb, a peer-engagement worker with the AIDS Committee of Ottawa who has volunteered to be loaned out.

It sounds like a great idea to help patrons see the world from another person's perspective. Each branch will have a different array of human books to choose from.

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Comments (10) RSS

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This was a great success in my small town Ontario library. And, hands down, the most popular book was a transgender woman. She was so much in demand that, with her permission, we doubled and then tripled her readers.

Posted by shambhaladawa on February 9, 2012 at 11:34 AM

Checking out the stripper and then following it up by checking out the prostitute is like reading the sequel.

Posted by Urgutha Forka on February 9, 2012 at 11:39 AM

It's Reddit's AMA come to life!

Posted by Fnarf

on February 9, 2012 at 11:56 AM

This seems like a good idea that could easily go bad. What's stopping people from "checking out" participants in an effort to 1) block up their time to keep them away from others or 2) berate, harass, or attempt to "fix" them?

Posted by all the good names are taken on February 9, 2012 at 12:14 PM

@4 they are Canadians

Posted by knobtheunicorn on February 9, 2012 at 1:14 PM

Came here to make the same joke as @2. Well played.

Posted by Westlake, son! on February 9, 2012 at 1:20 PM

That's way cool...

WE TOTALLY NEED THAT IN SEATTLE.

Posted by merry on February 9, 2012 at 1:42 PM

This would be interesting. I've noticed that most of the hatred in the world stems from people being unable to see things from others' points of view.

Posted by venomlash on February 9, 2012 at 3:03 PM