No library is complete without books, shelf upon shelf of pages filled with voices and opinions. Every book has a story to tell, whether that be a biography, a historical journal or an encyclopedia.
But this provided me with the question with “What if books could talk?” you could debate their story with them personally digging deeper into more information, acquiring more knowledge than what you would on a traditional spread of page. Leading to the statement “Are we not books ourselves?” we have been influenced by others… teachers, parents, grandparents etc. Gracing us with stories of historical events that they experienced first-hand, stories of their childhoods that we could relate to and have experienced, delivering knowledge to assist us in future, and the best thing about it… no story is the same. Like books we are all individuals and although we have the same appearance as a book would with a cover and page, the content is what counts. As the old saying goes “Never judge a book by its cover”.
In doing my research based around this, I discovered a library in London named “The human library” in which you can rent people out of the library who have been through difficult times and will tell you their side of the story. They place a yellow silk sash with “book” written across and are each sit at a round table putting themselves at public disposal to be “borrowed” for half an hour to learn about their experiences. The purpose of this library was to debunk all stereotypes spread across the UK.
The list contains the categories of:
– Muslim
– Dyslexic
– Facial disfigurement
– Bi sexual
– Gay
– HIV positive
– Refugee
and many more.
However human libraries did not start in the UK, there are in fact 150 human libraries based around the world starting in Denmark with an NGO called “Stop the violence”. But the idea took off in Great Britain thanks to two men Nick Little, a librarian, and Oz Osborne, who works for an NGO from rural Norfolk County that fights against mental illnesses. The goal is to present all parts of society, especially with the effect of events in recent years, as one of the human librarian points out “Since 9/11, it is important to include Muslims because of Islamophobia” (Zaugg, 2012).
The difference between us and books are that books are immortal, books carry our stories and understanding to generation upon generation ahead of us, books keep our society flowing with culture and knowledge. This placed me with yet another question… when you’re gone who will tell your story? Will your life be a story for another to tell? Or will you plan to tell your story with your time on this earth?
I plan to follow this concept over the developing weeks.
Cited Work:
Zaugg, J. (2015) The Human Library – Check Out A Living Book And Listen To Their Story. [online] London. Available from: http://www.worldcrunch.com/culture-society/the-human-library-check-out-a-living-book-and-listen-to-their-story/c3s5458/#.Uy3ah_ldWEY [Accessed 31 January 2016]
