In Denmark, there are libraries where you can borrow a person instead of a book to listen to their life story for 30 minutes.
The aim is to fight against prejudices. Each person has a title – “unemployed”, “refugee”, “bipolar”, etc. – but by listening to their story, you realize how much you shouldn’t “judge a book by its cover”.
This innovative and brilliant project is active in more than 50 countries. It’s called “The Human Library”.
The Human Library or “Menneskebiblioteket” as it is called in Danish, was created in Copenhagen in the spring of 2000 by Ronni Abergel and his brother Dany and colleagues Asma Mouna and Christoffer Erichsen.
The original event was open eight hours a day for four days straight and featured over fifty different titles. The broad selection of books provided readers with ample choice to challenge their stereotypes and so more than a thousand readers took advantage leaving books, librarians, organisers and readers stunned at the reception and impact of the Human Library.
We All Deserve Better 