A Living Library Project
People, not paperbacks, are being loaned out in novel living library events around the country.
The three-hour session at Bournemouth central library aims to break stereotypes and tackle prejudice by giving direct access to someone else’s experience. It allows people to “borrow” a person – or “living book” – for a conversation (“loan”) to explore their experience or interests and to understand other backgrounds and cultures. The “books” – library users who volunteer in response to local advertisements, friends of library staff, or those recruited via local community organisations – are people who can share a significant personal experience or particular perspective on life. “Loans” can last for up to an hour.
As Prudom argues: “Many people don’t read books, so you have to find other, more creative ways of engaging them. Testimony is an incredibly powerful thing.”
More information at living-library.org