What is Human Library?

Human Library is today active in more than 80 countries around the world, the concept was started by four social workers from Denmark, Ronni Abergel, Dany Abergel, Asma Mouna and Christoffer Erichsen in the year 2000, at Copenhagen, Denmark. In India, Indore became the first city to get the Human Library, followed by Hyderabad. Today more than 12 Indian cities have successfully conducted Human Library events.

Human Library, as the name suggests is a library of people where rather than lending books, the organizer of the event uses a library analogy of lending people, who have experienced social exclusion, prejudice.

Human books are chosen on the basis of their personal experiences and knowledge of the subject.

The Human Library aims to address people’s prejudices and stereotypes by helping them to build a positive framework of conversations with those with whom they would not normally meet. It provides a place for conversation to the people who would otherwise have never talked.

The person lending a human book can ask any number of questions to the book inside the specified time limit for which the book will be lent from the library depot.

Why in news?

The city of palaces, Mysuru will be conducting its first Human Library event on Sunday, 8th December 2019.