“Could I check out a gay man raised in a religious family?” asks a student. The librarian smiled and nodded“Yes, I’ll bring him right over!”
Though unusual, this exchange took place last Thursday, May 15, at Carleton’s first Human Library, hosted by the Division of Inclusion, Equity and Community (IEC) and the Gould Library. The premise of the Human Library is that instead of borrowing books, readers borrow people. Readers select “books” based on a brief title — such as “O.C.D” or “Ethnic Displacement” — and then have a thirty minute conversation with them where they are encouraged to ask any question they are curious about. As said on the IEC website, the goal is to “address people’s prejudices by connecting them with individuals they would not normally meet.”
The Human Library is an international non-profit based in Denmark, where the idea first came to fruition in 2000. The original Human Library, which was created by now-CEO Ronni Abergel, was an eight-hours-a-day, four day marathon event that featured over fifty books to check out. The Human Library — whose motto is “unjudge someone” — now partners with libraries, universities and companies in 85 countries to facilitate similar events.
“The IEC has been in operation for only two years, but this is one of the initiatives that VP Zavala was intent on bringing to Carleton as part of the IDE Goals of increasing cultural competency and building community by embracing curiosity,” said the Human Library event team.
The team is composed of Vice President for Inclusion, Equity and Community (VPIEC) Dina Zavala, IEC Associate Director Michelle Sylvester, Assistant to the VPIEC Deya Ortiz, TRIO Program Coordinator and Library Administrative Assistant Jessica Zick, Assistant to the College Librarian and Operations Manager Eileen Shimota and Outreach Librarian Susan Shirk. A number of other people from both departments also contributed to the core planning but were not part of the interviewed team, including Brenda Hellen, Katie Lewis and Abigail Merrit. This is the first large-scale collaboration between the IEC division and the Gould Library.
Planning for the event began by applying for approval with the international Human Library organization, which the Human Library event team described as involving “interviews with the IEC staff and demonstrat[ing] Carleton’s commitment to creating spaces for connection.” After approval, the process of finding books began.
“It wasn’t easy initially, as this is our first time curating a Human Library,” said the Human Library event team. “Primarily, books volunteered or were nominated. For this first year, we asked that only faculty and staff and then seniors be nominated.”
College Chaplain Schuyler Vogel was invited to participate by colleagues in the IEC Division, and decided to participate.
“I think the Human Library’s goal is to bring people together, and see the humanity in all of us, and those are very aligned with the goals of the chapel too,” said Vogel.
After agreeing to volunteer, the books underwent training provided by the Human Library organization. They completed a series of modules and videos, which Vogel described as ranging from the larger “goals” to the “granular stuff.” One such module guided books in choosing a title for themselves.
“There were all these questions about how to [choose a title] in a way that doesn’t reduce someone’s identity to something, but also makes it clear what they were there to talk about,” said Vogel. “The goal was to basically have a topic that people were going to be engaged with, so people could know what they were getting when they checked them out, or at least have a sense of what they might be getting. They didn’t want them to be too long, they didn’t want them to be too nuanced, they didn’t want a list of things, they almost wanted there to be a singularity around each book, that there was a topic you were getting that was approachable and accessible and people could say ‘oh, I’m curious about this thing!’ and go and talk to this person who embodies it in some way.”
Vogel settled on “agnostic minister.” Other titles at the event were “Child of a Narcissist,” “BDSM/Kink,” “Bipolar,” “Stranger in a Strange Land,” “Love Letter to America,” “Conservative Christian in Higher Ed.,” “Gay Man Raised in a Religious Family,” “American-ish Family,” “OCD” and “Ethnic Displacement.”
“We have been overwhelmed by the goodwill of our books, who have shown up in a big way and have been completely vulnerable in this process. We are humbled by their faith and trust in us,” said the Human Library event team.
Some students criticized the event for how it portrayed members of different groups on campus. “It’s asking people to use one part of their identity to convince other people [of what to believe],” said a student who asked to remain anonymous. “Especially because people are asked by others to participate, it’s other people telling you what parts of your identity do and don’t matter. It’s emblematic of a larger problem we have at liberal arts colleges of people being asked to essentialize their identities.”
The student also described the event as not being an effective way to educate students. “I don’t want to engage in activities that encourage tokenizing people,” they said. “You can’t understand OCD from talking to somebody for 30 minutes who has OCD. I think the idea is incredibly diminishing of the struggles people go through.”
During the event, books sat in the east wing of the 4th floor, waiting to be “checked out.” Potential readers could see the titles listed on a white board, and then ask a librarian sitting at a desk to check out who they wanted to talk to. A volunteer for the Human Library would then guide the reader and book to some sequestered corner in the library. The book would explain some of the guidelines for the event, then give an overview of their life story in relation to their title: their childhood, when they first became aware of that identity and where they stood with it now. Then, the readers were free to ask questions for the period of their loan.
Some students spoken to by the Carletonian in the days leading up to the event found the library language off-putting. The Human Library event team said it is an intentional choice made to facilitate dialogue. In their guidance materials, the Human Library gives three reasons for this decision. First, “the concept of ‘borrowing a book’ encourages participants to approach individuals with different backgrounds and experiences with curiosity rather than judgment,” framing the interaction as an “opportunity to learn and understand, rather than to debate or challenge.” Second, “Library language acknowledges the value of the knowledge and lived experiences that the books bring to their loans. All books are equally valuable and have a story to share. This can help to break down social hierarchies and encourage participants to see each other as equals.” The team stressed that, “the library metaphor provides a level of abstraction, making potentially sensitive conversations less personal and confrontational. The clearly defined roles for readers, books and librarians creates a framework for meaningful dialogue.”
Reflecting on his time as a book, Vogel seconded this perspective, stating that “[Library language] creates a sort of distance, or a set of rules that are distinct from normal life that lets you engage with them differently.”.
“I think oftentimes when I’m in conversations with people, there’s sort of an expectation of a back-and-forth, or people don’t want to burden me with questions that they have over and over and over again. They feel like it’s not relational. The nice thing about the Human Library is that there’s no expectation that [the reader] will do anything else other than ask you questions. They can be given permission to be really honest about what they’re wondering about and just go from question to question to question, and the Books can sit back and answer those thoughtfully,” said Vogel.
Ashton Macklin’ 27 heard about the Human Library on campus announcements and participated on the other side of the conversation as a reader.
“I enjoyed it, there were a lot of really interesting options,” said Macklin. “But the only one that was available and kind of stuck out to me was the religious conservative at Carleton,” said Macklin.
According to Vogel, the “Conservative Christian” was the most popular Book to check out.
“It was an interesting conversation from a perspective that is a rare one, but is interesting to know about and it’s something to kind of de-essentialize the person,” said Macklin.
This de-essentialization (or what the Human Library might call un-judging), is the main goal of the Human Library.
“Our world is in crisis, we need to recognize our humanity, our flaws and imperfections, and embrace each other, even if we disagree. The [Human Library] is a way for us to take a small step as a community to bridge gaps and fill the divide,” said the Human Library event team.
