Friday, September 30, 11am-2pm, Columbus State Community College Conference Center, 315 Cleveland Ave. [fourth floor]

The Columbus State Community College Library and its partners will host a Human Library as part of its Banned Books Week 2016 celebration, which focuses on the theme of diversity. Instead of books, The Human Library loans out real people to readers. These human books share their stories and spark conversations that can challenge stereotypes and prejudices through dialogue. The Human Library event will also include a photo booth, a private recording room where participants can tell their own unique stories or record responses to the event, a participant raffle, as well as a resource fair that will include information tables from both on and off-campus organizations.

The Human Library is an innovative and interactive program that provides a safe and welcoming environment in which participants can learn more about the individuals in their community. Human Books are volunteers who may be affiliated with a marginalized group or who have special talents or life experiences to share. Readers have the opportunity to borrow a Human Book, participating in one-on-one or small group conversations with the volunteer. Human Libraries provide an opportunity for real and authentic discussion, provoking thinking, reducing prejudices, and encouraging understanding. It is an opportunity to focus on the ‘human side’ of information.

In a Human Library, the storyteller is referred to as a “book” and the listener is a “patron.” When a book is “checked out”, it works the same way one would check out a hard-copy book at a library. Patrons will be asked to reserve a “book.” The only difference is that when a patron reserves or checks out a Human Library book, the “book” and the patron will have a direct conversation with each other.