This year has seen the real breakthrough also in Norway of ‘the human library,’ the Norwegian People’s Aid’s initiative to combat prejudice through making representatives of groups often subjected to this available to the public, for instance in schools. Among those ‘borrowed’ to answer questions so far are homosexuals, moslems, hiv-positive, people with eating disorders, blind, wheelchair users and refugees. (04-DEC-05)
 
A youth of Pakistani origin is refused entry to the discotheque frequented by all his friends. His skin and hair are darker than theirs. An asylum seeker is late for school. The local bus driver refused to take him, once again. An hiv-positive is excluded from numerous social and professional settings. Even eating crisps out of the same bowl is a problem. Gays are sacked from faith-based organisations. Homosexuality is incompatible with the way we interpret the word of God, say their superiors.

-This feels more reliable than reading an ordinary book
The history behind this project begins in Denark, with the organisation Stopp Volden / Stop the Violence. At the Roskilde Rock Music Festival 2000, the idea became an instant hit, with 75 books being borowed an altogether 1000 times. Three years later, the human library was best initiative at one of Europe’s biggest music festivals in Hungary. Since then, the concept has psread to many European countries. The Norwegian People’s Aid began experimenting with the idea two years ago. As an instant success, it has since been established as a permanently available resource. -Since it is real people telling their stories, it feels more reliable than reading a book, said one ‘reader’. The project is now receiving financial support from, among others, the Directorate for Health and Social Issues. 

Inaccessible sources of knowledge made available
In a human library, you can borrow a person the same way you borrow a book in an ordinary library. The ‘human books’ you can choose from all represent minorities often subjected to prejudice. For as long as you borrow them, they will answer all your questions and tell you stories from their own and their minority’s experiences and entire lives. This way, through the simple means of mutual exposure, dialog and conversation, prejudiced opinions are challenged, and the borrowers and ‘readers’ of the human books get unique chances to learn from sources otherwise inaccessible to them.

Now, go and borrow a human book
To explain further and make the human library work, Norwegian People’s Aid has developed a 70-page manual, available either by calling the organisation at +47 22 03 77 00, sending an email to menneskebiblioteket@npaid.org or logging on to www.menneskebiblioteket.no. The actual borrowing of all different categories of human books – and there are many more than those mentioned above – can also be arranged through these contact modes.