Attendees listen intently to the human “books”. Paula Farmer | Washtenaw Voice
By Aidan Ross
Contributor
WCC held its sixth annual Human Library event on Wednesday, March 22.
The event, hosted in WCC’s Bailey library, consisted of 20-minute question-and-answer sessions between small groups of visitors and volunteers called “books”. Each “book” told a story about a unique or unusual experience they had, and then answered questions from the audience about their experience.
Molly Ledermann, a WCC Librarian and an organizer of the event, said that books, roughly 10 to 12 of whom were available at any one time during the event, would share stories related to all aspects of diversity. These include, among other things, various religions, minority backgrounds, lifestyles, life experiences, occupations, and experiences with racism and other barriers.
“The goal is to build empathy, and build our intercultural communication skills, and to build community on our campus,” Ledermann said.
According to Ledermann, the Human Library is normally a very busy event. It’s held in coordination with communications classes taught by Claire Sparklin, a communications faculty member at WCC and another organizer of the event. Faculty attending the event could get professional development credit in the area of diversity. Ledermann said that individual students from some classes would attend for extra credit, and that some classes would attend in place of their regular class sessions for that day.
The event was not advertised off WCC campus. Ledermann said that visitors from outside the WCC community would need a community borrower card from the Bailey Library to attend. Ledermann said that this is to ensure that visitors treat books with care and respect.
The Human Library at WCC is part of an international movement. According to the website of the Human Library Organization, a Denmark-based non-profit which advocates Human Library events, these events have been held in 85 countries.
Sparklin found out about the Human Library concept through a session about the international movement during a conference. She had been organizing them for six years within her classes before bringing them to the Bailey Library.
This year, Sparklin also volunteered as a book. Her story was about living in a house haunted by one of her husband’s ancestors.
Sparklin said that she did not believe in ghosts before living in the house, and that disclosing her belief in ghosts felt like telling a deep, dark secret.
“I have judgment about it myself,” Sparklin said.
Sparklin said the message of her story is that people should not be so quick to judge others. She has had trouble finding truly-open minded visitors.
“Even if you haven’t experienced it yourself, suspend judgment and believe them, because if they’re saying those words, then there’s some truth to it,” she said. “In our society, to have someone really, honestly, listening to you is an experience you don’t get that often.”
Lana Morgan, a WCC student majoring in social work, also volunteered as a book this year. Her story was about her surviving Hurricane Isabel with her brothers, sisters, and mother.
“I felt like every time I tell this story I’m healing a little bit,” Morgan said. “At the end of the day, I hope that my story will give people hope.”
Morgan said that telling her story, and reliving it, felt scary at times. However, she was excited to tell it at the Human Library.
“Once you get to telling a story that’s your story, the passion’s just gonna naturally come out,” she said.
Participants described discovering judgements they had about their book, and those judgements disappearing during their conversation.
Sparklin said that the slogan of the Human Library is “un-judge someone”.
“That really is what’s going on here,” she said.
Pala made contributions to this article.
Several people came to the event. Paula Farmer | Washtenaw Voice
