October 11, 2017

Human Library Returns to the Highland Lakes Campus

Have you ever wondered what it is like to be deaf? What it is like to have lived with an addiction? What it is like to be Muslim?

The Highland Lakes Campus Diversity Committee and OCC Libraries will host the Human Library on Tuesday October 24, 2017 from 9am–1pm in the Highland Lakes Student Center Arena.

The Human Library allows “readers” to checkout volunteer “books” who represent multiple areas of diversity. Human Books represent a cross section of society that have been stereotyped. “Books” are not asked to be experts, but instead asked to be themselves and tell their story in response to questions asked by the “Reader”. This exercise allows “Books” and “Readers” alike to meet people from other walks of life that they may not otherwise have the opportunity to meet. 

Started in Denmark in 2000, the Human Library helps break down barriers and end prejudice. The idea is simple: if you meet people from other walks of life, people different than yourself, they become real and no longer belong to a faceless group. Once people start talking and getting to know one another, it becomes harder to discriminate against others as we realize we are more similar than we are different. For more information, please go to www.humanlibrary.org.