Most Readers will come along to a Human Library with the best intentions, and will not want to say anything to offend, but occasionally a Reader may cross boundaries and ask or say something that hurts one of the Living Books. This may be intentional or not, but in either case, it will be easier to avoid or deal with issues like this if you have a set of ground rules or principles which are shared with Readers at the beginning of the Human Library. The best way to arrive at these is probably to ask Living Books themselves during training what rules they would like Readers to adhere to, rather than trying to get them to adopt a set of rules you have come up with. Here is a sample list of rules which has been used at a Human Library at the University of Huddersfield.
Everyone is here for mutual benefit rather than harm
This is a safe space to ask questions we don’t often get the opportunity to ask
It is OK if we don’t know the right language to use
We ask questions respectfully, if in doubt asking ourselves “Would I be happy to answer this question myself?”
Everyone respects boundaries and the responses they receive, including decisions not to answer a question
Conversations take place in this room and not outside it, unless Living Books say they are happy to continue the conversation beyond this session
We observe confidentiality outside the session – it’s OK to share stories but not to mention names
We take it in turn to ask questions and give everyone a chance to speak
Names are displayed clearly on the cards provided
There is a lot of terminology which may come up in Human Library discussions which requires some explanation. It can help the discussion along if you make available a glossary of terms which are relevant to your Human Library. These can be displayed in the area where you are gathering your readers so that they have an opportunity to read them before they start talking to Living Books. Here are some sample glossaries for Living Books who took part in a Human Library at the University of Hull.
Some Readers will come along with lots of questions ready to ask, but some may be a bit more hesitant and also be unsure of the terminology they should use and worried about getting it wrong. Having a list of example questions available will help to get the conversation started and provide some reassurance for nervous Readers. Here is a list of example questions used at a Human Library at the University of Huddersfield.
