Read about the experience of the Human Library held at the University of Hull.
Q) What did you do and why?
The University of Hull ran a Human Library event where people of different identities shared their lived experience. This event included people with different identities including DID, Nonbinary, Dyslexic, Mental Health, ADHD and more. It allowed guests to speak to our volunteers and learn about different identities, common misconceptions and challenge their own unconscious bias. The event opened the floor to honest, open and respectful communication between people that would ordinarily not cross paths.
Q) What was the impact?
The impact of the event was extremely positive. Those who attended were able to learn about new identities and compare it to their own experiences. It served as an educational event and allowed different groups of people to integrate and step into each other’s shoes. After the event, those that attended expressed a hunger for more events like this.
Q) What barriers and challenges did you face?
There were not many barriers that the event faced as a lot of the possible challenges were touched upon in the planning stage. The main challenges discussed were:
Q) How did you evaluate the project?
The project was evaluated using feedback form the volunteers and the guests that attended the event. This was compared to the aims of the event included as part of the planning. The main aims of the event were to be educational and allow people to talk and ask questions in a safe space. When looking at the feedback received this was achieved. Several guests reported leaving the event having learned at least one new thing and the volunteers reported feeling comfortable and encouraged to speak up.
Q) How could others benefit from this example?
This event was successful and garnered a lot of attention. This benefits others because it increases knowledge and understanding in the community. The event also allowed different groups to mix and talk to each other, which was evidently appreciated by both staff and students.
If you want to know more, please contact Erika at E.Butane@hull.ac.uk
Details of the Human Library held at the University of Huddersfield as part of the institutions Teaching and Learning Conference.
Q) What did you do and why?
The Library is involved with Broaden My Bookshelf, a collaborative project with the Students Union to increase the range of books in the Library and on reading lists written by marginalised people from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic background and/or who identify as LGBT+
As well as diversifying library collections, various events have been run over the years usually around Black History Month. It was as part of this initiative that a Human Library event was organised. The catalyst was a conversation with the Associate Dean for Teaching and Learning for Human and Health Sciences who suggested running an event for two classes of students.
A project group was convened and a Human Library event took place as a workshop at the University’s Teaching and Learning Conference in the summer of 2023. Participants from the conference were encouraged to ask questions of the Human Books, in a safe space with guidance from suitable handouts, to establish empathy, broaden understanding and breakdown stereotypes and stigmas.
Q) What was the impact?
The event allowed honest and insightful conversations to take place. The readers appreciated the opportunity to hear the stories and the lived experiences of our living books with a chance to ask questions without fear of using the wrong language or terminology. One person described the event as “really powerful”.
The experience of the living books in telling their stories was also positive. One person described feeling excited by the event and the opportunity to talk about her lived experiences.
Q) What barriers and challenges did you face?
This wasn’t just a library project but involved representatives from across the university including SU Staff & Officers, HR and Staff Network representatives and a couple of academic staff. The concept of a Human Library was very new and untested. It was felt that it could be difficult to control the questions that are asked, and some individuals may be adversely affected by the experience of sharing their story. There were concerns that we didn’t have the right support structure in place if this was to happen. These concerns were overcome through involving one of the university counsellors at the planning meetings and at the event itself plus talking to another institution who had run Human Library and to representatives from the Human Library organisation.
Q) How did you evaluate the project?
Readers were asked for feedback at the end of the event. Using sticky notes they had to identify the one thing for each conversation that had really impacted them as well as highlighting the one thing they would change if another Human Library event was to be run. Some of the books took part in a focus group after the event. Others sent their feedback by email. The counsellor and Mental Health First aider also sent in feedback.
Here is a case study from Manchester Met University describing the Human Library they ran before the COVID pandemic.
Q) What did you do and why?
A member of the University’s Inclusive Learning Communities Project Board proposed a human library event after she’d seen a news story about a Human Library Event hosted at Solent University Library in Southampton. She asked the library if we could support it. The event had the backing of the PVC for Education and the Inclusive Learning Communities Project Board funded the event. We put in an application with the Human Library Organisation to run an event and paid the licence fee. The Human Library Organisation provided a toolkit of resources and their UK Co-ordinator ran training sessions for the Human Books and Human Library Librarians. The event took place in the University Library one afternoon in February 2020, just before lockdown. Our books and readers were a mix of staff, students and members of the public. We had 8 books who published under 15 titles and about 34 readers.
Q) What was the impact?
Overwhelmingly positive. The books all found the experience rewarding and fulfilling and they all rated the experience as good, very good or excellent in their feedback. Similarly, the reader reviews were also positive, rating the event as very good or excellent with most agreeing the event had inspired them to be more open and accepting toward unfamiliar things.
Q) What barriers and challenges did you face?
Recruitment of human books was particularly challenging and pre event organisation was time consuming for two of the organisers.
We had aimed to recruit 15-20 human books but only had 8 books in total including the UK co-ordinator for the Human Library Organisation. We had 15 enquiries from other potential books but for various reasons they were unable to participate (e.g. sickness, not available on date of event, changed their mind about being a book, unable to attend training).
On the day there were not quite enough librarians at times to cope, especially at the start of the event.
We did not manage to do a proper debrief of our books at the end of the event. Some of the books were only able to stay for part of the event so had already gone, everyone else was totally exhausted by the end of the event and no-one wanted to stay for a debrief. We had to send our books the ‘Author Epilogues’ (evaluation forms) to them by email after the event and it required to chasing to get them completed and returned. More books and more librarians would have helped with the debriefing.
Q) How did you evaluate the project?
We asked our books, readers and librarians to complete the evaluation forms provided by the Human Library Organisation. We also wrote a report of the event with recommendations for the Inclusive Learning Communities Project Board.
Q) How could others benefit from this example?
Overall our event was a great success and definitely worth the time and effort put into doing it. It really does challenge prejudice in a hugely effective way and the support and guidance we had from the Human Library Organisation was invaluable. To find out more email library@mmu.ac.uk FAO Fiona Hughes
