It is a good idea to spend some time before you start recruitment thinking about what your ideal Books will be like and brainstorming the channels of communication which will help you reach them. It is tempting to send out a lot of social media posts or emails to distribution groups in order to contact as many people as possible in one go, and this can sometimes yield results. However, in our experience, a one to one contact with someone you already know, or a friend of a friend, is more likely to result in a successful recruitment. Remember that you are asking someone to commit themselves to doing something that involves placing a lot of trust in you. Below is a sample email which was used at the University of Huddersfield to recruit Living Books.
Someone who already has experience of talking about their identity and lived experience is more likely to say yes to your approach. It's a good idea to think about people you know who are already advocates or activists and have started sharing in this way via social media, articles and newsletters or giving a talk in your institution.
So a personal approach is often best. Once you have exhausted the possibilities from your own team's network you may like to try the following ideas to contact people you don't know who may be interested:
It is obviously important that your Living Books understand exactly what they are signing up for and making this clear from the beginning is a good way of minimising people dropping out. A Commitment and Expectations agreement should set out clearly the Living Book's commitment to the Human Library team and also the team's commitment to the Living Book. Here is a sample Commitment and Expectations agreement which was used by the University of Huddersfield's Human Library team.
Training is a very important aspect of preparing your Living Books to take part in a Human Library. It's an opportunity for them to consider how they are going to present themselves and also how they would turn away any unwanted or intrusive questions. Some Books may need reassurance and you can provide this by talking about safeguarding measures you will have in place, for example counsellors or mental health first aiders.
Training can also help with planning the event, for instance you can spend some time talking about the schedule (how long will readings and breaks be?) and the kind of space your Books would feel most comfortable in - for example one large room or smaller individual ones. It is also a good place to consider what ground rules you are going to ask Readers to adhere to.
Time permitting, it's desirable to give your Books an opportunity to think about and share an introduction to themselves and their story, in pairs or small groups. Finally, it's important to leave plenty of time for questions and to make it easy for your books to ask questions after the training, either by email or by setting up a Teams channel for them to share their queries with other Living Books too.
Here is an example Powerpoint presentation of a training session which was run at the University of Huddersfield to prepare for a Human Library event in 2023.
Feedback from Living Books indicates that one thing they appreciate and would like more of is peer to peer support. Particularly when they are in the process of preparing for the Human Library, it's good for them to be able to chat to each other and get ideas and reassurance. Training sessions are a good place to introduce Living Books to each other and it's great if you can get all your Living Books to attend one session, though that won't always be possible. After training, it can be useful to set up mechanisms for peer to peer support, which might include:
Other times when peer to peer support is really important are during and immediately after the event. During a longer event, breaks will need to be scheduled and it's best if you can give your Living Books a shared space or "Green Room" to spend the breaks apart from the Readers. If they have had a difficult conversation with a Reader, this will be an opportunity to talk about it with other Books or with a member of Counselling staff.
After the event, it's good to schedule a debrief meeting, maybe after a short break. Some Living Books we asked for feedback reported that this was the time when they felt most vulnerable, questioning themselves and what they had said, feeling that they had shared too much of themselves or given a wrong impression. It's also a great time for the Human Library team to gather immediate feedback which can be useful for further planning. If possible, it's good to have a member of Counselling staff available to attend this debrief too and offer Living Books the opportunity to have an individual conversation with them.
Supporting your Living Books on an ongoing basis beyond any training sessions is an important part of preparing for the event, but one which it is easy to overlook. It's a good idea to have one or two members of the team who take responsibility for this.
It doesn't need to be an onerous job, but just keeping in regular touch by email or phone, or popping round for a quick chat to answer any questions can be vital work in making sure your Living Books feel looked after and can help prevent people dropping out.
Challenge stereotypes and tell your own story!
Are you like an open book and do you have experiences that readers could benefit from learning about? Are you motivated to help challenge stigma and stereotypes through dialogue and personal conversations?
The library is planning to run a Human Library event in [date]. In case you’re not familiar with the concept, a Human Library is a place where people can come to borrow (for a short period) a “Living Book”, a person who is willing to talk about their lived experience. Human Library events are organised in order to promote understanding and acceptance between people and to break down prejudices and preconceptions. Human Libraries have been held in a number of HE establishments over the last few years. More information about Human Libraries is available on the Human Library Organisation website.
To run our own Human Library event, we need a number of people who are willing to talk about their lived experience, answer questions and help to educate others. Previous examples of ‘living books’ have included groups in our society that are often subjected to prejudice, stigmatisation or discrimination because of their lifestyle, diagnosis, belief, disability, social status, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, gender identity etc.
The aim of the event is to empower people to tell their own story within a safe environment and encourage others to think beyond societal stereotypes and open themselves up to learning. If this sounds like something you would like to be involved in, please email your interest to [name of contact].
Full training will be given prior to the event. You will be supported throughout the process by the event organisers, a Wellbeing & Disability Services Counsellor as well as Mental Health First Aiders.
