Friday, August 21, 2015

The People You Can Check Out of the Library

Libraries are, increasingly, more than just books — they’re repositories of information, with all that knowledge made open to the public. You can scan decades-old magazines now stored on microfiche, check out CDs and DVDs (and maybe vinyl and VHS tapes if you have a device that can play them), and surf the Internet with reckless abandon. If a person’s experience or ingenuity is stored on a form of media, it may be available for check out.

But what about all that knowledge which isn’t written down or recorded — what about the oral histories? If an organization called “the Human Library” gets its way, you’ll be able to check that out of the library, too. That is, you’ll be able to check out that other person.

The Human Library aims to reduce stigma and prejudice through the power of storytelling.

More from Now I Know.

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