James White Library Living Library Event

Borrow a Human Book and Read

previousnext

The James White Library hosted a Living Library event from March 28–30, 2023, from 6–8 p.m. every evening, as part of the James White Library’s 85th anniversary celebration. Instead of patrons borrowing physical books or browsing through new arrivals, humans served as open “books” that readers could borrow and “read.” The public service desk at the Reference area served as the browsing table. The event featured 14 living books and 36 readers.

As they planned for the Living Library event, the anniversary committee set out to achieve the following objectives:

1. Connect with diverse groups of the Andrews University community on and off campus.
2. Learn, educate and change perspectives.
3. Gain deeper perspectives about life and how to overcome life’s challenges.
4. Create an environment where people with shared values and goals engage in conversations that promote learning continuously and collectively from the experiences of others.
5. Break barriers and bring learning into the open, where students can build academic and social networks for lifelong learning.

Based on these objectives, the committee developed a broad collection of human books comprising faculty, community members, retirees and staff with varying experiences as missionaries, entrepreneurs, historians, preachers, writers, leaders, bird watchers, librarians and more. The broad selection of “books” with their varied and rich experiences about life and work enhanced the narratives, making the encounter with readers highly informative, inspiring and entertaining—“edutainment.” The Living Library bookshelf’s topics included:

• Integrating faith with law practice
• Third culture kids as successful entrepreneurs
• Tackling reference questions in the library
• The uniqueness of the architecture library
• Leadership in a multicultural environment
• Life and challenges of cross-cultured kids
• Experiences of a couple in the mission field
• Birds and their nature
• What it means to be a preacher and a woman

The readers included students, members of the community and children. The children particularly enjoyed the narratives about birds and their behavior.

As is typical of the human library method, readers checked out a “Living Book” from the Human Library bookshelf (a collection of human books). The two or three engaged in productive conversations about challenging topics in a comfortable and safe learning environment. It proved to be an enriching learning experience for the participants as they conversed with people face-to-face about real-life experiences. The event had an organic flow, and each group determined the length of time per session. In most cases, the living books and the readers spent more than 20 minutes per session in conversation. Some books had two to three sessions per night; others had only one. It all depended on the number of readers to a book and the nature of their engagement. It was an opportunity for the University community to connect, share their stories, break barriers, and better understand each other. The environment provided a framework for open and honest discussions about important issues. It was an innovative approach to publishing people as books and for readers to learn from real people.

The readers completed a survey after the event. This survey showed the impact of the Living Library on the Andrews University learning community. The results revealed that the “books” effectively communicated their stories to the readers, and the conversations helped readers explore their understanding and adjust their thinking. Readers felt connected to others through the experiences, values and worldviews of the “books” and valued talking to someone with whom they would not usually engage in a conversation. For future similar events, they suggested that the event include students’ stories of transformation, issues of cultural shock in the mission field, international student issues, and additional topics that interest students more, and providing students with cocurricular credit, if possible, to increase attendance.

Overall, the Living Library event was fun and fulfilling for the “books” and the readers. There were plenty of refreshments to share. The “living books” were well selected, and reading them was informative, inspiring and educational.

Margaret Adeogun
Marketing Librarian
James White Library