So, what is a “Living Library”?
From this Times Online article, a “Living Library” is one that loans out a real person rather than a book for 30 minutes.
Depending on availability, the line-up of the human “books” are different. This seems like quite an interesting way to acquire knowledge. But I guess this might be a more effective method for some people rather than just reading a book.
“Living Library” first started as an experiment by Ronni Abergel at the Danish Music Festival in 2000 and it has toured most parts of Scandinavia.
It seems like Australia caught on to the concept of the “Living Library” quite a bit and about 4 libraries have set up such a service. The most active is the Richmond-Tweed Regional Library’s Lismore’s Living Library, which holds one session per month and they have about 15-20 “books” per session. They even have more than a copy of the more popular topics. Other libraries include the Gosford City Council’s Living Library and Swinburne’s Prahran Library. There is also a Living Library in Sydney that runs only once a year in October as part of the Mental Health Week there.
In other parts of the world, Canada’s Douglas College has also started a Living Library where students can “borrow”. And now there’s one in London.
Some notes on the “Living Library”:
- Living Library Seminar by Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP)