Human Library Lets You ‘Check Out’ People From All Walks Of Life For A Chat

You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but when it comes to other people, sometimes we do.

Ronni Abergel a 42-year-old from Copenhagen, Denmark, is trying to change that with the Human Library, a place where individuals can “check out” people, or “human books,” for a 30-minute conversation, instead of a novel. “Sometimes you see someone in the supermarket and think things about them, but you don’t dare go ask them questions,” Abergel told Today.com. “I wanted to build a space where you can ask them anything because they volunteered to answer.” Abergel opened the alternative library in Copenhagen in 2000, and has since brought the idea to 70 countries, according to Today.com. The library has come to a few spots in North America like Vermont, San Diego, Virginia and Toronto, according to USA Today. Human books vary from people who are blind and deaf, bipolar, homeless and, in the case of a Rochester, New York, event, a white woman who grew up in apartheid-era South Africa.


THE HUMAN LIBRARY ORGANIZATIONOne of the organization’s posters.
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