May Watanabe shares her story at last year’s Human Library event. Lily Merritt | Washtenaw Voice
By Brian Babcock
Staff Writer
It can be easy to judge someone without getting to know them, and The Human Library event at WCC is looking to change that.
Human Libraries have been around since the early 2000s, the first one taking place in Copenhagen, Denmark. Also called “Menneskebiblioteket,” the focus of a human library is for people to connect with others on a deeper level through their life stories—a human book.
Three years ago, WCC hosted its first Human Library event, as a part of an expanding global trend. Claire Sparklin is a full-time communications faculty member at the college and has overseen the college’s human library since its inception.
“I have been doing human libraries in my classes for probably eight or nine years at this point. The responses were just incredible,” said Sparklin. “At the end of the semester I have students anonymously give feedback for what they want kept for the next semester and again and again students would want to keep the human library.
“So, when the library approached me and said that they were looking to host a human library, I was all-in on that to see how we could support them,” said Sparklin.
Students, faculty, staff and anyone from the community can come in and “check out” a human book to talk to for a short amount of time. Sparklin said she enjoys seeing people learn about other people’s lives, and then reflect on their own lives.
“I adore having people experience this opportunity of either being able to share a story that they feel really motivated to share . . . And then really the readers come in and get to sit down and engage with people they normally wouldn’t . . . to be able to talk about meaningful things,” Sparklin said. “It goes beyond ‘how’s the weather?’ and ‘what are you majoring in?’ and really takes people to human experience.”
Molly Ledermann is a professional librarian who has worked on the ground floor of the Human Library at the Bailey Library. She says that it is an incredible experience for people to connect with each other over deeper aspects of life—the good as well as the more challenging.
“I think storytelling is so powerful and it can honestly change your day . . . change your life,” said Ledermann. “So I think the lasting impact of hearing somebody’s story, building empathy and discovering something about yourself along the way is so amazing.”
The Human Library takes place on March 25 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in WCC’s Bailey Library. Anyone who is interested in becoming a book can sign up by March 6 at the Bailey Library.
