Human Library Volunteer Announcement
We need help in the organization of the Human Library! Volunteers are welcome!
Human Library will be held at FASS on Tuesday November 26, 2024 between 5.30 PM – 8.30 PM.
Your help will be needed during the date of the event (26 November, Tuesday). Please, fill out the form in this link until Wednesday, November 13, so we can plan your role and your time for the Human Library event. We cannot promise about your preference about your role as we need a large number of volunteers, but we will try to prioritize one of your preferences.
If you want to be a volunteer at Human Library event, you must attend the training for volunteers which will be held on Tuesday, November 19 at 19.40. Being a Human Library volunteer is a very fun and rewarding experience. You don't need any special expertise to help, but you need to respect the rules of the Human Library and, of course, our Books and Readers. We will teach you everything you need to know in a special training session. If you already volunteered for the Human Library before, welcome again. :)
Read below for further information about Human Library:
Human Library is an international non-profit project dedicated to the diversity in our society, organized by volunteers. Human Library mission is to build a constructive dialogue between people from different social groups. Human Library works the same way as a normal library; Readers fill a library card, choose a Book from a catalog and borrow it for reading. Then they return the Book back to the Library, and if they want, they take another one. The only difference is that the Book in the Human Library is a real person, and reading is a conversation. Books are individuals from the social groups that often experience stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination and who are willing to share their personal history, experience and knowledge, and respond honestly to the questions of Readers.
Human Library is a public cultural and educational activity aimed at developing dialogue, tolerance, and understanding between different social, professional, religious, and ethnic groups. Human Library is an opportunity to learn more about different people who surround us.
You may have heard about prison guards and prisoners, about transexuals and gays, about adopted and handicapped, about homeless and etc. You may or may not know them closely in your regular life, but surely, you have some opinion about these people (and many, many others). However, did you actually get a chance to personally, openly and informally talk to members of these groups? Do you actually know how they live and what they feel? Are you sure that what you think about people actually reflects your personal opinion and not just adopted stereotypes imposed on you by society?
At the Human Library you get a unique chance to face your stereotypes, learn more about different people, and to form your personal unbiased opinions. Human Library has some simple rules that create a safe environment allowing informal and personal communication between members of very different social groups, which may be very difficult (if not impossible) to have in the everyday real world environment.
The conversation between Reader and Book is a free dialogue, and it is possible to ask any question. For example, you can ask Books about their life experiences, feelings, and problems in society. Living Books will try to sincerely and friendly answer all your questions. They are ready for difficult and naïve questions. They are willing to share their experiences and to discuss stereotypes and prejudices. After reading Books at the Human Library you can get a better understanding of different people, including your own family members, friends, co-workers and even yourself.
On 26 November 2024, we will hold the meeting of Books and Readers at Sabanci University. Please, feel free to join us; it will be an extremely interesting, unique and valuable experience.
Visit our website for more detailed information: https://cip.sabanciuniv.edu/en/human-library