You won’t find these books on any shelf. They’re actually people with diverse life experiences who volunteer to share their stories and answer questions on a one-on-one basis.
Returning for a second year, the Long Beach Human Library event will have “human books” available for 15-minute check-outs at Leadership Long Beach’s Idea Fest at Orizaba Park, 1435 Orizaba Ave. on Saturday, May 30 from 11am to 5pm. This year’s “books” include a mortician, a poet, a public breastfeeding advocate, a retired police officer, a Holocaust survivor and more.
The human library was designed to promote dialogue, reduce prejudices and increase understanding because everyone uses stereotypes at least some of the time. Research has shown that the more people from different groups are in contact with each other, the more stereotypes are reduced. The human library is a prime example of contact-based prejudice reduction, according to the event’s organizers.
Today the human library is a worldwide phenomenon, operating on six continents and 60 countries, local organizers said.
For more information, contact Long Beach Human Library coordinator Rachael Rifkin at lifestories2day@gmail.com or visit on.fb.me/1PDUVah.
The event is produced in collaboration with Leadership Long Beach (leadershiplb.org), Idea Fest (ideafestlb.org), Gladys Ave Urban Farm (facebook.com/GladysAveUrbanFarm), Life Stories Today (lifestoriestoday.com) and Sole Searching Long Beach (solesearchinglb.org).
To read about last year’s Human Library event, visit signaltribunenewspaper.com/?p=24005 .
Source: Rachael Rifkin
