1. HUMAN LIBRARY @
CONCORDIA
Katharine Hall & Pamela Carson

2. Agenda
 Motivations for holding a Human Library
 Finding Books
 Interviews
 Website & advertising
 Day of the event
 Feedback
 Lessons learned
 Budget

3. Motivations for Holding a Human
Library
 Joint project between Concordia Libraries, the
Multi-faith Chaplaincy and Dean of Students
Office
 A way to involve the library in life of the
campus
 Support from the University Librarian

4. Finding Books
8%
Library Website (7)
13% 29%
Email solicitation (10)
8% Other (2)
Facebook (3)
Refered by other
42% Human Book (2)

5. Interviews
 Ensure suitability of human books
 Conducted 25+ interviews
 30-45 minutes
 Standard list of questions
 Most time-consuming part of the process!

6. Website & Advertising
 Website
 Posters and postcards
 Contacting departments
 Press releases

7. Preparation
 Orientation sessions for Books and library staff
 Human Book Catalogue (with descriptions)
 Advanced bookings
 Guidelines for readers
 Space: Room and human book lounge
 Little things: Signage, name tags, thank you
cards, volunteer t-shirts, library cards, metro
passes, child care

8. Advanced Bookings

9. Day of the Human Library
September 17th, 2011 11am-6pm

10. The Day of the Event
 Each conversation is 30 minutes
 Human books scheduled in 3-hour slots
 24 Books
 50 Readers
 93 out of 140 timeslots were booked

11. What the Readers Said . . .
This was an amazing experience, I hope that
this event is done again.
I realized I have a lot of knowledge myself and
should be a human book next time.

12. What the Readers Said . . .
I could read regular books on the same subject I
spoke about with the Human Books, but it
makes it so much better to hear it in person, face
to face. The experience is awesome. Thank you
so much!

13. What the Books Said . . .
It was very interesting to have other people open
up with their own stories. I learned a lot.
It gave me a space to be myself and to show
that I do have value.

14. What the Books Said . . .
I loved the positive attention, the care and
honouring of my story and my
experience, sharing relief and concern about
what I’ve been through and finding out what my
emotional landscape was in reaction to
questions and comments.

15. Lessons Learned
 Student librarian management
 Interview process
 Press management
 Needed more breaks for popular human books
(don’t have conversations back to back)
 Booking program would
have been helpful!

16. Final Budget
QUANTIT
ITEM Y COST
Flyers for incoming students 1500 $375.00
Refreshments for human books &
volunteers 30 $478.49
Postcards for distribution at library &
university 1500 $272.85
T-shirts for volunteers 5 $56.96
Travel (bus fare for Human Books) 5 $27.50
Posters (11x17 colour and 8.5x11 B&W) 200 $226.15
Room set-up $104.00
Professional Photographer $125.00

17. THANK YOU/MERCI