What is a living library?
Instead of reading an article or a piece of text, the Reedley College Living Library event is an opportunity to interact with a person and to learn about their life and their stories. It is an effective way to share topics that may be difficult to discuss. The roles of participants include "Books" and "Readers", each representing a person sharing a unique life story and a listener.
The Human Library
The RC Living Library is based on the notion of a Human Library. Each person has a unique story, and is therefore, a unique "book". This event is put on by a group of people who have agreed to discuss their experiences. Visitors to the event, the "readers," can "borrow a book" by having a conversation with a person they might not normally have access to. Every human book from the bookshelf represents a group in our society that is often subjected to prejudice, stigmatization or discrimination because of their lifestyle, diagnosis, belief, disability, social status, ethnic origin, or particular experience..
Reedley College’s version of the Human Library is the Living Library, and it was started by ESL Instructor Rebeca Al Haider. She was excited for it to become a way to reach out and share stories with the RC community. It is also a way for participants to learn many personal and moving stories about their peers and community members.
This year’s Event
This event was hosted at Reedley College and run by Tutorial Center Coordinator, Jim Mulligan, as a way for the community and students learn about a variety of topics. This has been an annual event that started in 2018 and that has taken place for the last six years. This year’s event was hosted on the quad between the student services building and Tiger Cafe. Students and facility walked around talking to the different “books,” listening and learning about various topics. This event allows students to have conversations and to open their minds. People were given an opportunity to hear perspectives on topics including Armenian immigrants, Judaism, Atheism, Sikhism, LGBTQ+ families, Ukraine, special learning challenges, loss of a pregnancy, and much more. These topics become attached to names and faces, making these issues more real and personal to all who participate. The RC Living Library continues to be an important annual event, one that gives participants a chance to share life experiences and to learn about all of the diverse "books" that are a part of our Reedley College community.
Comments