The New European Trend: Libraries "Lending" People

-- Library Journal, 09/01/2005

In some European countries, public libraries have begun "lending" people—members of minority and other groups who could educate people and reduce their prejudices. The city library in Malmo, Sweden, for example, recently made a gay person, a Muslim imam, a journalist, an animal rights activist, and a member of the Roma group available for 45-minute chats, according to the AP. The "Living Library" project, introduced at a festival in Denmark in 2000, has also been tried in Norway, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Hungary.

In the highly-liberal Netherlands, the library in Almelo added a few more categories to its list, including drug addicts, asylum seekers, and the physically handicapped. Library director Jan Krol said media reports led patrons to sign up quickly. "Most meetings will last 45 minutes, we imagine," he told The Telegraph. "You can ask anything you like, but racist or strong language is not allowed. To avoid unpleasantness, all meetings must take place in the library café." The library posted photographs and short biographies of the volunteers in the library and on its web site. Krol noted that he didn't need any clearance for his decision. "Oh, I never ask the council before I do anything," he said. "And there are no costs at all, only two cups of coffee."