Image credit: Suzanne Silitch.

Human Library

Ever talk to a book? More than 240 members of the Williams community had that chance at the Human Library in the Paresky Center Feb. 10-11. A living library in which the “books” were students, faculty and community members that readers could “check out” for 30-minute conversations, the Human Library included titles like Fat Woman, Iraq War Veteran, Olympic Athlete and Orphanage Boy. The goal of the program, says organizer Magnus Bernhardsson, a history professor and Gaudino Scholar, was to “make us better readers of our community and the various challenges people face on a daily basis.”

The Human Library was founded in 2000 in Denmark to promote human rights and social cohesion. Williams’ was the first Human Library in Massachusetts.