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City of Melville Brings Books to Life
Don't judge a book by its cover – find out about different cultures and life experiences at Western Australia’s first Living Library.
The City of Melville is launching its Living Library program at Bull Creek Library on Monday, 5 November 2007. The program, which is the first of its kind in WA, will initially run for a week and then hopefully be expanded to other libraries in the future.
The Living Library program focuses on celebrating diversity, understanding, cultural differences, and different life experiences.
A Living Library works just like a normal library with people visiting the library to hire out a “book” for a short period of time before returning it. The major difference is that in a Living Library the “books” that people borrow are in fact people.
These “books” can enter into a one-on-one dialogue with their readers where they can discuss their experiences and engage in conversation with the reader in a relaxed environment.
Mayor Katherine Jackson said the Living Library program was an exciting new initative for the City of Melville libraries. "The concept is similar to talking books except real people deliver their own personal stories,” she said. “The advantage of this is that they are animated and can answer listeners’ questions, which adds a new dimension to the library experience.”
Mayor Jackson said the Living Library program was designed to offer readers an opportunity to meet and talk with people from different walks of life. “Some of these people or books represent discriminated or misrepresented groups in our community, while others represent people who have faced adversity in their life,” she said. “By telling their story, they have an opportunity to educate, inform and change people’s prejudices or opinions about them.”
First introduced in Denmark in 2000, the Living Library program has become internationally recognised with phenomenal results.
Books participate in a voluntary capacity with a chance to share their experiences, stories and wisdom to create a better understanding of their lives and the lives of people similar to them.
If you or someone you know might be interested becoming a Living Book or would like more information about the Living Library program, contact Cultural Development Officer – Multicultural, Marcia Coelho on 9364 0660 or email mcoelho@melville.wa.gov.au.