Pixel International Conferences

The pandemic of COVID-19 caused a lot of damage to people’s minds and feeling of security and confidence. This led to the exploration of new ways to cope with difficult situations. Not surprisingly, one of these ways appeared to be reading. The subject of this paper is one very interesting method of reading, which appeared in the beginning of the century and gained high popularity in the last 5 years. This is the "Human Library", which offers its readers to borrow, instead of paper or e-books, people. These people willingly tell their stories and freely talk about their differences, answer their readers' questions in the name of breaking some stereotypes. This difficult task turns the "Human Library" into a unique method that creates a safe environment for communication and overcoming prejudices. The study aims to present the essence and good practices of this movement, being interested in its history and development over the last two decades. The research methodology includes a documentary and content analysis (internal and online desk research). Relevant sources were studied as follows: the official web page of the Human Library organization, articles from Forbes, The Economist and The Guardian magazines, the social impact company GOOD & Upworthy etc. The study is focused on the concept of this method in the context of the “Human Library” (HL) organization and its widely spreading work [1]. Thanks to the HL organization, this method has the potential to be developed and used in different regions, especially where the number of prejudice victims is high. Its name, inspired by the centuries-old institution is also a reference to the transformation of libraries and their process of becoming social centers with modern role in the future information society. The “Human Library” is a great example of communication, encouraging participants to be honest with strangers, having no fear of judgment and also their readers have the chance to get a different point of view and break some of their own stereotypes. This research is a part of the project „Study of Attitudes to the Therapeutic Potential of Reading in Atypical Situations for the Individual” financed by the National Science Fund of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Bulgaria with Contract № КП-06-Н45/2 from 30.11.2020.

Keywords: book, communication, human, library, prejudice

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