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augustana human library
The augustana human library was an event hosted by the Augustana Campus Library from 2009 until 2024.
A human library is an initiative in which people called 'Readers' who want to learn about a specific topic 'check out' people called 'Human Books' for an hour of conversation. At the augustana human library, human book topics included sexual and gender diversity, racism, physical and cognitive challenges, and more.
The augustana human library achieved multiple awards, including:
- University of Alberta Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Award (2018)
- ALA Presidential Citation for Innovative International Library Projects (2017)
- The Association of College and Research Libraries Women and Gender Studies Section Award for Significant Achievement in Women and Gender Studies Librarianship, awarded to Nancy Goebel (2015)
Human Book Recordings and Catalogue
The University of Alberta Library is not currently offering human library events, but you can watch archived video recordings and read the list of past human book titles and descriptions:
- augustana human library video collectionAccess the augustana human library video collection on Aviary. The recordings represent a small sample of human books who shared their lived experiences of prejudice, discrimination, or harassment (or other unique life experiences).
- Human Book CatalogueA complete listing of all the human books in the augustana human library since its inception.