The History of Human Library

The History of The Human Library
Once upon a time in Copenhagen, Denmark. There was a young and idealistic youth organisation called "Stop The Violence". This non-governmental youth movement was self initiatied by the five youngsters Dany Abergel, Asma Mouna, Christoffer Erichsen, Thomas Bertelsen and Ronni Abergel from Copenhagen after a mutual friend was stabbed in the nightlife (1993). The brutal attack on their friend, who luckily survived, made the five youngsters decide to try and do something about the problem. To raise awareness and use peer group education to mobilise danish youngsters against violence. In a few years the organisation had 30.000 members all over the country.

In 2000 Stop The Violence was encouraged by then festival director, Mr. Leif Skov, to organise acitivites for Roskilde Festival. Events that would put focus on anti-violence, encourage dialogue and build relations among the festival visitors. And the Human Library was born, as a challenge to the crowds of Northern Europes biggest summer festival.

The reasoning behind the methodology
One of the main concerns of the inventors, Tobias Rosenberg Jørgensen, Sune Bang, Asma Mouna, Dany Abergel, Philip Lipski Einstein, Christoffer Erichsen and Ronni Abergel, was what would happen if people would not get the point? Or if the audience just simply did not want to be challenged on their prejudices?. Well given that there was a total of 75 books available, the conclusion made was that with so many different people, put together in a rather small space for a long time, they are bound to start reading each other. From the moment they ask the other book what their title is. And that will be the opening question of all books on the first day. And so it was to be. Before the first reader could take it a book, the talks where going on intensively and the feeling of something special was in the air. The policeman sitting there speaking with the graffiti writer. The politician in discussions with the youth activist and the football fan in deep chat with the feminist. It was a win-win situation and has been ever since.

Free to the world
The services of the Human Library has always been free to its public. From the very first event, up to this day. The same goes for new organizers that want to start working with the methodology. An idea with a potential and purpose such as this must be free for all and that is the philosophy of the inventors. Soon after the first event, Peter Wootsch of the Sziget Festivals Civil Island, staged an event in Hungary and after that another was introduced in Norway. In 2003 Mrs. Antje Rothemund the director of the Council of Europe´s European Youth Centre in Budapest, made the methodology a part of the human rights education program. Since then the Council of Europe has been the biggest supporter of the development and promotion of Human Library programs. Today a majority is hosted within the public library sector. Others are located in educational institutions, festivals, books fairs and other relevant settings.

Crucial partners in the development
One of the creators, Ronni Abergel, realising the potential of the idea, decided after the first event, to begin to work to promote the idea to potential new organizers. Since then he has travelled to many countries to organize launch events and present the idea to interested organisations and public authorities. One of the first organizations to take ear to the idea, was the Council of Europe. Without the support and dedication of the Nordic Minister Council and the youth directorate of the Council of Europe. This idea might never have had the chance to reach a global audience. Through the past six years the respective organisations have been crucial partners in the development of the Human Library. From supporting the production of the manual to helping with funding for launch events in different countries. From the very beginning Mr. Peter Wootsch of the Sziget Festival, Mrs. Antje Rothemund from the Council of Europe and Mr. Joachim Clausen from the Nordic Minister Council, have been tremendous allies of the Human Library.

Cost efficient acitivity
Further to having good partners to realise the project. The Human Library has another advantage to organizers around the world. Its not very expensive and can be organized no matter how big or small your budget is. The biggest ressource needed to facilitate a Human Library is time and idle hands to do the tasks. And due to this great quality it has been possible to stage events in a wide range of countries and with very little funding. This feature has made it possible to present Living Libraries in Romania, Iceland, Finland, Norway, Italy, Holland, Slovenia, Belgium, Portugal and Australia - to mention a few.

An idea with global appeal
The inventors quickly realised the global appeal and potential and since then have worked to promote the methodology to potential organizers. The goal is to make sure the Human Library reaches it full potential and is applied into use as much as possible in communities around the world. One of the first books in the original Human Library at Roskilde Festival, was the policeman Erik Pontoppidan (posing in the photo) from Copenhagen Metropolitan Police Department. His experiences and much more interesting information, can be found in our "guide" to organizers. Located in our ressources for organizers section you can also find templates for evaluations, marketing material and all what you need to get started with your Human Library.