By KAYLINA CALZADO
Staff Writer
Students and faculty came together as a community on Saturday to learn more about each other through the stories shared in person rather than on page. The Human Library called for participants to “unjudge” each other for its second year at the Neil Hellman Library.
Kate Moss, the outreach Librarian at the College, coordinated the event with the help of her graduate assistant, Mary Kate Durkin. Both Moss and Durkin gathered 18 volunteer “books” for this event, making for a more open storytelling atmosphere to make conversation and share stories that some people of the college were not able to share before.
Students, and even some faculty, were given the chance to write their own stories of their life and, rather than just sharing it on paper, tell it to readers, or patrons who were interested in their stories and wished to hear them.
Such stories bounced from asexuality, domestic abuse, grief, and feeling stuck between two different communities–along with many more.
Those who told their stories were referred to as “books,” engaging with the reader to get to know more about each other. In order for all readers to interact with all the books that catch their attention, each interaction is given 20 minutes: the first 10 reserved for an introduction and the reader “reading” from the book, hearing their story, and the last 10 left for any questions from the reader.
This format of the event helped to connect everyone from Saint Rose, and the active participation between books and readers alike created a laid back environment that embraced that connection. This result proves exactly what Moss hoped to achieve by coordinating this event, bringing everyone together as a community.
Moss said she found inspiration for this event after she made a visit to Williams College in Massachussets a couple of years ago. Williams College had created a Human Library event as part of an international movement. Participating as a reader, Moss got to interact with other patrons at the event and learn about different preconceptions, thoughts and ideas that she wasn’t aware of until then. This inspired Moss to allow for that same learning environment here at Saint Rose, not only just bringing the community closer together but also opening up people’s minds on others who they may have never got to know before. Others who likely wouldn’t have been seen on the same playing field if met online or read in a book.
The Human Library offers that chance to learn more about these people in a close setting, giving more room for the book and reader to understand each other without any misconceptions.
“When you see somebody across from you face-to-face and you’re actually talking to that person, it’s not that easy to dehumanize them, it’s not that easy to insult them, it’s not that easy to see them as less than,” said Moss. “You are kind of forced to see them as a human like yourself.”
Stories that are shared are very personal, and in a safe and comfortable setting, it can feel more relaxed to share a story that means something. Having a mental health counselor at the event was a caution that cemented what the Human Library expresses itself to do, which is opening the minds of different people while also being respectful of one another. The mental health counselor, Sabrina Balbuena, helped to ease anyone at the Library who needed her services.
“Nowadays, when we’re all so busy with schoolwork or other responsibilities or technology, sometimes we don’t get as many opportunities to connect with other human beings kind of outside our small social circle,” said Balbuena.
As part of the Counseling Center, Balbuena gains perspective on what it’s like for students who, if feeling isolated or overwhelmed, can go to Counseling to be able to adjust themselves better in such a fast-paced environment. The Human Library event allowed for that ability to talk to different people and open up a little better one-on-one.
All readers and books not only got to understand each other, but also bond between different interests. Whether it’s over the present climate concerning politics, racial issues in the U.S., horror in film & comics, and science fiction stories–all conversations open up a chance between the Reader and book to feel comfortable with one another and learn more from each other.
On a day where books are brought to life and connections are made, the Human Library embraced what a community is all about.
