World Book Day - the Whittaker Library recalls the LGBT Human Library

Last year, as part of LGBT History Month and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland's own Bridge Week, the RCS's Gender Equality Society ran a Human Library. This was to get people talking openly together about their sexual orientations, gender presentations and identifications. It also increased the visibility of LGBT students and staff within RCS.

A Human Library is one made up of people, instead of books. Visitors came along and picked a person to “loan out” i.e. chat to for 10 minutes. There were 15 “books”, who all identified as part of, or are an ally of, the LGBTQI+ community.* They all chose a title for themselves as a book for a “conversation starter”, e.g. “Binary Breaker”, and these were displayed on the wall around the library.

Both the “books” and the people who visited the library experienced meaningful conversations around gender and sexuality. This also allowed a space for those who are part of the RCS LGBTQI+ community to connect and talk about their shared experiences.

These conversations were captured in an informal setting, after the project, with all the books listening to each other. We hope the openness, frankness and complexity of each individual book comes across, as it really was an enriching process for all who took part.

You can have a look at one or all of the books by visiting the Human Library here.

* LQBTQI+ stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, Questioning and Intersex

While You Were Away ...

During Bridge Week, our students are so busy pushing the boundaries that they don't make it into the Whittaker Library quite as much as usual. 

Don't for a minute think we've been resting while you were away!  

• We've added new stock, we've blogged, and we've tweeted.  
• We've ordered new books to support our students in their personal lives as well as their studies - watch this space, because we'll tell you when they arrive!
• We've thought about useful online web resources for essay assignments coming up, 
• And we've talked about National Library Day.  (Send us your shelfies on Saturday!)

Mind you, we've been part of Bridge Week too, because we've hosted the Human Library every lunchtime.  The only remaining question is this forthcoming performance about a sad librarian.  We hope we didn't provide the inspiration?!

Visit The Human Library, 2-6 February 2015 at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

The Whittaker Library has a "human library" this week - it's one of the events organised by our students during Bridge Week.  If you are passing by, do come and "borrow" a human for a conversation as part of LGBT History Month.  There are 6-8 people available to chat with.
No date stamps will be used, and we ask you to treat the human books with the same respect you'd show our conventional book stock!