Cool idea. Santa Monica (CA) Public Library hosted the first U.S. Living Library event on Saturday. The Living Library concept, which started in Europe as a way to challenge prejudice and reduce violence, allows “library visitors to book half-hour meetings with individuals with special interests, beliefs, or experiences.” Organizers said that “all ‘the Living Books’ in Santa Monica, which included “a Buddhist, a teenager, a celebrity publicist, a person of Oaxacan background, a nudist, and a raw foodist,” were quickly reserved” and they’re going to do it again in April 2009.
Next Saturday, the Bainbridge Island Library of the Kitsap Regional Library, WA, will hold the its own Living Library, which will feature “an antiviolence activist, a former gang member, a person who is quadriplegic, a Muslim U.S. Marine veteran, and an atheist.”
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