Slashdot Mirror
Canadian Library to Loan Out People
Wouldn't it be easier to learn Chinese from a native speaker than from a book, or explore a religion from an actual practitioner rather than words on a page? A library in Surrey, B.C. thinks so and has introduced a "human library" program. Visitors will be able to "check-out" real people to learn about their experiences and specific knowledge. From the article: "...The goal is to break down stereotypes and start discussions, said deputy chief librarian Melanie Houlden. 'What we're aiming to do is bring the library to life for people. There are huge repositories of experience and knowledge in their own brains,' she said." As long as you stay out of the horror section, this sounds like a great idea.
How can this idea even be sustainable? You're going to find a sufficient number of people willing to give up their time to do these things for complete strangers with no guarantee of compensation?
It is a library, right? Free to join, no cost to check out? Where are the revenues going to come from?
"Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
Female anatomy, that is.
The Science Fiction department should be blast!!
I think I'll check someone out under the "sex ed" category.
Only one question: can I "check out" hot girls?
"None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
The concept is interesting, but I don't think it would work all that well in execution.
What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?
can i check her out for overnight?
"I'd like to read up on Creationism and Chiropractic, please."
"Certainly, you can borrow Canada's Minister of Science and Technology, Gary Goodyear."
(I shit you not, this is the case. Sad.)
Trolling is a art,
I want to learn everything about KamaSutra. Please, give all the girls with deep (lol) experience in the area....i mean books.....girls.....books.....
When I fail to return them?
As part of my linguistics program I had to 'reserve' a paid volunteer and document his or her language -- in my case, Mongolian. You find out so much more when you're face-to-face with a native speaker: colloquialisms, slang, formality, etiquette... Code-switching. It's absolutely incomparable to traditional learning-by-rote that you get from books/software.
Book checks out you!
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
This kind of idea has been around for ages, for example: the University of Guelph's Living Library.
What about cooking lessons?
Yeah, its like they could get people to write down their life lessons and experiences, and then bind those pages together and loan out the bound pages. We could call them bopages or something catchy and hook the kids.
11 was a racehorse
12 was 12
1111 Race
12112
I teach at a university. Students who pay user fees, called tuition, check me out for a whole semester. Not only can I share my "repositories of experience and knowledge" by teaching, but I also have additional features like writing letters of recommendation. As an added bonus, students who check me out the entire semester, rather than putting me in the "drop" box, and follow my directions carefully, can earn credit toward a degree.
That's waisis.
Lend, dammit!
Amy Pond is in the library. Amy Pond has been saved.
I'm checking her out.
I'd like a Blond, 25 and 38/24/36 please. I'll have her back next week. Thanks-
"Computers are a lot like Air Conditioners" "They both work great until you start opening Windows"
I can see it now.. PERVERT: Excuse me miss, can you please point me to the kamasutra section... LIBRARIAN: Down 12 isle to the left. That section is a bit busy today, the end of the line is at isle 4. PERVERT: Ok, how about lusty romance? LIBRARIAN:: Isle 6, end of the line is at isle 5. PERVERT: Thanks! Oh and can you recommend any good books to read while I wait?
I've read about it being done in a few cities in Poland. It's more of an art happening then a practical thing. The "exposition" is made of members of different kind of minorities (one Jew, one atheist, one gay person, etc.) who you can "borrow" and talk to. Neat idea and of course it's been protested by homophobic morons.
The project is called ywa Biblioteka (alive library) - http://www.zywabiblioteka.pl/ .
Have gnu, will travel.
If I register as a fundamentalist Christian that's politically progressive and believes in evolution, will they stick me in the fiction section? Or maybe they'll be generous and put me in European history.
You're getting it all wrong. You'll be getting Ms Komsolosski (F, 57yrs, 273/149/240) and she will explain to you everything you aim to know. And if she's in a good mood, which she is on seldom occasions, she may provide you with a few tips on how to get to that blonde.
I want to borrow a sexy milf with a hairless honeypot to pop my man-cherry.
Can I check out a nymphomaniac?
"or explore a religion from an actual practitioner"
Absolutely not.
In the case of religion every practitioner has radically different views of what there religion is and they almost all have warped views of the history of there religion.
Almost all book on a religion will give you far more facts about it then any of its practitioners.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
I could see so much room for abuse. Many people would talk about what it's like to be somebody else.
A: "So, what's it like to be a Liberal?"
B: "Well, we're emotional, logical, intelligent, caring, financially sound, down to earth, loving...pretty much everything that Conservatives are not."
testing out my trending skills
That reminds me a book I read
Deschooling Society by Ivan Illich.
...the stupidest idea ever published on Slashdot.
How is this not like hiring a teacher for something?
Isn't this already called "tutoring"?
you forget, the chinese government has been actively exporting its surplus population.
You have always been able to "explore a religion from an actual practitioner rather than words on a page." Just go to church.
It's a bit tougher if you want to explore Judaism and there is no local synagog. But the Mormons have always been willing to "loan out" not just one, but two missionaries for your curiosity. Jehova's Witnesses will also loan you out some "actual practitioners." As for Chinese lessons, try WOW.
How sad is it that people think real life can only be experienced through books. Books are great. But sometimes it helps to put the book down, walk outside, and say hello to your neighbor. Who knows, they might speak Chinese or practice a religion.
This happens every so often here in sweden.
To my business model which is to say that if someone was new to my city and was a lone and needed a guide then I would have one of my friends be their friend for a certain length of time and show them the sights and just be a real good friend in general. Of course since this is a business I would need to charge them a certain base amount based on various factors. My business model is serving me quite well actually.
...And not one reference to Head Museums from Futurama?
Slashdot, I am disappoint.
When I was learning about the human reproductive system.
I can just imagine some horny teenage male going to the library to check out a sex worker in order to "for an extra credit assignment in sex ed class"
I need a wheelchair van for my son. Help me get the word out. https://www.gofundme.com/wheelchair-van-for-jj
Didn't Phssthpok have access to other Protectors at the Library? Thanks Larry Niven!
This has been done at ALA (American Library Association) conferences for a little while now. The focus is a little different - learning about someone different from yourself and how they experience the world (and learning about your own assumptions and prejudices in the process). But this is really cool that it's being implemented on a larger scale in a library (libraries, from the other comments), and I like that it adds value to the experience of a library at a time when there's a lot of assumptions that Google and the Internet can replace what librarians do.
(from a librarian in training)
Sexual Education!
Wheres the porn section...
who prays for Satan? Who in 18 centuries has had the humanity to pray for the 1 sinner that needed it most? ~Mark Twain
The library's book collection is selected with care. Who will curate the collection of people? Nobody. Hence, it will be filled with self serving people looking for business leads from investment advisers to divorce lawyers and people who have little expertise but are convinced they know a lot about something. Can you imagine the uproar the first time a librarian tells someone that they are not qualified to discuss some subject?
Fahrenheit 451's people who memorized books and related them orally thereafter. And now we have come full circle from ancient times when story tradition was aural. I'm going to build fires and gather people around and recite, from memory, Linux documentation.
Hmm, this has been reported several times previously, starting around 11 years ago ..
http://humanlibrary.org/press-archive.html
OK, only 3 years after USA Today (and NY Times) got to it:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-10-17-1940310534_x.htm
Pretty soon slashdot will be the place to go for news for nerds and stuff that matters. Oh, wait.
What if I am a 45 year olds white man ?
Can I still check out the teen and college romance sections?