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?
Yeah. Also, open-source software is never going to catch on for the same reasons...
Are you kidding me? I love the idea of this program!! I have done some fairly interesting things in my life and if there was some sort of library nearby me where I could register to talk about it with anyone interested, I would put at least a few hours a week into it. You get to meet people who are interested in something you know about and want you to talk about it, it just sounds like a social blast to me.
Maybe this is missing its point on slashdot because of the whole "social" part of it.....?
If you can't say something nice, make sure you have something heavy to throw.