Check Me Out!

Now this is an interesting concept…

Living Library

Okay, first I have to say how cool is that return system? Seriously, that’s the sort of stuff those of us who run circulation dream about at night. Yes, I know I’m a pathetic nerd.

Now on to the meat. Honestly, the first thought that crossed my mind was that I could think of two people who would probably sign on in a second. One of them would probably try to put on 3 different banners, the other would probably try to sign up as a Republican just to mess with people’s heads.

Being the intellectual East-coast liberal that I am, I thought this is a great idea. What’s better than people sitting down in civil conversation, trying to get to know each other and understand each other? Then I remembered that I live in the U.S., and not Europe. If we tried this here, the Transvestite would probably wind up trying to strangle the Conservative with her pantyhose while the Gun Rights person reached for his AK-47.

But seriously, this is yet another indication of how libraries are changing all over the world. We are no longer static repositories, but are becoming active centers of community learning. We are the common ground where people come together to learn not only from our books and our staff, but also from each other.