SWEDISH LIBRARY'S LIVING LOANS
A Swedish library has adopted a novel approach to the challenge of breaking down negative stereotypes by offering borrowers the chance to loan a living person.
In a fresh twist to the idea of being ‘on the shelf’, the Malmoe Library in southern Sweden will make available nine new additions to its collection over the weekend.
“Maybe not all journalists are know-it-all and sensationalist, just unafraid and curious. Maybe not all animal rights activists are angry and intolerant, but intelligent and committed,” said Ulla Brohed, the coordinator of the living library scheme.
“You sometimes hear people’s prejudices and you realise that they are just uninformed,” Ms Brohed said.
The ‘items’ on loan will include an imam, a journalist, a Dane, a homosexual, a Muslim woman and a member of the Romany, or Gypsy, community.
The ‘Borrow a Bias’ project will give borrowers 45 minutes to confront the prejudice of their choice in the library’s outdoor café.
It is not clear whether the library will impose late-fees if borrowers are late returning their loans.
“It’s a fun idea. Prejudice is something you have when you don’t know each other. If you confront each other, then the prejudice is broken down,” Lilian Simonsen, the Dane who will be on loan, said.
“We would like to test whether there really is such a difference between Danes and Swedes, as many people believe,” Ms Brohed said of Lilian Simonsen’s involvement.
The librarian said the Danes and Swedes have too little contact and that people living in the north of Sweden tended to find the Danish language incomprehensible, according to a report on the Danish Foreign Ministry’s official Denmark website.
Such conditions provide a fertile breeding ground for misinformed beliefs and preconceptions.
But,at least in launching the living library project, Swedes and Danes will soon have one more thing in common.
Copenhagen’s multicultural Norrebro neighbourhood has laid claim to initiating the idea.
A Swedish library has adopted a novel approach to the challenge of breaking down negative stereotypes by offering borrowers the chance to loan a living person.
In a fresh twist to the idea of being ‘on the shelf’, the Malmoe Library in southern Sweden will make available nine new additions to its collection over the weekend.
“Maybe not all journalists are know-it-all and sensationalist, just unafraid and curious. Maybe not all animal rights activists are angry and intolerant, but intelligent and committed,” said Ulla Brohed, the coordinator of the living library scheme.
“You sometimes hear people’s prejudices and you realise that they are just uninformed,” Ms Brohed said.
The ‘items’ on loan will include an imam, a journalist, a Dane, a homosexual, a Muslim woman and a member of the Romany, or Gypsy, community.
The ‘Borrow a Bias’ project will give borrowers 45 minutes to confront the prejudice of their choice in the library’s outdoor café.
It is not clear whether the library will impose late-fees if borrowers are late returning their loans.
“It’s a fun idea. Prejudice is something you have when you don’t know each other. If you confront each other, then the prejudice is broken down,” Lilian Simonsen, the Dane who will be on loan, said.
“We would like to test whether there really is such a difference between Danes and Swedes, as many people believe,” Ms Brohed said of Lilian Simonsen’s involvement.
The librarian said the Danes and Swedes have too little contact and that people living in the north of Sweden tended to find the Danish language incomprehensible, according to a report on the Danish Foreign Ministry’s official Denmark website.
Such conditions provide a fertile breeding ground for misinformed beliefs and preconceptions.
But,at least in launching the living library project, Swedes and Danes will soon have one more thing in common.
Copenhagen’s multicultural Norrebro neighbourhood has laid claim to initiating the idea.
This bit of news is really a raucous joke on the state of affairs in far too much of the West. Can you imagine the signing out of a Resident Homosexual for a good "reading" by the local "homophobe", or vice versa? How about "reading" a Catholic Priest Who Is Not A Pedophile, or an Orthodox Christian Who Is Not A Theocrat? How about reading the Democrat That Is Not A Marxist or the Republican Who Does Not Hate Children (you know, those folks who support unfunded education mandates)?
I imagine there must be some sort of ground rules associated with borrowing a particular object of prejudice. Surely one could only ask the plainest questions of the above-mentioned Imam, or perhaps the Resident Mormon, without even the pleasure of Socratic dialogue. Why? Because borrowers would be restricted, I should think, from "changing" or "corrupting" or "vandalizing" the very living texts on loan at the library.
Imagine a crafty evangelical signing out a Real Agnostic and, in the process of confronting his intellectual nightmare or his deepest prejudices with diverse arguments and Bible passages, the evangelical leads the Agnostic to accept Christ as Savior. Surely the evangelical would not be returning his subject "in the same condition in which it was originally borrowed." Think too of an Intelligent Husband signed out by myriad women intent on observing such a rare sight. Surely there would be no poking and prodding or dog-earing allowed. Surely there could be no handing him an iron or a can-opener to see if he can use either with flawless skill. Surely there could be no taking him into the Ladies lavatory to see if he leaves the toilet seat up or presses the toothpaste tube in the middle. Surely he can't be tested in a women's shoe store, or trusted with little children at dinnertime; or asked "Does this dress make me look fat?"
Really, just think of the nightmare awaiting librarians everywhere as they posit restrictions on usage, and determine the condition of items returned (and yes, collect those late fees).
"Today, on our New Arrivals shelf, please find a Neo-con who supports George Bush's illegal war in Iraq."
"Psst. Excuse me. Librarian? I am no longer a Neo-con. This morning's time with the Democratic mother really made me a different person. I am now a Quaker with a twist: I believe in war, but only against oppressors like George Bush and ..."
"Oops. Quick. Get in the Bargain Bin."
It is sad that the remedy for getting to know one's neighbor; to walk a mile in another's shoes, or to understand another person's quite different perspective from one's own, has come down to a type of prostitution.
Contratimes
©Bill Gnade 2005/Contratimes - All Rights Reserved
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