During this event, human books from the SU community representing a wide variety of cultural backgrounds, areas of expertise and life experiences will share their stories in conversation with individual “readers.” The event is intended to encourage diversity and challenge stereotypes and prejudices.

Human books—SU faculty, staff and students from a variety of campus departments—will engage in one-on-one or small group conversations for 20 minutes at a time. They will discuss different cultures, including Native American, Egyptian and Indian, as well as topics such as mental health, bullying, poetry and autism. Many of the human books will share stories of empowerment, self-discovery and overcoming obstacles to find success and happiness.

SU's Human Library event is part of a regional Human Library program taking place during April, the month in which National Library Week is celebrated, supported by the Central NY Library Resources Council. The first Human Library program was held in 2000 in Copenhagen, Denmark (see http://www.humanlibrary.org). Since then, similar events have been organized in libraries, schools and other institutions around the world.