I haven’t seen any reports yet
on the success (or otherwise) of the “Living Library” program that was
trialled last weekend in Malmö, in southern Sweden, although it had
some advance publicity in The Australian and on the ABC.

The
idea is that in addition to lending out books, the library would allow
you to borrow, for 45 minutes of conversation, one of a range of people
representing commonly misunderstood or stereotyped groups. It was
billed as a way of getting people to confront and overcome their
prejudices. (Anyone who understands Swedish can read more about it here.)

One’s
first reaction is that this is, if not a hoax, at least a typical piece
of loony Swedish progressive thinking. But they seem to be quite
serious – the ABC even got an assistant director general of Australia’s
national library to say that “it could well be something that would be
picked up by a public library service in Australia.” And it might just
be the sort of gimmick that would work where humourless moralising
doesn’t.

What I especially liked was the list of minority
representatives available for borrowing: you could get an imam, a
gypsy, a blind person, a homosexual, an animal rights activist, a
Muslim woman, a Dane (this is Sweden, remember). And, for those deeply
in the grip of an anti-social prejudice, you could borrow a journalist!
It would be interesting to know how many takers they got.