Given all the recent campaigning to save our UK libraries from closure I was fascinated to come across an initiative called 'living books'. Of course it's in North America, where else? The example I saw was in Surrey, Canada where they are about to open a new city library and will be lending out human beings alongside the more usual fare.
I'm intrigued as to how this will work. How many can you have at a time? Are they wrapped in plastic covers? Are there different ones for kids, teens and adults? Do you stuff them in your bag and take them home with you? Do you pay their bus fare? And what happens if you're late bringing them back? And what about the smell, do they have that library book smell?
No, it seems readers 'borrow' a living book, who are all volunteers, which basically means they can sit and talk to them about their particular specialist topic over a skinny latte in the cafeteria.
And unlike real books it's not a one way street - the reader doesn't just read the living book, the living book reads the reader too.
Unnerving yes, but fascinating and actually quite inspiring as to the possibilities.
Unnerving yes, but fascinating and actually quite inspiring as to the possibilities.
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