Human Libraries in Cyberspace and Human Space

The Human Library is a new entry into the types of libraries we are familiar with. It is a place where human being instead of paper hold content and are on loan to readers. A Human Library is a library, where one can borrow human books (real people) for a specified time limited session as per the guidelines of the library. Instead of content in paper or audio files, here content is in humans. The readers can have a healthy face-to-face conversation with their human book. Readers can ask any question related to content and clear their doubts. Human books provide instantly customized information to the clientele in an interactive mode. Such interactions are more meaningful when readers listen to human books, ask queries, get answers, laugh with them, cry with them, feel about their situations and experiences, etc. This paper defines Human Library, human book, digital humans and human space in comparison with traditional space where we keep content. The benefits of human books to different types of users are also discussed. Authors opine that the public libraries should come forward to make use of Human Library concept to provide customized services to those who are otherwise unreachable. The paper is an attempt to sensitize the public libraries about the possibilities of Human Library