Student Government president Peyton Mogley and Dean of Kent Library Barbara Glackin are collaborating to introduce the first ever Human Library to Southeast Missouri State University.

The new program will feature a system in which students are able to “check out” human beings instead of books.

“In a sense that person will have a title like a book does,” Mogley said. “And you’ll be able to sit down with them and discuss issues pertaining to their title.”

A student will be shown a list of the available topics and titles, where they will then talk with their human book face-to-face for between three and five minutes and gain firsthand knowledge of the topic from a person who has had personal experience.

The idea was offered by student Joseph Taylor, who was inspired by the same program held in the University of North Texas.

“I saw this idea and it inspired me to try and bring this idea to Southeast,” Taylor said. “It’s important to me because of the community that it brings. It helps to foster communication among everyone on campus, and among those who, on a day-to-day basis, may not be able to communicate. I really think it’s going to help bring people closer.”

Mogley became interested after Taylor showed her the idea through a trending Facebook video.

“Joseph is really the person who is the driver for this concept,” Mogley said. “What really caught my attention was that this concept is kind of a 2.0 version of the Diversity Talking Booths. I think that conversation last year ended on a really high note and I don’t want to lose that momentum. So I think to be able to put together a student-led, student-oriented project like that to keep the conversation going would be extremely beneficial.”

While the Human Library’s main focus is on topics pertaining to diversity, it will include many subtopics to cover the broader spectrum of this issue, including loss of loved ones, PTSD and refugees.

“We’re trying to cover a spectrum that isn’t always addressed,” Mogley said. “Oftentimes when people hear the word ‘diversity’ they tend to think about culture and race, but I’m talking about exploring way beyond culture and race.”

While the project is still in early development, plans are made for the Human Library to be operational by December.

“Right now we’re in the process of setting up through social media a way to reach out to people and raise awareness about the event, and find those who want to volunteer to be human books and share their stories,” Taylor said. According to Mogley, this week involves recruitment of people with stories to share, who want to become human books. Human book volunteer application forms are being created for this purpose.

The goal of the Human Library is to further a mutual understanding with Southeast and its students’ understanding of diversity and how it affects people. Taylor and Mogley hope this event will help raise questions never thought of before, and create an environment where the human book and their “reader” can feel open to discuss these questions.

“I hope this will foster an awareness between our students and those with unique facets of diversity in their lives and achieve clarity on campus,” Taylor said.

Mogley attested to this, saying: “It is my hope that the students take away [the idea] that diversity is a lot deeper than just the surface level. There’s so much underneath that we don’t see unless we take the initiative to see it ourselves. By doing this I hope that people on campus become advocates in a sense for some of these topics that we’re going to have … and have a greater understanding and appreciation for what some people might go through. So I hope this encourages people to come in with an open mind, and leave enlightened.”