The library that lets you take out people who are left on the shelf - by David Rennie in Brussels (Filed: 25/08/2005 - Daily Telegraph)
A
public library in Holland has been swamped with queries after
unveiling plans to "lend out" living people, including homosexuals, drug
addicts, asylum seekers, Gipsies and the physically handicapped.
The
volunteers will be 'borrowed' by users of the library, in Almelo, who
can take them to a cafeteria, and ask them any questions they like for
up to an hour, in a scheme designed to break down barriers and combat
prejudice. The library's director, Jan Krol, said yesterday he had been
deluged with requests from prospective borrowers after his project was
reported in the Dutch media. Almelo,
a prosperous town of 72,000 people in the Twente region of east
Holland, is not known as a hotbed of Amsterdam-style liberalism. The
people-lending scheme was conceived as a local project, designed to
encourage the solid burghers of Almelo to make contact with members of
ethnic minorities and other marginalised members of society but caught
the imagination of the Dutch press.
"It
has raised a lot of interest, great number of people have already
called with questions like: 'Do I need a library card?" said Mr Krol.
Borrowers of people will not need a card, he said, though one will
remain necessary for more prosaic items, such as books. There will be
no fines for returning people late, he added. "Most meetings will last
45 minutes, we imagine. You can ask anything you like, but racist or
strong language is not allowed. To avoid unpleasantness, all meetings
must take place in the library café."
Mr
Krol, who said he was inspired by a similar scheme in Sweden, has
already filled many of his volunteer slots, and hopes to launch the
project next month. He said: "I've got several gay men, a couple of
lesbian women, a couple of Islamic volunteers, I've got a physically
handicapped woman, and a woman in real poverty who has been living on
social security benefits for many years". Mr Krol said he was
especially keen to find members of Holland's small Roma Gipsy community
after a recent attack on two Gipsy families in the city of Enschede.
Under
the scheme, photographs and short biographies of the volunteers will
appear in the library, and on its website. Library users who wish to
take a person out can apply for an appointment. Mr Krol said he had not
cleared the scheme with his municipal bosses.
"Oh, I never ask the council before I do anything," he said. "And there are no costs at all, only two cups of coffee."
Tags: library
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