I came across this amazing article that really inspired me. A few excerpts:

"The idea of a Human Library first emerged in Copenhagen about a decade ago, as a way to break down prejudice by bringing people of different backgrounds together for one-on-one conversation. The Toronto Public Library [TPL] held its first Human Library event at five branches on Nov. 6, attracting more than 200 users who checked out the likes of a police officer, a comedian, a model and a survivor of cancer, homelessness and poverty. They're all volunteers whose lives would make good reading, but even better one-on-one chatting. The library is considering make the program long-term, so a supply of human books will be regularly available to readers."

"...The cliche image of a library is a place full of books. But with more than 17.5 million users passing through its doors annually, TPL is acknowledging that its branches are also full of living, breathing people."

""With the Human library, it's a one-on-one experience and that kind of storytelling, from person to person, does harken back to centuries and centuries ago when a story was the only way to learn," says Anne Marie Aikins, TPL's manager of corporate communications. "It's an old technology.""