Here is a link to a MSNBC video clip reporting on the surge in library use across the country:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/28165432#28165432
 

Here is an article from the Library Journal about the "Living Library".

If you would be interested in participating in something like this at the Kalona Public Library, as either a "Living Book" or as a visitor with a "Living Book," please comment on the blog or contact Anne at 319-656-3501 or at kaloplib@kctc.net.

“Living Library” Debuts in United States

By Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 11/15/2008

The “Living Library” movement, allowing library visitors to book half-hour meetings with individuals with special interests, beliefs, or experiences, has arrived in the United States from Europe, with the organizers proclaiming success for an inaugural effort October 18 at the Santa Monica Public Library (SMPL), CA.

Response to the event was “overwhelming,” organizers said, noting that all “the Living Books” were quickly reserved and that the event drew international news coverage. Among those offering themselves were a Buddhist, a teenager, a celebrity publicist, a person of Oaxacan background, a nudist, and a raw foodist.

One visitor, a Southern California librarian, wrote on her blog about meeting with a homeless advocate, who advised her that giving food coupons to homeless people is better than money, and why Santa Monica has such a large homeless population. The advocate ultimately imparted a moving story about how she had become homeless herself, and after she got back on her feet, she dedicated herself to advocacy work. “What started off as just a curiosity—so what happens at the Living Library, anyway?—ended up being a profound experience,” wrote the librarian. SMPL said it will host another such event in April 2009.

On October 25, the Bainbridge Island Library of the Kitsap Regional Library, WA, held the second U.S. “Living Library,” featuring, among others, an antiviolence activist, a former gang member, a person who is quadriplegic, a Muslim U.S. Marine veteran, and an atheist. The event was presented in conjunction with the library's One Community, One Book project, with participants reading Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird.

Danish antiviolence campaigner Ronni Abergel (pictured, in Santa Monica with all the “books”) founded Living Library in 2000 and has brought it to at least a dozen countries. “We live in a time where we need dialogue,” he told the Christian Science Monitor in June. “With dialogue comes understanding and with that comes tolerance and that's the mission of the Living Library.”