The story of the Human Library began at the Roskilde music festival in Denmark in 2000. That's where a nongovernment youth organization called Stop the Violence set up a small tent in order to spread their antiviolence message. They believed that people could better understand strangers with different backgrounds if they had a face-to-face discussion about their experiences in life. At the time, there were over 75 "books" available, including policemen, politicians, graffiti artists, feminists, and soccer fans. The crowd's response at the festival was so positive that Stop the Violence decided to expand the program overseas. Now there are over 45 Human Libraries all over the world and they are all organized by the Human Library Organization in Denmark. These libraries are run by Human Library organizers who are responsible for collecting books and lending them out to the public. A typical book catalog will include general characteristics about the person, or "book," that's being offered. For example, there might be a book called "Muslim" that lists the following characteristics: extremist, fundamentalist, aggressive terrorist. These are all popular prejudices toward Muslims. In other words, they're characteristics that people wrongly believe that every Muslim has. By listing these prejudices and giving people an opportunity to meet a real Muslim, the Human Library is trying to challenge the way people see other groups in society.
這世界充滿不同生活歷練、形形色色的人。有富裕名門，也有貧苦之人。有的人戰勝暴力與仇恨，有的人則從來不知恐懼為何物。我們都有自己的故事，但是什麼樣的方法最能好好地向他人訴說故事呢？你可以寫進一本書，或是更佳的選擇──親自當面告訴他人。這就是「真人圖書館」的概念。 「真人圖書館」的概念發想於2000 年丹麥舉辦的羅斯基勒音樂祭（Roskilde music festival）。由年輕人組成的非政府組織「停止暴力」（Stop the Violence），在音樂祭場地搭起小型帳棚攤位，以宣達反對暴力的信念。他們認為，如果人們能當面討論彼此生活經歷，就能對不同背景的陌生人更加熟悉。當時有超過75 本「真人書」可供借閱，包括警察、政客、塗鴉藝術家、女權運動者，以及足球迷。音樂祭的群眾反應熱烈，因此「停止暴力」組織決定將此計劃往海外拓展。 如今，全世界有超過45 個「真人圖書館」，並由位於丹麥的真人圖書館基金會管理。真人圖 書館基金會負責圖書館的營運，包括收集館藏以及開放大眾借閱事宜。 最典型的館藏類別包括「族群一般特性」（也就是所謂可供外借的「真人書」）。舉例而言，「回教徒」這本「書」可能會列出以下特性：「極端分子」、「基本教義派」、「激進恐佈分子」。這些都是大眾對回教徒的偏見。換句話說，它們是大家所誤信的回教徒特徵。而真人圖書館藉由列出偏見，並讓大家有機會認識真正的回教徒，來嘗試挑戰大眾對其他社會族群的觀感。 | 
