The Living Library
International Roma Day Living Library — Belfast City Hall
As part of a three-day International Roma Day festival, a Living Library was hosted in the Great Hall of Belfast City Hall, bringing together five Roma women as “human books” available for open conversation with members of the public. The event was organised to challenge stereotypes, share lived experience, and create meaningful dialogue between the Roma community and the wider public in Belfast. It formed part of a broader programme of community celebration and cultural events across the city.
The Living Library
A public engagement method that replaces stereotypes with real conversation — turning people into open books and strangers into listeners.
Phase 0: Logic Model & Topic Mapping
Identify the “Evaluation Gap” this method fills. It is best suited for communities where public misunderstanding or stereotyping is a documented barrier and public-facing events or festivals where a diverse general audience can be reached.
Primary Objective
To reduce knowledge gaps and challenge stereotypes by enabling direct, personalised dialogue between marginalised community members and members of the public — measuring shifts in understanding, empathy, and willingness to engage.
Key Interested Parties
Community members willing to share their stories (the “books”); members of the general public (the “readers”); an intercultural facilitator; the commissioning organisation or festival coordinator.
Part 1: The DIY Step-by-Step Method
Curate Your Books
Identify and recruit community members who are willing and ready to share their personal stories with strangers. These are your human books — the method lives or dies on the quality of this relationship.
The Details:
- Action: Hold one-to-one preparation conversations with each book before the event. Help them identify the two or three key themes from their experience they want to share, and agree clearly on what topics are in or out of bounds.
- Tip: Let books name themselves — a self-chosen title like “Roma mother navigating the school system” is more inviting than a label you assign. Ownership of the story increases confidence on the day.
Build the Room
Choose a venue that is neutral, accessible, and welcoming to both your community participants and the general public. The physical environment signals whether this is a safe space or a formal one — get it wrong and people won’t stay.
The Details:
- Action: Arrange the space in a series of small, face-to-face conversation zones — two chairs at a slight angle, a table nearby for notes or refreshments. Avoid rows or lecture-style layouts entirely.
- Tip: Embed the Living Library inside a larger programme of events if possible. A festival or celebration context lowers the threshold for participation — people are already in an open, curious mindset.
Brief the Readers
Before anyone sits down with a book, bring in an intercultural facilitator to brief the incoming public on what the Living Library is, how it works, and why respectful engagement matters. This step is non-negotiable.
The Details:
- Action: Run a short (five to ten minute) facilitated orientation at the entrance point. Explain the borrowing process, set expectations for respectful dialogue, and make clear that books have the right to close a chapter at any time.
- Tip: Frame the briefing as an invitation, not a set of rules. Language like “this is your chance to ask something you’d never normally get to ask” draws people in far more effectively than a list of dos and don’ts.
Open the Library
Run the borrowing sessions — readers choose a book, sit with them for an agreed time (typically fifteen to thirty minutes), and conversation happens. Your job as facilitator is to hold the space, not to direct it.
The Details:
- Action: Keep a simple sign-in sheet at each book’s station — first name of reader, time in, time out. This gives you attendance data and creates a natural moment to hand readers a short reflection card as they leave the conversation.
- Tip: Watch for books who are fatiguing — emotional labour is real. Build in scheduled breaks and ensure no book is “open” for more than two consecutive sessions without a rest period.
Close and Debrief
End the session with a structured debrief for your books — not a data collection exercise, but a genuine moment of reflection and thanks. The insights gathered here are some of your richest evaluation material.
The Details:
- Action: Gather books in a circle after the event closes. Ask two questions only: “What surprised you today?” and “What do you want people to carry away from your conversation?” Record responses with permission.
- Tip: Send a follow-up message to books within 48 hours — a brief thank you and a single open question. People often process the most meaningful reflections after the adrenaline of the event has faded.
Part 2: The Realist Pathway
Evidence Manifest
Documenting how the Mechanism was verified through specific data collection.
| Evidence Type | What it Proves | Data Source |
|---|---|---|
| Participation Attendance Volume |
That the method successfully attracted members of the general public to engage directly with community members — demonstrating public reach and that the format was accessible and appealing enough to draw people in. | Facilitator observation and sign-in records from the event; noted as “quite a lot of people coming in” during the session at the Great Hall. |
| Testimonial Participant Wellbeing Reporting |
That both books and readers found the experience meaningful and rewarding — indicating the relational mechanism worked and that emotional impact was positive for all parties involved. | Post-event verbal reflections from books and facilitator, described as “a very rewarding experience” across participants. |
| Replication Independent Re-Run by Community Partner |
That the method was understood, valued, and considered sustainable by the community organisation independently — the strongest indicator of genuine ownership and transferability, beyond what any survey could measure. | Roma Support Hub independently re-ran the Living Library at the Crescent Arts Centre without involvement from the original research team. |
Don’t just write a boring report. Use the stuff you actually gathered during the session.
The Debrief Quote Wall
The one-sentence responses you collected from books at the end of the session are your most powerful qualitative data. They are concise, authored, and emotionally resonant — far more compelling in a report than a paragraph of your own summary prose.
The Replication Stat
If your community partner independently re-ran the method — without being asked, without funding, and without your facilitation — that single fact is more powerful evidence of impact than any satisfaction score. It proves the method transferred and stuck.
The Reader Reflection Card
A single index card handed to readers as they leave a conversation — with two questions and a space to write — gives you structured qualitative data without the formality of a questionnaire. People fill them in while the conversation is still live in their minds.
The “One-Sentence” Report
“Because we used the Living Library, participants in our community felt seen and heard enough to open their stories to strangers — and those strangers left the conversation differently than they arrived.”