University of Nebraska-Lincoln first to embed Human Library into curriculum

In a groundbreaking move, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) will become the first University in the US to integrate the Human Library new online service into a course curriculum. 

Course to explore the cultivation of empathy

The new course aiming to cultivate empathy is spearheaded by Prof. Katherine M. Castle.

Research suggests that empathy can be cultivated to some degree. The goals of the course, titled “The Empathy Project”, offered by UNL’s Department of Communication Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences’ are to first enable students to move beyond a casual understanding of empathy and compassion toward a more nuanced understanding that recognizes them as inherently relational processes occurring and cultivated in communication with others. Second, and equally important, is to equip students with evidence-based strategies for cultivating empathy and compassion in their communication with (dis)similar Others. 

“Empathy is on the decline and we face a mental health crisis fueled by an epidemic of loneliness and dis-connection. We can no longer afford to take empathy and its cultivation for granted”, says Professor Katherine M. Castle, Ph.D.

Mandatory reading exercises

The idea for the collaboration came about after Castle connected with the founder of the Human Library, Ronni Abergel.

“After learning about the course to be introduced at UNL, it was clear that our new online learning space could be a great fit to help students”, says Abergel.

The initial offering has room for a total of 30 in this first semester and 16 students have already signed up to start this fall. In order to complete the course each student will be required to participate in a series of Human Library readings online. The aim is to have every student read a minimum of three books. Five for extra credit.

First of millions of library cards

The first batch of students will also get a special treat, as the Human Library learning exercise will be introduced live over Zoom by founder Ronni Abergel.

“This is a milestone for our organization and we are proud to partner with Prof. Castle and the Department of Communication Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I am hopeful that these will be the first of millions of library cards, that we will get to issue to students across the US”.

The Human Library Online

Starting in September the students enrolled will begin to receive their library credentials and get access to the new digital bookshelf, where readings are pre-scheduled and the readers can sign up for the topics of interest at a time most accommodating to them.

After each exercise the “readers” will be asked to evaluate the experience and the feedback will be included in the course evaluation.