COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Libraries have always been known to give a wealth of knowledge, but on Thursday, Texas A&Ms's Sterling Evans Library provided students with a different currency.
At their annual "Human Library," students were able to check out a "human book," allowing others to open up and tell their stories (with titles and all!)
"It's a person who is sharing a story that they decided they needed to be heard," said campus librarian, Leslie Winter.
The conversations between "book" and library goer are between total strangers.
"Various people with various different backgrounds are getting to explore stories, and for some of them share things for the first time," Winter said.
From that open dialogue, powerful experiences have been uncovered by many.
Winter noted that she, "heard for the first time that someone came out. Here. spoke the words out loud. There are victims of sexual assault who are sharing their stories. and you think about how powerful it is to say something."
For many, participating in the annual event takes courage, with people even sharing their stories of survival.
"I had a tumor in my salivary gland; so in my jaw in front of my ear," Leia Johnson shared with her "reader."
The, often courageous conversations lead to meaningful connections, Like that of student and "human book," Alycia Sherback.
"I talked about being a Zoroastrian. It's an ancient religion from Persia. there's only about 100,000 of us left in the world. It's a very rare faith, and I moved here from Canada six years ago, never met a single Zoroastrian, and last year, I met my very first one here at this event."
That connection started a meaningful friendship.
While people who check out the human books may not always end up keeping them long past they're "due," at the end of the day it's all about opening avenues for interactions you may not have on normal circumstances.