Swedish library loans humans to combat intolerance

"A Swedish library, realizing that books are not the only things being judged by their covers, will give visitors a different opportunity this weekend - to borrow a Muslim, a lesbian, or a Dane."

Scandinavian libraries have developed a creative program to combat prejudice. The latest incarnation lets patrons of the Malmo city library book a brief conversation with members of various religions, nationalities, professions, and even sexual orientations. Programs like this recognize that public libraries have a role to play in communities that goes beyond merely providing access to their internal and virtual collections. A natural extension of the public library ethos of intellectual freedom is the promotion of the realities of the new pluralism.