The Living Library Project

Most people think of knowledge as a relationship between the knower and the known. Under this conception, to know is to know about.

This is not the only picture of knowledge. We can also conceive of knowledge as relationships between knowers. That is to say that knowledge is best shared between people. Under this conception, to know is to know with.

Virtual Alexandria has many resources to learn about things, but the Living Library Project is about bringing people together to teach and learn. To this end, we are creating a database of subject matter experts to augment the already impressive stacks of Virtual Alexandria. When customers of the Library ask questions or need skills that experts can best answer, a librarian contacts the expert to facilitate the best possible answer.

But the Living Library project goes far beyond simple questions. It also involves bringing together students and mentors to train in various skills. This includes mundane skills as well as subtler arts. The final aspect of the Living Library Project is connecting students and mentors for training in mystical/magical/mechanical wonders. Need to learn a programming language? We've got programmers. Need to learn how to walk the spirit world? No prob.


We take this sort of mentoring incredibly seriously and will help students and mentors participate in the exchange in a secure fashion. The Library creates temporary safehouses for instruction and engages in resonance encryption to prevent detection. Our saying around the Library is that it is never more dangerous contributing to the library as it is knowing the information in the first place.

If you are interested in becoming a subject matter expert/mentor for the Living Library Project, fill out our form here. Once we have built up our database, we'll create a portal for interested students. Direct all inquiries to virtual.alexandria.project@gmail.com.