READ

Do college students read for fun? When I was an undergraduate, I didn't. I had been reading for pleasure all my life and was anxious for new and different experiences in college.

As a library school student, I've been reading a great deal. I am mostly drawn to novels that librarians and library students talk about--usually these are books about books like the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde or The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason.

I wonder if undergraduates would respond to lists of novels with themes related to their majors. The subject librarians could compile these with input from faculty. This idea has the added benefit of providing a connection between librarians and faculty members--a good excuse to ask "read any good books lately?"

A particularly effective time to promote pleasure reading on a college campus might be just before breaks: Check out a book for Spring Break @ your library.

These ideas were inspired by Wayne A. Wiegand's article, "Critiquing the Curriculum," in the January 2005 issue of American Libraries--although the article isn't about reading for pleasure on college campuses. Wiegand bemoans the fact that in rushing to make libraries part of information science, we're missing the fact that information science is only a part of libraries. Two beloved aspects of libraries have nothing to do with information science--the library as place and the library as a resource that supports reading for pleasure. He thinks these should be more highly emphasized in library research and more frequently taught in library school.     #

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