Planning and Implementing Community Reading Initiatives: SUNY Fredonia’s Big Read Program

1. Planning and Implementing CommunityReading Initiatives: SUNY Fredonia’s Big Read Program Presented by: Dawn Eckenrode, Randy Gadikian and Scott Richmond SUNY Fredonia June 18, 2010

2. What is the Big Read? • A 2004 report by the National Endowment for the Arts found that literary reading in America is declining rapidly among all groups, especially among the young. • The Big Read gives communities the opportunity to come together to read, discuss, and celebrate one of 31 selections from U.S. and world literature. • Each community event lasts approximately one month and includes: a kick-off event; events devoted to the book; events using the book as a point of departure; and book discussions in diverse locations and aimed at a wide range of audiences. • The Big Read began as a pilot project in 2006 with ten communities featuring four books • June 2010: more than 800 grants have been awarded to communities in the U.S. to host Big Reads since the program's launch.

3. Books We’ve Done: Big Read 2008 Big Read 2009 Big Read 2010

4. Big Read Grant: • Big Read Grants: $2,500 - $20,000 • 75 awards per year • Application due in March • Notification in April • Reader’s guide, teacher’s guides, audio guides, publicity materials When applying, be sure to enlist the help of your campus’ Office of Sponsored Programs! Also, look for matching sources of funding on campus and in your community!

5. Potential Costs: • Speaker fees • Consultant fees • Traveling exhibit fees • Copies of selected book • Advertising • Venue rental • Display materials • Performance rights • Travel

6. Building Community Partnerships: • Chautauqua-Cattaraugus County Library System (38 libraries) • 20 school districts (including pre-schools, middle schools, and high schools) • Adult homes • Bookstores • Museums • Prisons (including facilities for juveniles, men and women)

7. Putting on the Ritz: Organizing a Big Read • Purchasing agent • Faculty recruiter • Columnist   • Radio “authority” on literacy • Grant-writer • Financier • Executive producer, producer, screen writer, casting agent, and actor

9. Big Read Programming: Exhibits and Displays Dancing Theatrical performances Lectures Musical Performances Book discussions Mock trials Literary readings Film showings Classroom curriculum Bird watching Pot luck dinners

10. Faculty Participation and Campus Partners: • Lend Expertise • Lead discussions • Student Involvement

11. Service Learning and Civic Engagement • Service-learning is as an educational experience that goes beyond volunteering to balance service and academic inquiry. Service-learning connects campus and community by integrating community service into academic curriculum, providing opportunities for students to reflect upon their experiences, and striving for equal benefits for the students and the recipients of their service.

12. Supporting Academic Goals through Library Instruction: Offered a series of three classes: • Traditional database research • Social networking technologies: Twitter, Blogger, Flickr • Creating Effective Library Displays ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards: 4. The information literate student, individually or as a member of a group, uses information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose. 3. The information literate student communicates the product or performance effectively to others. Outcomes Include: • Chooses a communication medium and format that best supports the purposes of the product or performance and the intended audience • Uses a range of information technology applications in creating the product or performance • Incorporates principles of design and communication • Communicates clearly and with a style that supports the purposes of the intended audience

13. Creating a Virtual Community:

14. Impact on Student Learning: “My students benefited from the opportunity to work with library professionals and community members, developing rhetorical awareness and sensitivity. Although a few complained that the workload was heavy at times, the real-world setting gave them the valuable opportunity to navigate interpersonal, professional, and intellectual dynamics, and to take responsibility for their work. The experience allowed us to theorize the relevance of academic literary studies to real-world literature readers and to explore intersections between the two. It also gave us the opportunity to consider such large and complex issues like the literary canon, public sphere discourse, and the implications and possibilities of their own education.” - Dr. Emily Vandette

15. What the Students Say: • “I learned that I had skills of analysis, intuition, and a natural ability to discuss literature that I didn’t entirely realize I had before participating in the Big Read.” • “The fact that this interaction went well has given me confidence in my abilities to interact professionally with the real world. Also, participating/moderating a discussion with complete strangers was an excellent way to improve on both my public speaking and presentation skills. This kind of experience has not been present at all during the 4 years I have spent at Fredonia.” • “I gained confidence and ownership of my knowledge. I finally realized that maybe everything I had learned in college could really help me in the real world. “ • “I gained the closure that there is some real world relevance to being an English major. I know feel much more comfortable going into the world knowing that some of the skills I’ve learned have a place in society.”

16. Spin-Off Projects: • “In Search of Antonia Shimerda” film project • Storylink • Traveling theater troupe to visit prisons • Graduate student led reading program at local adult home • National Endowment for the Humanities Small Grants to Libraries: Louisa May Alcott

17. Tips for hosting your own Big Read • Ask for donations • Take advantage of free advertising • Personal and/or formal invitations will increase attendance • Know the demographics of your audience(s) • Take advantage of campus networks and resources

18. Selected Bibliography: "Big Read Boosts Libraries." Library Journal 131.10 (2006): 15. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text. EBSCO. Web. 14 June 2010. Dempsey, Beth. "BIG READ, BIG ROI." Library Journal 133.19 (2008): 26-29. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text. EBSCO. Web. 14 June 2010. Halverson, Kathleen, and Jean Plotas. "Creating and Capitalizing on the Town/Gown Relationship: An Academic Library and a Public Library form a Community Partnership." Journal of Academic Librarianship 32.6 (2006): 624-629. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text. EBSCO. Web. 14 June 2010. Kranich, Nancy. "Civic Partnerships: The Role of Libraries in Promoting Civic Engagement." Resource Sharing & Information Networks 18.1/2 (2005): 89-103. Computers & Applied Sciences Complete. EBSCO. Web. 14 June 2010. Price, Lee. "Libraries Take the Big Read Challenge." Public Libraries 47.1 (2008): 42-45. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text. EBSCO. Web. 14 June 2010. Riddle, John S. “Where's the library in service learning?: Models for engaged library instruction.” The Journal of Academic Librarianship 29.2 (2003): 71-81. Web. Westney, Lynn C., and Kathleen De la Peña McCook. "Conspicuous by Their Absence." Reference & User Services Quarterly 45.3 (2006): 200-203. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text. EBSCO. Web. 14 June 2010.