Library creates blog to gather students' input

The Chester Fritz Library is reaching out to students in a new way with an online blog about their Popular Reading Collection, where students can make comments about books. The Popular Reading Collection program started in 2002, according to Reference Librarian Kristen Borysewicz.

"It's changed, though," she said. "It's geared more toward bestseller items and that wasn't always the focus, but that's what students are looking for."

The Student Senate gave initial funding in 2002, but the funding dropped in recent years and was picked up again this year.

"The university budget was not really sufficient, and we really wanted to get it updated," Borysewicz said. "The library funding would have run out in December, but with the new senate funding, we can go through the summer and get a lot more items."

Student input

In order to draw attention to the newly funded program, the reference librarians launched the blog so that students can get involved. "We were kind of working on it over the holiday break," she said. "It's really going to depend on student input if we want to keep it going, if it's something that students like." The credit, Borysewicz said, goes to the Student Senate.

"Everyone should thank their student senators, as this is definitely a student-focused program, and they deserve recognition."

She said that she hopes people become interested in the blog. "I hope they want to share information on books, commenting like this in a centralized spot, so that we know what people want," she said.

Suggestion forms are available on the blog, in the library and the UND Bookstore. The UND Bookstore helps the Popular Reading Collection by telling the library what the top sellers for college students are and giving a discount on the best-seller titles.

"They give us a very good discount," Borysewicz said. "They're helping out in a lot of ways and money goes back to the university. The sales of the books and the cooperation for the program benefit everyone involved."

Reading's value

The program is specifically tailored to UND students, she said, explaining that only students can borrow the books from the Popular Reading Collection and that the checkout time is shorter, at 30 days. "Theoretically, the shorter time is because there are a lot of people wanting to read the same title," she said.

Borysewicz said that reading could be misunderstood as something stressful and unpleasant. "I think reading is a good way to relax. You can really get engrossed in virtual reality or gaming, and I think that reading someone else's story is a great way to escape," she said. "You can go to another land, time or place, and reading should be a consideration for people who are looking for a way to relax."

"It is really important to read," she said. "You just can't read too much, and it doesn't always have to be from textbooks to be valuable."

Borysewicz said that all types of reading, from newspapers to novels could help in speed and accuracy professional reading. "There's a term in the field, 'lifelong literacy', and it's not just when you're in school with textbooks," she said. To read the blog, visit: http://popularlibrarians.blogspot.com/.