Our campus is part of the Indiana University system. We are
mainly a commuter campus (some student housing) of about 8,500
students One Book, One Campus started in 2004. Part of our Librarys
mission is to foster intellectual discovery and encourage lifelong
learning, and this project meets these goals by encouraging people
to read a work that will challenge and provoke thought and dialogue
among students, faculty, staff. We were tied to the general
educations campus theme programtheme chosen each year, overseen by
a faculty member, book related to the theme & faculty were
encouraged to incorporate both theme and book into their classes
(not required) Campus theme used to have a budget for speakers. One
book, One Campus never had a budget, so fundraising each year is an
issue. Been a One Book, One Michiana Partner with our Public
Library since 2010. This also has no budget on our campus
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What Works
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Always have had strong programming. Especially when the works
chosen fit well with numerous courses Fadiman==nursing program
adopted, additional gen ed courses Do Androids Dream of Electric
Sheep==Computer Science, additional gen ed courses There are no
children here == Freshman U100 course, additional gen ed courses
From the very first year of the program, Ive had the opportunity to
witness how a book can bring people together in conversation.
Students have told me that theyve changed their mind about not
enjoying non-fiction after spending time discussing one book titles
(War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning, There are No Children here,
etc.) Word of Mouth Advertising begin promoting book as soon as
possible to professors Big Speakers/Author? Work with campus
development office & partner with various campus departments
Bring in speakers who are also willing to talk to a class or group
of classes in addition to lecture Faculty presentations related to
books work really well (and are cheap) Found that the programming
tied well with the classesgave the students an additional
perspective on what they were reading than just their
professors.
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Five Things Ive Learned with OBOC & Reading Promotion You
need to be flexible, able to assess what is not working, and adapt
to change Administrators Change (or their opinions may change) and
what was once a hot idea may hit a rough patch in terms of
institutional support you need to be ready and adapt Have a great
event or strong outside publicity? Capitalize before it is
forgotten Collect data Be excellent at the rest of your job (this
helps you find goodwill for your ideas about reading promotion,
even in rough times)
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Selection Process & Unpopular Choice = Popular
Programming
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One thing Ive learned is that you have to identify what is not
working and change. One feature of our program was a votebooks were
nominated by students, faculty and staff & then voted on. A
nice idea that led to some fun works over the years, but also led
to some titles that left faculty and students cold. Not enough
people voted also, to justify continuing the practice. One noteeven
when a title was unpopular (Like the Communist Manifesto) we still
had strong turnout for programming. People may not have wanted to
read it, but they wanted to hear our faculty talk about it.
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Challenges & Lessons Learned One BookOne Bibliography?
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As previously noted, the campus vote led to some problematic
titles that were leading the program away from its original goal
(uniting the campus community in discussion around a related work
doesnt work if no one is reading it!) One suggestion was that we
just have a reading list based on all of the nominations. At that
point, it was time to reassess the program and make some changes.
Here is a bit more detail about the 5 lessons I have learned
through this process:
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Changing Course
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Flexibility and Adaption to Change We used to tie our One Book
program to the campus theme each year. Issues with that program led
to delays in our getting our book selected each year, which caused
publicity problems Working now on a trial basis with a freshman
course and softening ties to theme program Book Selection For many
years tried to select through campus vote problematic Faculty who
commit to teaching the book should select
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Assessment Data
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Assessment Data You will Need Administrators Change (or their
opinions do) and what was once a hot property (listed as a campus
strength in higher learning commission report) can hit a rough
patch (my Marx experience) Assessment Data You will Need to Justify
to Administrators: Which classes are reading it? How many people
are attending related programming? strong programming numbers
helped me in making my case to Dean & other campus
administrators Did the faculty find the program beneficial for
their students? having this data helped me move program to freshman
class- Did the students who read the work find the programming was
beneficial in their understanding of the work/course content? For
Other Reading Promotions: Circulation Statisticsdo these books
circulate after being promoted? Have a great event or strong
outside publicity? Capitalize before it is forgotten. Take a lot of
photos (I wish I had for some events too late to go back and get
them now!) Have a program evaluation sheet and use the data you get
from it.
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Future Questions & Advice
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A final bits of Advice about One Book programs There will
always be critics of the program, titles chosen, events planned,
etc. Develop a rhino hide and keep an open mind sometimes the best
ideas come from your critics Tie the book with classes (and student
clubs) from the start Find people who are willing to help you
Delegate if you are only one doing the work, there can be problems
if you have to take a family leave or your workload changes.
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One Book, One Community
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One Book, One Michiana Partner for past three years (To Kill a
Mockingbird, Rocket Boys, Sherlock Holmes) One of many community
partners What Did Really Did Not Work: Holding an event on a
Saturday (know your audience were mostly a commuter campus, no one
is here on the weekends) What has worked: Outside speaker (public
library was willing to share expenses very important) Having one of
our faculty give a presentation on the book (on a weeknight) this
really brought out our student audience, many of whom did not know
about the public library program but they wanted to hear their
professor speak. For many of our students professors have better
name brand recognition than speakers you would pay for. Partnering
with our alumni associationwe do not have a budget for our
participation, so when the alumni association helped with a
reception, that was a huge help it also has increased ties to the
association for our library, which is wonderful outreach. What Id
love for the future: One year having our public librarys One Book,
One Michiana & One Book, One Campus be the same book