[Publib] books for a citywide reads program

[Michael McCulley]

Hillary,
 
There's a wonderful new initiative coming up soon, called "Big Read." From
the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the National
Endowment for the Arts.

>From the press release:
"The Big Read will be administered by Arts Midwest, a regional arts agency
based in Minneapolis, MN. The partners invite cities and communities
nationwide to participate in 2007. The Big Read will award grants generally
ranging from $10,000 to $20,000 to more than 100 communities to conduct
programs that encourage reading for pleasure and enlightenment. To find out
how your organization can submit a proposal to join the Big Read, please
visit: www.neabigread.org "

Find out more about it here:
http://www.imls.gov/news/2006/050906.shtm

While that won't help with your specific queries, I thought you'd want to
know about this initiative.

Best,
DrWeb
________________________________

P. Michael McCulley aka DrWeb
drweb at san.rr.com
San Diego, CA
http://drweb.typepad.com/

Quote of the Moment:
 Never let your schooling interfere with your education.
Saturday, May 13, 2006 2:32:31 PM 

________________________________

________________________________

	From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Theyer, Hillary
	Sent: Friday, May 12, 2006 9:26 AM
	To: publib at webjunction.org
	Subject: [Publib] books for a citywide reads program
	
	

	Hello PubLib,

	 

	For those who have organized a "one city one book" or "citywide
read" type program, where the goal is for your entire community reads a
single book and then attend programs, discussions, and the like, how do you
decide how many copies of the book to provide?

	 

	If you are giving the book away at various locations (at the coffee
house, at City Hall) and don't expect the books back do you buy more?

	 

	If you are providing library copies for checkout, and want enough so
that nobody has to wait, but do want the books back, do you buy fewer?

	 

	Do you do both?

	 

	Is there a ratio of a certain number of residents means a certain
number of available books?

	 

	Do you base the book purchase on library users rather than
population as a whole?

	 

	How did you determine how many books to buy, and what did you
discover?

	 

	Thanks,

	Hillary Theyer

	Torrance Public Library (CA)