Alexander Findley Community Library - The Big Read

On Thursday, April 23rd, at 5:00 PM Alexander Findley Lake Community Library hosted it's first ever Big Read event.

So, what is the Big Read? 

The Big Read is a program sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). This program is aimed at inspiring a love for reading in people around the country. The Big Read as a whole was in response to studies and statistics that our nation's youth is reading at historically low rates, and this leads to negative social, economic and civil consequences. To find out more about these studies, you can check out the 2004 NEA report Reading At Risk for the most comprehensive report on how much people are reading in our nation ever compiled. For a report focused more on what this means for the future of our country, check out To Read or Not to Read.  The future of our nation depends on our youth, and this program targets them in hopes of reversing this startling trend. The most shocking aspect of this entire experience was how little known this issue is among the average person. All it takes is a read over of the executive summary from each report, and you can immediately grasp the scope and seriousness of this issue. If we don't do something about this issue now, our country's future is in jeopardy. This is already showing up in comparisons of reading proficiency of countries around the world, as the United States has fallen behind many countries and cities across the globe. These two issues are connected because we know reading less erodes reading proficiency. See the graphic below.

The NEA comes up with a list of books that communities around the country can pick from, and here in Western New York we chose The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. In coordination with the Library Director Melissa Froah, I ran the first ever Big Read event at the library. My goal was to inspire the audience to express their love of reading, as well as make them aware of the whole purpose of The Big Read. My event drew an audience of five people, and in comparison to the other events you can learn about on this blog, this doesn't seem to have been very successful. However, I think it is important to acknowledge that this was the first time this library has hosted an event, while many of the other libraries have had a Big Read event several times.

 Being the first event at the library, Melissa Froah gave me full power over choosing the entire structure of the program. I planned to use the concept of food from the time period to get people thinking and talking about different definitions of what is 'American'. There is an interesting debate among scholars of what actually consists of 'American' cooking, and I wanted to use this as starting point to discuss whether or not where we come from influences our definition of American. This would also function as a bridge to talking about the definition of 'American-ness' in the novel, as the text is very much a production of the time period it was written in. The American Dream was in full swing, and this concept is a hotly debated topic among the average person because of the growing opinion that the American Dream is either dead or only a fraction of its former self. The picture you see to the left is a mock pantry of food items with original advertisements and labels from the time period.

 While I had much planned for discussion, this was altered at the last minute based on the attendance and what I thought the audience would be most interested in. With a local scheduling conflict keeping most students and parents tied up, I decided to focus my presentation and discussion about what exactly the Big Read is, and why exactly I was there. I went over how the Big Read has grown since its inception in 2007. See the maps below for a snap shot of how the program numbers have grown in 8 years.

In 2007, The Big Read began with 10 communities and 4 books. Since then, it has grown to over 70 communities in 31 states, including a list of over 20 books.








In the end, the purpose I saw in this project was to create awareness of the issue. This project was part of the English Senior Seminar course, which is required for every English major in order to graduate. I thoroughly enjoyed this project, and I want to thank Melissa Froah for being so cooperative and open to different ideas. This was a learning experience for both of us. Being an English major, this project just felt like an extension of issues I already care deeply about. However, it is impossible to care if you are not aware of the issue. This is something I have learned in my second major, Public Relations, about empowering a public to act. In order to achieve some type of result, the first obstacle is making your audience aware of the issue so they can become an active participant if they choose. I saw this project as an opportunity to lay the foundation for this library to continue Big Read events in the future. I also wanted to empower the library director, someone who has a very big influence on reading in the local community, so that she could choose to act on this issue in any way she saw fit. I know that Mrs. Froah wasn't fully aware of this issue, and I think my presentation gave her the knowledge and tools to try and make others aware of this issue as well.

Big Read Exhibit