By Anna Walters
Somewhere between the Nintendo Entertainment System, Napster and "Grey's Anatomy," American reading fell ill. According to a recent National Endowment for the Humanities report, nearly half of 18- to 24-year-old Americans read no books for pleasure at all. The study also reported that the percentage of 18- to 44-year-olds who read one book a book in the last year dropped seven points.
Although technology and evolving forms of media likely contributed to reading's ailing health in the U.S. according to the study, the UP Library has found a way to transform the tech-age from reading restraint to reading resuscitation.
The Library, with help from the Office of Alumni Relations and the Office of Development, launched the online book club ReadUP, last semester to reach out to alumni and other members of the university community and beyond. Registered ReadUP users can post comments online via a blog linked to the Library homepage.
"The idea was to present something online that was more of an academic application to a book club and still utilized the popularity of a blog," Theresa Knott, Library administrative assistant, said. Knott maintains the ReadUP page on the Web site. About 100 people have registered thus far, according to Knott.
English professor Lars Larson, who is also ReadUP's guide for the winter season, said the Library is aiming to get more books into the hands of Americans, a task that Larson thinks is crucial to our culture.
"We know the world through stories," said Larson.
"Humans are born story-tellers and listeners and modern society seems to be cutting that out."
The book club focuses on a new book for each season - fall, which coincides with the academic fall semester, winter, which lasts from the beginning of spring semester until sometime in April, and spring, the timeframe of which is yet to be determined. Drew Harrington, the Library director, is still deciding whether or not to include a summer season.
"We're just finding our way," Harrington said. "It's feeling like spring time will make more sense and we'll let it bleed into summer."
Each season, the Library asks a faculty or staff member to serve as a guide, or leader of online discussion. The guide also chooses the book for that season.
Last fall, Brain Doyle, editor of Portland Magazine, kicked off the first season with Diane Abu-Jaber's "The Language of Baklava," and this winter season, Larson has chosen Barry Lopez's "Winter Count," a collection of short stories.
In order to post a comment on a book, a person must register, but user can "lurk," or view the postings without signing up. Knott is unsure how many registered members or other people are lurkers.
Last fall, 4 people posted on the Language of Baklava in addition to Doyle's frequent postings and no one has yet to post on Winter Count besides Larson. Harrington said that the winter season has yet to be advertised in the electronic alumni news letter and expects an increased interest from UP graduates.
Harrington notes that current undergraduate students may not find time to read a book independent of their course materials.
"I can't be part of a book club because I don't really have time to read the books I'm supposed to read," said Joseph Ritter, a senior English major and president of the English Society. Ritter thinks that ReadUP is a great idea, especially for students who don't read literature as part of their classes.
ReadUP is part of a greater effort to reach out to the community. Harrington said that the Library is a finalist for a "Let's Talk About It" grant from the National Library Association. The grant would finance a book club on Jewish literature, providing five chosen books to club members. Harrington hopes that the Library's outreach efforts will expand its literary collection.
"Certainly there is the problem of focusing more interest on the Library," Harrington said. "The Library should be more proactive than it has in the past."
Another purpose of the online book club is to drum up interest and donations for a new Library building, especially because UP's attention on building a new facility has been diverted to the construction of a new dorm. Links on the ReadUP page take users to information about the new library building and to a form that allows the user to make a donation.
"We have seen the focus shift or at least include a new dormitory right now," Harrington said. "I think that we have every expectation that the focus shifts back before long."
