Lost Girls and Forgotten Realms

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The gothical, vampirical, graphical, magical, and
urban-erotic selections of the undergraduate
reader
Clara Potter and Elsie PritchardMorehead State
University
Charleston Conference November 2008
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A Brief History of Recreational Reading
atMorehead State University
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Bestsellers
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Bestsellers Readership Assumptions Debunked

• Data collected 1996-1998 showed
• significant student usage
• 46 staff
• 27 students (graduate undergrad)

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RecReading Committee

• Formed in 1997 to address the bestseller question
• Recommended leasing rather than purchasing books
  for leisure reading
• The books would be housed in their own
  high-traffic browseable area, with a short loan
  period and limited renewals

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Recreational Reading Collection

• Lease rather than purchase
• Core collection of popular titles
• Best sellers in fiction and non-fiction
  automatically shipped (NY Times and LA Times
  bestseller lists)
• Allowances for extra copies or different titles
• Shelf ready
• Returnable
• Cheap to purchase

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What the Leasing Plan Didnt Provide
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How do we know that?
Purchase Suggestions!
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The Big Questions
How does providing recreational or leisure
reading for students support our mission?
How can we justify spending funds for materials
that dont directly support the curriculum when
budgets are so tight?
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To Read or Not to Read

• Although there has been measurable progress
  in recent years in reading ability at the
  elementary school level, all progress appears to
  halt as children enter their teenage years
• Most alarming, both reading ability and the
  habit of regular reading have greatly declined
  among college graduates

Dana Gioia, Chairman, National Endowment for
the Arts, in the Preface to To Read or Not To
Read A Question of National Consequence,
November 2007.
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Nearly half of all Americans ages 18 to 24 read
no books for pleasure.
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College attendance no longer guarantees active
reading habits.
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The percentage of non-readers among college
freshmen has nearly doubled . . . since they
graduated from high school.
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Reading scores for 17-year-olds are down.
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Why does it matter?

• Less reading correlates with
• Less ability to read
• Lower academic achievement, higher drop-out rate
• Lack of employment and lower wages
• Greater likelihood of being in prison
• Less likelihood of being a good citizen
  (volunteer, voter, civic leader)

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MSU Mission Statement

• We are a diverse community of learners committed
  to student success. MSU is accredited as a
  comprehensive University offering quality higher
  education opportunities in a collegial and open
  environment. MSU pursues academic excellence,
  research, community engagement and life-long
  learning. MSU is dedicated to improving the
  quality of life while preserving and promoting
  the unique cultural heritage of East Kentucky.

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Early Steps to Support Student Reading

• Several years ago a fund was established to
  purchase material requested by students and
  others
• These items were housed in the main collections
• We were less likely to purchase if we thought the
  items were too trashy pro wrestlers biographies
  or Thong on Fire might not make the cut

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More Steps to Student Reading

• Collection Development discussions of trends such
  as street lit
• Interest in more diverse selections for
  undergraduate readers than offered by leasing
  vendor
• A Dean with an idea meets a student with a
  project to do
• The Student Selection Board created

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The Project

• Hannah Leitz, one of our library graduate
  students, was assigned a project for a public
  relations class during the Fall 2007 semester
• She agreed to work with the library in recruiting
  students to serve on the board, and publicizing
  the collection

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Student Selection Board Established

• The Board
• Rules
• Budget

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The Selectors

• Publicity
• Recruiting

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How Easy is This?

• The group never met
• Instructions were minimal

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The Student Picks Collection

• Student Picks are shelved next to the
  Recreational Reading Collection, near the
  copiers, new books, and front desk

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Signs and Labels
Designed and developed by Stephanie Bush, using a
University-designed Eagle Elvis logo
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Fall 2008

• Student selectors disappeared
• Purchase requests placed in Student Picks
  collection, but slow growth

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Lib 2.0 Unplugged

• Put out a white board asking for suggestions!

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Student Leisure Reading Explosion!

• Since 2000, readership of recreational reading
  materials has turned upside down from data
  collected during the bestseller era
• Staff...27
• Students..54

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Top 10

• Most circs, with 19
• My Secret a PostSecret Book
• Honorable mention
• Secret Lives of Men and Women a PostSecret Book
  , with 15
• Top author, with 31 combined circs
• Neil Gaiman (also the author of three of 11 books
  now missing)
• Honorable mention
• Augusten Burroughs, with 18

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Countdown continued

• Most requested series
• Most requested author
• Biggest order mistake
• Scariest selection

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More numbers

• Books in the collection more than 30 days without
  use 7
• Books in the collection more than 60 days without
  use 2
• Biggest surprise, with 6 circs
• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (c.1943)

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Student Picks Are Popular
0.68 3.47 4.37
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Students Like Student Picks
For material added within the past year
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Undergraduate Check-outs Still Sliding
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MSU Mission Statement

• We are a diverse community of learners committed
  to student success. MSU is accredited as a
  comprehensive University offering quality higher
  education opportunities in a collegial and open
  environment. MSU pursues academic excellence,
  research, community engagement and life-long
  learning. MSU is dedicated to improving the
  quality of life while preserving and promoting
  the unique cultural heritage of East Kentucky.

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Reading for Pleasure Meets our Misson How?

• More reading correlates with student success
• Greater ability to read life-long learning
• Higher academic achievement, lower drop-out rate
  academic excellence
• Better employment and higher wages
• Less likely to be in prison quality of life
• More likely to be a good citizen (volunteer,
  voter, civic leader) community engagement

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Thank you!

• Elsie Pritchard
• Dean of Library Services
• e.pritch_at_moreheadstate.edu
• Clara Potter
• Assistant Dean for Technical Services
• c.potter_at_moreheadstate.edu
• Camden-Carroll Library
• Morehead State University
• Morehead, Kentucky