One thing I always love to hear about is initiatives to get people reading books. With all of the social media out there it’s pretty easy to forget that there are entire worlds forged by gifted crafters, and I would hate for people to miss out on that.
So tonight my attention was drawn to this literary treasure hunt taking place in Sudbury Ontario (and I couldn’t help but wish we had some sort of program like this taking place here in Ottawa) thanks to a post on CBC Books. Basically the library is releasing 100 books “into the wild” in the hopes that people find them, read them, review them, and re-release them for others to find. You can map where you found the book, and even leave details on where you’re going to leave the book so someone else can find it. The folks involved go on to say later in the article that technology is changing and that with it libraries also have to change. They mention specifically that libraries have a responsibility to get information out to people, and that they want to “bring these services to you” instead of you having to go to the library in the traditional sense.
I think this forward thinking is great and while it may seem like it’s not enough you have to keep in mind that if it encourages just a small handful of people to either read a new book, or visit their local library, or talk about it to someone else then the program has succeeded. Whether it is cost or time effective isn’t for me to decide, but I’m glad there are still people out there trying these things and inspiring people to read.
The Nomadic Reader 