ErieBlogs.com: Library to Host “One Book One Erie” in October

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Library to Host “One Book One Erie” in October

Posted by Josh on September 30, 2007

For the fourth consecutive year, the Erie County Public Library is hosting One Book One Erie throughout the month of October. This year, the Library is asking the community to read The Great Gatsby and participate in a wide array of activities. The Library is working with the Arts Council of Erie and has been awarded a grant as part of the National Endowment for the Arts’ The Big Read initiative. For more information, please visit www.onebookerie.org.

The staff at Erie Blogs recently caught up via email with Marcia Hall of the Erie County Library to ask a few questions about One Book One Erie.

Erie Blogs: What are some of the benefits of a community coming together to read one particular book at the same time?
Marcia Hall: There are a million reasons for a community to read together, not the least of which is the sharing of ideas and experiences. The library is a perfect place for this — an equal opportunity type of learning environment, where there are no preconceptions about the process or the participants.

EB: What types of activities and events are you planning for the One Book One Erie program?
MH: Everything from movies and book groups and a readers’ theatre to a dance demonstration. This year, we are trying something new by working with the Arts Council of Erie. Two artists—a poet and a singer—will present an eight session workshop where the participants end up responding to The Great Gatsby through writing of their own and eventually through music and movement.

EB: Do you have a goal for the number of people you would like to participate in the program?
MH: Last year, over a month’s time, we had 1,500 people come to the library for events. This does not include the people reading the book and talking to their friends or their book groups about it. As a matter of fact, we would love to know if any book groups out there are reading it. We hope every year, of course, that our numbers will grow. This is still a new program—it’s only four years old.

EB: Are you working with any of the local schools to encourage teachers, students and families to participate?
MH: Schools can be difficult. They have a curriculum that they have to get through and not a lot of room to respond to last minute requests for change. We are lucky with The Great Gatsby though, since a few schools are already reading it and can take advantage of some of our programming. But really, the point of One Book, and the NEA’s Big Read as a matter of fact, is to get to that “lost reader,” someone who is out of the reading loop but wants back in—or could be enticed back in—and that’s not high school students; they have plenty of reading on their plates. I think the library, in their adult programming, should be targeting adults who either never went to college or have been out of college for years; both of these groups can be in need of an intellectual challenge, and the library can fill that need—with programming, we think, that is high quality and at a college level.

EB: Is there anything else you would like to add about the One Book One Erie program?
MH: Give it a shot! Even if you aren’t completely compelled by the idea of the specific book, the interaction and learning that happens goes beyond the book itself. Like all great literature, the book is a starting point and who knows what can happen from there.