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Vol. 38, No. 18
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3-4-2009
By: Julia Harris Tell me a storyLibrary ReadAlouds bring campus and community together for tall tales
Ah, the ancient ritual of the bedtime story: Children tucked in and fighting sleep, listening to tales of mystery and morality in the dim glow of lamplight.
It’s a great combination, really — a thought-provoking story, a bit of quality time with the family and a comforting way to end a day.
Did you know?
Even if you can’t make it every Thursday during the quarter, all ReadAlouds are archived as podcasts at the series blog page, library.osu.edu/blogs/readaloud. Also available on the blog are descriptions of upcoming ReadAlouds and a link to a Facebook fan page, where you’ll find photos and links to upcoming events. |
For Donna Distel, that combination of positives is exactly what she’s going for with the University Libraries ReadAloud series. Distel is the program coordinator for the series, which began in fall 2005 as a way to encourage staff and faculty to share the literature they love.
“It resonates with people who were ever read to as children, and it offers a real break in this hectic lifestyle we all lead,” Distel said, in a voice pitched almost too low to be heard.
For a shy person, Distel says, her job as the up-front face of the ReadAlouds puts her “way out of her comfort zone, rather like a deer in headlights.” But she loves it anyway, she insists, because she gets to hear things she’d never get the chance to otherwise.
Held Thursday afternoons from 3-4 p.m. in a corner of the Wexner Center’s café, Cam’s on Campus, the readings are eclectic by design. A typical program features two readers who read for 25 minutes each, often providing time at the end for questions from the audience. Many times, Distel says, the question-and-answer period evolves into a spirited discussion.
A recent example was the Feb. 19 reading, programmed to commemorate Black World Month, at which members of the Libraries Diversity Committee read portions of books about hair care for African American women.
“They brought with them a lot of products for black hair care and passed them around,” said Distel, who has been with the University Libraries for 30 years. “One even brought in her grandmother’s kit of hot rollers for straightening hair. We had 42 people there for that one; it was one of our most successful programs to date.” Most readings draw 15 or 20 people, Distel said, although the attendance varies depending on the subject matter.
She tries to tailor programs to fit the calendar or the occasion, such as an annual Valentine’s Day reading at which campus celebrity Janet Ciccone (author of many historical romance novels) has read in the past.
Another campus notable, artist Michael Mercil, brought in a class of students who read from their own art manifestos as a costumed mascot made up to resemble Ralph Waldo Emerson sat out in the audience.
“When the series first started, it was initially intended as a way to bring faculty, students and staff together in the library,” Distel said. She laughed and shrugged slightly. “And then, of course, the library closed for renovations.”
She credits the Wexner Center with providing a cozy meeting space where a small but dedicated community — drawn largely from Ohio State but also comprising people from the greater Columbus area — has begun to flourish.
Whereas a couple years ago she had to work hard at finding people who wanted to read, now she has a fairly deep roster of readers and potential readers from which to draw. Often, she says, people who come to a reading often end up coming back as readers — sometimes more than once, as in the case of Jason Gray, journals manager at the Ohio State University Press and recent graduate of the Creative Writing Program.
Gray has read three times. For the first, in May 2007, he chose selections from one of his former professors, Ben Howard, from Alfred University. In November of that year, he read poems from his own chapbook, How to Paint the Savior Dead. And then just this past January, he read selections from his full-length book of poetry, Photographing Eden.
“I like the variety of readers and subjects at the ReadAlouds,” Gray said. “I like that it makes a different kind of aesthetic available to the community.”
He grinned. “And of course I like the opportunity to read my work.”
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