The collection will consist of approximately 200 hardcover fiction and non-fiction books selected to appeal especially to students to encourage reading and greater student usage of the library. Funds from the Student Association budget will be earmarked for the purchase of books for the Popular Reading Collection. It will be shelved on the 3rd floor near the library café. A wide range of recently-published, best-selling titles will be available, including mysteries, science fiction, biographies, current events, humor, and more.

A Selection Committee composed of representatives from the Student Association and the library has been meeting to review lists of potential purchases. They have been looking at best seller lists from the New York Times, Publisher’s Weekly, and Barnes and Noble.com. The Chronicle of Higher Education’s list of what students are reading on campus is also being used.

Among the authors that will be included are Dan Brown, Anne Tyler, John Grisham, P.D. James, Michael Crichton, Barbara Taylor Bradford, Mitch Albom, and Bill Cosby. Perhaps the greatest challenge being faced by the committee is narrowing the list down to 200 titles. Selections will be finalized and orders placed in late February. Once the Popular Reading Collection books are received and added to the library’s online catalog, students, faculty and staff will be able to check them out.

Many academic libraries have popular or recreational reading collections. In fact, the proposal submitted to the Student Association was inspired by a story about how the Popular Reading Collection at the University of North Dakota Library was funded by a special allocation of funding from the Student Government. As the student who initiated the proposal there stated, “Recreational reading is a doorway to higher learning.” That is the ultimate goal in establishing such a collection at SVSU.