Easley Library Bookworms discussion

Unlike most public libraries, Easley Library doesn't have one big special section for fiction. We have a fair amount of fiction, but it's mostly integrated with the other books in the "P" part of the main collection (Languages and Literature). That way, for instance, novels by Dickens are grouped with books about him, and poetry by Kipling is together with fiction by him. When you're researching a particular writer for an assignment, that makes it easier to find material.

Some of our novels and story collections, however, are more "popular" type books that our English dept. doesn't usually emphasize for assignments. (Though it would be worthwhile to explore the assumption that "popular" books must lack literary quality --in fact, IMO, it's more often the other way around. In their own time, for instance, both Shakespeare and Dickens were pretty popular with ordinary readers!) Then too, readers looking for recreational reading often have a particular genre in mind. I've been asked sometimes if we have any mysteries, or any science fiction.

To make for easier browsing for readers with interests in a particular type of read, therefore, Easley Library has three special fiction collections: Christian Fiction (identified as "Inspirational Fiction" in the catalog), Science Fiction, and Mysteries. Christian Fiction, the oldest and largest of these, is in the west wing on the first floor, just to your right as you go through the doorway between the main room and the wing. The other two are on the main room side of the doorway, to your right as you face it, in that corner.

You might ask, why does a college library have popular fiction at all? Well, we have it for the same reason we have feature films. Like good drama, good fiction enlarges the mind and sympathies, teaches us lessons through "the truth of art," builds our capacity for feeling, for relationships, for understanding others and engaging in moral discernment. Not all the worthwhile reading you do is in preparation for a specific class. One of our goals for all of you folks, our patrons, is to help you develop (and to sustain once it's developed) a deep love for reading, for the rewards it can bring you; and that kind of love isn't fostered when you only read when you have to. These three collections aren't the only places in the library where you can find reading that will do that; depending on people's interests, almost every book in the library would be something someone might read just for the fun of it. But they are collections that have that goal more specially in view than the general collection. If you like reading in one or more of these genres, or feel like trying them out, why not see what we have to offer?

I'm taking this opportunity to announce the creation of our latest special collection: the Leisure Reading collection, located in the first floor west wing, right next to Christian Fiction. The rationale for this collection is much like what I outlined in my post above; we've been aware for some time that we have a number of books that fit this criteria, but aren't part of any of the three genres mentioned above. So this newest collection is our way of bringing the rest of this reading material together for your convenience. (Most of the 120 books in the collection are fiction, though some non-academic nonfiction titles are there too.) Here you can find works by Tom Clancy, Stephen King, Robert Ludlum and others. Or maybe your taste is more for V. C. Andrews or Barbara Michaels? They're represented there, too, along with other popular authors. And you might also discover some other rewarding works by authors you may never have heard of.

I'll try to post about this again after classes start in the fall, to give all of our returning and new students the maximum opportunity to get the word. But don't wait until then --check it out now, and beat the rush!