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Article
A "Novel" Approach to Recreational Reading: Creating a Virtual Collection on a Shoestring
Library Faculty Publications and Presentations
  • Sarah P C Dahlen, California State University, Monterey Bay
  • Steve G Watkins, California State University, Monterey Bay
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2013
Abstract

Reading for recreation has been tied to academic achievement and lifelong learning, but not all academic libraries have the capacity to offer a separate recreational reading collection for their users. A low/no-cost option is to create a virtual recreational reading collection that allows patrons to browse for print titles by genre or book cover, much as they would in a bookstore or physical collection. The authors recently implemented this solution at their institution by dynamically compiling records of existing titles belonging to genres that are often of interest to recreational readers. This article addresses the justification for investing staff time in promoting recreational reading, discusses the technology employed to create and maintain a virtual collection, and shares the impacts of this effort on circulation.

Comments

This is a copy of an article published in Reference & User Services Quarterly © 2013 American Library Association; Reference & User Services Quarterly is available online at: https://journals.ala.org/rusq.

Citation Information
Dahlen, S.P., & Watkins, S.G. (2013). A “novel” approach to recreational reading: Creating a virtual collection on a shoestring. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 53(2), 94-99.