Preface: The Cal Poly Shared Reading Program
Kennedy Library is pleased to once again sponsor Preface and SLO City Reads: The Cal Poly Shared Reading Program.
Libraries have long been associated with reading. A university library like the Robert E. Kennedy Library is also committed to providing students with excellent research assistance.
"Happily, our participation in the Preface program advances both recognition of the value of reading as well as the benefit of research. We also hope to introduce new students to library services and information sources of immense value during their Cal Poly career," explains Mary M. Somerville, Assistant Dean of Information and Instructional Services.
Library faculty and staff worked with the Preface program this year by providing research assistance for the reading guides as well as production assistance. The dean, faculty and staff of the library will continue to donate their time, as they have done in the past, by leading student discussion groups.
The Preface Program began 3 years ago, offering in-coming students the chance to read a bestselling novel over the summer and then engage in discussion with Cal Poly faculty and staff, San Luis Obispo community members, and fellow students across all disciplines.
This year’s Preface selection is The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Across the country, people are reading The Kite Runner, a riveting bestselling novel that tells the memorable story of a complex father son relationship and the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father’s servant.
Since the program began, students have read The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, Plainsong by Kent Haruf, and Granny D: You’re Never Too Old to Raise a Little Hell by Doris Haddock and Dennis Burke.
Preface will also include a city-wide reading effort during 2005. Preface will collaborate with the SLO City-County Library in recruiting and training community volunteers to facilitate discussion sessions with students as well as providing off-campus discussion sessions specifically for community members.
Preface's core goals include introduction to the expectations of higher education, provision of a shared intellectual experience, and building of community on and off campus.
Khaled Hosseini will come to Cal Poly to address students, faculty and the community on October 20.
For more information about the Preface, please see the program Web site at http://www.preface.calpoly.edu/
