I would like to host a Read Dating event for students at one of the St. John's/St. Ben's libraries. I think that the phrase "read dating" was coined by the University Bookstore in Seattle, WA. For more information, click here. I have read several articles on public libraries hosting similar events, but I haven't found information on academic libraries sponsoring these events.
The Minnesota Library Association is sponsoring a Read Dating event. The venue is a restaurant in Minneapolis. Participants will be mingling while inquiring about various questions that are pre-written by the organizers. Participants draw for the questions. Also, participants are required to bring a book they "love, hate, have recently read, or just want to talk about."
Do you think college students would attend an event like this?Retweet this
Monday, September 21, 2009
Read Dating
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I think it depends on the size of your campus and its culture.
For young people, they don't want to end up being annoyed by someone they're not interested in on campus. So even though no numbers/emails are exchanged, still the chance of running into someone who they met at the event.
Speed dating, which this is sort of based off of, is a good way for non-school folks (usually 30+) to meet new people since as we get older there are not as many places we can do that besides maybe work.
Students have a wide variety of places to interact: classes, clubs, bars, sports teams, etc. So they might not be searching for a new way to get in touch.
It may appeal more to the shier stereotypical "bookish" sort though, and even a turn out of 16 would be pretty good.
Re your Twitter comment - having it in the library if drinks & snacks are allowed would be better since then it is a known safe environment; sometimes it's intimidating if the event is at a restaurant or pub.
Great points. Thank you. Yes, it'd be a lot of planning.
Another concern that I have is that I'd want to make sure the event is not too hetero-centric, but I don't know how I'd do that without having separate pools of people...
Bah, I replied, but forgot to login first so comment got deleted.
I think if you are having a "read dating" event it is ok to have two separate events for the different audiences. E.g. I went to a dance last weekend that repeated the night after as well. Everyone was invited to both dances, but the second one was specifically queer friendly.
Another suggestion is to just get rid of the "dating" all together and create a more casual get-to-know-you event. A "Meet & Read" that just simply brings booklovers together.
Any thoughts about what day of the week I should how the Read Dating event? Should it be during the week or during a weekend?
Post a Comment