Summertime Reads to Share and Enjoy @ Rapid City Public Library

By Marjorie Brekke, Librarian I

Two popular summertime recreations are picnics and reading. Although those two items don’t necessarily go hand in hand, the Rapid City Public Library has combined them in a program we call Quick Pick Picnics.

Because of the popularity of the Quick Pick Picnic programs last summer, they’re now back by popular demand.  Attendees enjoy picnic style lunches, sponsored by the Friends of the Library, while sharing and discussing current and favorite books. While readers share their insight and opinions of various literary works, the library staff find the titles in our online catalog and display the cover and location of the materials for everyone to see. 

Discussion themes for the Picnics are open, and based on any book that people would like to discuss. For example, the group last summer began one discussion with “Predator” by Patricia Cornwell. The remainder of the book discussion focused on mysteries and related fiction. The group shared their favorite Patricia Cornwell books and other types of mysteries and forensic pathology topics. Another picnic discussion began with the book “The sociopath next door: the ruthless versus the rest of us” by Martha Stout. The remainder of that discussion focused on nonfiction titles. Attendees feverishly wrote down title after title for their future reading lists.

In addition to community readers generously sharing their favorite summer reads, library staff shared some of the library’s resources for finding your next great read.  At one discussion the database NoveList was showcased. By using NoveList, a reader can find many ideas for books to read based on one title, author, or theme. For example, if we search NoveList for Cornwell’s book “Predator,” we can use a feature called “Find similar books” and the database will search for books that have the same subject matter. You can also click on “Author read-alikes” and discover more in depth information about the author and their books. NoveList is available to you from your home or any internet access computer, simply by entering your library card number.

The picnic food wasn’t the only delicious feature of last summer’s picnics.  The library’s website features a social bookmarking page called del.icio.us (http://del.icio.us/RCPL). This allows people to save, tag, and access their favorite websites from any internet-access computer. Library staff members have been busy adding book and reading-related websites and tagging them so people can easily find some of the greatest resources available online. One particular del.icio.us group is “Good Reads;” these are websites that assist readers with finding the books of their desire. For example, if you enjoy reading mysteries, there’s a tag for “mystery.” When you click on this tag, you will find various websites relating to mystery books and authors. Access the Rapid City Public Library’s del.icio.us page from our homepage, www.rapidcitylibrary.org.

What if you don’t have time to read, but still want to keep up with the latest books?  Another great resource that was featured at last summer’s picnics is OverDrive. OverDrive (http://rapidcitylibrary.org/services/download_books.asp) provides downloadable audio books that you can save to your computer, CDs, or mp3 player for convenient listening.  Again, you can access OverDrive from our website using your library card. This service is great for people who travel a lot, because listening to a good book can make time go by quickly on long trips.

At this summer’s Quick Pick Picnics, we are excited to feature LibraryThing (http://www.librarything.com/profile/RapidCityPubLib). LibraryThing is a social book listing, discussion, and classifying site for all of those closet librarians of the world who want to keep track of and organize the thousands of books they read. Staff at the Rapid City Public Library have added and tagged some of their favorite titles to our LibraryThing page, and some of those listings include reviews. If you are curious to know what library staff are reading click on the “Staff Pick” tag in our LibraryThing. To access LibraryThing, just go to our homepage.

Join us this summer, share what you’re reading, and get lots of ideas for more great reads from other readers and from the library’s online resources. The first Quick Pick Picnic is scheduled at the Rapid City Public Library Downtown on June 18, 2008 at noon. Be “quick,” and “pick” up the phone to join the Picnics! Call the library at 394-4171 or 716-4098 to reserve a lunch for this summertime event.