As we enter the month of February, Valentine’s Day, love it or hate it, looms on the inevitable horizon.
Although the day of showing your significant other the extent of your care is cherished, this affectionate holiday has a reputation for causing those without partners to feel singled out. However, students at Sinclair without a special someone need not feel depressed, for the campus librarians have a potential remedy for these blues.
Beginning on Monday, Feb. 3 the librarians of Sinclair Community College present the opportunity for you to have a blind date – with a book.
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Registering for the event simply consists of approaching the circulation desk and picking out one of the many mysteriously wrapped books. Inside its pages lays a small, “Was it a dud or a keeper?” form that is to be completed when one’s reading has been completed.
Upon completion, the form then must be taken to the circulation desk. Afterward, the reader qualifies as an applicant who is entered into a drawing with the potential of winning one of many prizes.
This event is neither new nor exclusive to Sinclair, as multiple libraries have already implemented this concept as a Valentine’s Day activity for specific branches.
However, as librarians for a college campus, Julie McDaniel and Rahme Ashour had the idea to bring A Blind Date With A Book to Sinclair with a specific purpose in mind.
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“We were looking for ideas that would encourage students to read more books for fun, rather than just for classes,” McDaniel said, “other libraries have done blind date with a book, and so we decided to give it a try here at Sinclair.”
The previous success has caused this to be Sinclair’s third year including the event as one of the campus’ many activities.
Expanding the student’s horizons in terms of reading is truly the purpose of the event as each tightly wrapped book is randomized. Participants are free to pick which book seems ‘right,’ but the genres greatly range as they go from romance to biographies to children’s books.
If the book is completed in a swift amount of time, the reader is allowed to check out another as long as the entry form is returned to the service desk by March 13.
Those who venture through the library in the coming days will be faced with display signs filled with information about the event’s details. Signs and balloons will also be used to decorate the area, including the bookshelves, to draw attention from bypassers.
Both McDaniel and Ashour are equally excited and prepared for the affair to begin, with each book ready to be presented to their unsuspecting date, and new poster designs for this semester to promote the event.
“We have plenty of books to check out,” Ashour said. “Just come.”
“Meet a book you haven’t met yet!” McDaniel said. “Tall dark and handsome…who knows!”
A Blind Date With a Book will last throughout the entire month of February. Students, staff, and faculty alike are welcomed participants.
Ayzha Middlebrooks
Associate Editor