The art of recommending books
On February 15, the lectures of the new postgraduate studies in Prescribed Reading start at the Faculty of Library and Information Sciences, aimed at anyone interested in promoting reading and who wants to have tools, resources and knowledge to suggest the most appropriate book for each reader.
On February 15, the lectures of the new postgraduate studies in Prescribed Reading start at the Faculty of Library and Information Sciences, aimed at anyone interested in promoting reading and who wants to have tools, resources and knowledge to suggest the most appropriate book for each reader.
These studies are structured into two blocs. The first one, Readers and books, is theoretic and it focuses on sharing readersʼ tastes, literary tradition and the current offering of books in the publishing world, without forgetting the changes in reading ways and the e-books. The second bloc, Reading promotion activities and strategies is more practical and shows a great range of resources to help readers discovering new books and authors.
More than a hundred applications from librarians, booksellers and other professionals of the field of culture
The course has had a successful welcome, with lots of interest from librarians, booksellers and other professionals from the field of culture, and the thirty vacancies that were offered are not enough because there have been more than a hundred applications. One of the students who pre-registered for the course is the librarian Carme Gaseni, who has worked for 17 years in the Public Library of Tarragona and is now the responsible for the loan service of the library. Gaseni says she registered in order to acquire a solid theoretic base that helps her to suggest books with a better judgment and help the readers who ask for advice. “Everyone recommends books but people expect librarians to be professionals at this”, highlights Gaseni.
Teresa Mañà and Lluís Agustí, professors at the Faculty of Library and Information Services and responsibles for the course, say the creation of these studies answers the growing demand of librarians -like Carme- and staff at bookstores, who want to learn about these subjects: reading recommendations, canon, online reading, dynamization activities, etc. Although this Faculty had offered training on literary prescription for staff of the library network or as additional studies for postgraduate studies, this is the first time the University of Barcelona offers specific studies focused on this field. “The Catalan Institute for Cultural Copmanies together with the Library Service of Generalitat de Catalunya and the Institució de les Lletres Catalanes (ICL), aware of this need, requested an educational project and the result are these postgraduate studies we now offer”, says Agustí.
Tools, resources and knowledge to recommend the most appropriate book for each reader
In the first part of the course, until late June, students will attend expository classes and conferences in which they will be introduced the most representative authors and titles of each genre and literary tradition. The sessions will cover topics such as the value of reading or reading habits, as well as the editing process and literary critics, and how to be up to date with publishing novelties. They will analyse big literary genres regarding poetry aspects (poetry, novel, drama, essays), content (fantasy, history, romance, science-fiction) or style (illustration books, children books, comics). Moreover, the courses will also cover other aspects such as readersʼ background (family, school and library) and the future of reading.
The second part of these studies will take part from October to December 2017, and will train students to know about activities and strategies to promote reading. There will be several workshops in which students will see and practice ways to help readers finding their books and authors (blogs, reading clubs…). They will analyse institutional plans and policies for reading promotion and will explain how the Catalan public libraries work for all audiences (disseminating speeches, conferences or book presentations) and will analyse too the communication tools that work best (essays and reviews, reading communities, podcasts and booktrailers).
The postgraduate studies is taught at the Faculty of Library and Information Sciences of the University of Barcelona, in collaboration of the Institució de les Lletres Catalanes, the Catalan Institute for Catalan Companies and the Library Service of Generalitat de Catalunya.