One County One Book Nominations

Esther M. Swanker, President of the Board of Trustees of the Schenectady County Public Library has announced the leadership for Schenectady's third One County One Book community reading program.  The co-chairs are SCPL Trustees Carol Raphael of Glenville and Carl Erikson of
Schenectady.

The library is in the process of accepting nominations from the public for the 2008 One County One Book.  The process, which has been the same for the previous OCOB campaigns, will involve public nomination of the 2008 OCOB book, committee review of the high vote getters to narrow the field to books meeting established criteria, announcement of the five finalists on August 15, public balloting from the final list, and the announcement of the chosen book in late October.  The nomination process will close on June 8.

Criteria for One County One Book includes that the chosen book lend itself well to community discussion and programs, that it be of interest to men, women and young people, that it be available in paperback, and that there be audio and large print versions.  Nomination ballots will be available at Central and all 9 branches of the Schenectady County Public Library, through the web site: www.scpl.org , and at the Open Door Bookstore and the Whitney Book Corner.

Schenectady's One County One Book selection for 2007 was Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper; the previous selection in 2006 was Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird.    The program has grown in popularity each year.  The 2006 program received the Mohawk Valley Library System Library Recognition Award for SCPL ".for its role in promoting reading and developing a sense of
community." A highlight of the 2007 OCOB program was a visit by author, Jodi Picoult, an event that drew over 1000 people.

"This has been an incredible project for the library," said Esther Swanker. "It's an excellent exercise in fulfilling our goals of literacy and community unity.    OCOB has brought thousands of people from throughout the county together in discussion groups and programs.  We are very proud of
what we have accomplished with OCOB so far and look forward to what this third endeavor will bring in 2008."