The Public Good Read program is entering its third year this fall at Tulsa Community College (TCC). Since 2019, the program has focused on finding books, through the Common Book Committee, that explore concepts such as: social responsibility, activism, unity, communication and equality. The Common Book Committee has begun searching for the next Common Book for the next two academic years.
The committee is asking students, faculty, and staff of TCC to take part in a short multiple-choice survey for the next common book. The goal is to increase book reading among the TCC community. One of the committee chair members is Amy Lagers, a reference and instruction librarian for the Metro campus.
When discussing what type of book the committee looks for, Lagers explains, “We want something that is going to encourage deep thought and conversation among students, … Not just students, the whole college.”
The current selection is “Tulsa, 1921: Reporting a Massacre” written by Randy Krehbiel. With Krehbiel’s years of experience from reporting at the Tulsa World, he focuses on analyzing the harrowing massacre that took place in the Greenwood District of Tulsa, also popularized as “Black Wall Street.” Lagers expressed one of the reasons Krehbiel’s book was selected, “We wanted to choose a book about the massacre, because we wanted to make sure that our college students couldn’t walk out of Tulsa Community College, and not know that this event had happened in Tulsa. That was important to us.”
Krehbiel’s book was an obvious choice for the committee, which helped bring discussions to TCC about the 1921 massacre. Lagers and the committee understood the quality of “Tulsa, 1921: Reporting a Massacre,” and the standard it set for future selected books. “There were other books that we looked at and then some really good books that have been published since we went through the selection process that are being used in tandem with that book,” Lagers explained.
For this book selection process, the committee started two weeks ago discussing what themes to look for but decided they wanted more input from the whole college community. “That’s why the survey is out there. We wanted to know what students, faculty, and staff are interested in and what kind of books they want to see.”
Lagers added that the survey helps in doing this by not only asking, “Do you have a title for us, but what kind of book do you want to see?” The current nominations from the survey have been listed and will be discussed at the next committee meeting on Oct. 8.. To take part in the survey, complete the survey by Oct. 8. The survey for the next Common Book can be found on the TCC library homepage under the resources guides tab or quickly through the following link: https://guides.library.tulsacc.edu/Tulsa1921
