During the Valentine’s season, the Amador library brought a different kind of date to the students. The new Blind Date with a Book is a project that turns reading into a surprising experience where the student does not get to see the book they are picking.
“A blind date with a book is about picking a book based on very vague and general preferences. It won’t give you a full summary, and the covers are hidden. It’s a surprise,” said Librarian Carla Sanchez.
The book genres range from mystery to historical fiction. Most of these books are brand new to the library and include many popular titles. They were all carefully chosen by AV Librarian Eric Scherer.
“A lot of them are young adult books; we have a few adult books in there, too, but really, these are books that have really great reviews and are very popular and trending. The fact that most of them are brand new is even more exciting because the authors are really well known,” said Sanchez.
A wrapped surprise
This project prohibits the students from judging a book solely by its cover. Instead students are encouraged to take a risk with the book they do get.
“I want to encourage more students to come to the library and check out books in general. If they love a book that they checked out here and they recommend it to a friend, that gets more students coming here and checking out library books,” said Sanchez.
Many are intrigued by these books because of the mystery aspect. Therefore, students have the chance to dive into a genre they generally would not pick.
“You don’t really know what to expect. You don’t know if it’s a book that you’ve seen online or even someone who has talked about it, so it’s a really good opportunity to get more people into reading based only on the small clues they give about the book,” said Vanessa Ferrer (‘27).
Library involvement
Reactions to the books were very positive. The AV Librarians hope that activities like these help with more students using the resources the library has. Whether that be for research or for personal enjoyment.
“I think the idea of not knowing what book you chose is very interesting because I’m very open-minded. [This activity] makes more people want to pick books from the library to read,” said Kimberly Ngo (‘29).
