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LIBRARY BRINGING PINE BLUFF TOGETHER THROUGH READING

By Erin France/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Saturday, February 7, 2009 10:42 PM CST

The Pine Bluff/Jefferson County Library System wants to try something new — a community read.

The Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas will host a discussion about “The Audacity of Hope” by Barack Obama before he became the 44th president of the United States.

The event is set for 6 p.m. Feb. 27 at the arts and science center with a 5 p.m. reception kicking off the event.

Dave Burdick, the library director, will lead the community read discussion, the first of its kind in the city.

“The Audacity of Hope,” Burdick said, has circulated dozens of times since Jan. 2.

“The big demand is here, but they’re being checked out in all of the libraries,” Burdick said.

The four copies available at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff’s library stay checked out, said Georgette Wiley, the associate library director.

“We can’t keep them in the library because they are always checked out,” she said. “It’s something that our students are so excited about.”

Wiley said the library is investigating purchasing more copies before the community read.

Burdick said the public library purchased 20 additional copies of “The Audacity of Hope,” and all are circulating at the various libraries in the system.

Burdick said he chose Obama’s second book because it dealt more extensively with his political career.

Obama’s award-winning “Dreams from My Father,” published in 1995, is his first book.

Door prizes of Obama calendars to Obama books will be distributed at the community read.

Everyone is welcome to attend, Burdick added, even if they haven’t read the book.

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