Organizers call community reading project a success

Without having to leave Carson City, residents were taken on a journey of the Middle East through a series of presentations for the library's community reading project.

"People got to hang off a cliff in Pakistan with Todd Offenbacher or tour mosques in Afghanistan with Judith Frey," said Sara Jones, director of the Carson City Library. "And that's what reading does, too. It lets you visit faraway places and helps your understanding grow."

The Capital City Reads initiative began in March, encouraging the entire community to read "Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace One School at a Time," which chronicles Greg Mortenson's unsuccessful attempt to summit Pakistan's K2 and a small village nursing him back to health.

In return, he promised to return and build a school there. He went on to establish the nonprofit Central Asia Institute to fund construction of schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Each Tuesday, the library hosted a presentation from people who had traveled to that part of the world or had insights to share from the culture. The final presentation will be this Tuesday when 1st Lt. Adam Felde will give an overview of the Mountain Warfare Training Center in Pickel Meadows where Marines train for deployment in the Middle East.

About 75-100 people have attended each event, Jones said. Nearly 800 people turned out for the highlight of the series when Mortenson spoke at the Carson Nugget.

"Seeing that room stuffed to the gills was really gratifying," she said. "That will be one I'll remember for a lifetime, I think."

Although difficult to gauge exactly how many people participated in the community read, organizers are calling it a success.

"At the beginning of this, I said I wanted to be standing in line at (the grocery store) and hear people talking about the book," said Andrea Moore, the library's outreach coordinator. "Being out and about seeing someone carrying the book was just neat."

Although it wasn't necessarily a goal of the project, Jones said, it did help increase traffic in the library.

Last month, about 40,000 items were checked out of the library. That's almost 5,000 items more than any other month.

"We did this as a community engagement event," Jones said. "I hope that people see the library differently, see its value and its commitment to the community."

Moore is developing a survey to ask participants for their feedback and suggestions for future reading projects.

She said she hopes the momentum from this success carries into the future.

The initiative concludes this week with a showing of "Charlie Wilson's War" Monday evening at the library then Felde's presentation on Tuesday. The movie is rated R. A broadcast of Mortenson's presentation will air 6:30 p.m. Thursday on public access channel 210.

The library will host a showing at the same time in the auditorium.