Choice Reads

Welcome to Choice Reads

Books.  Films.  There are certain books/films that are unforgettable.  These books/films may cause you to laugh, to cry, to remember, to relax, to think.  The list goes on.  For each person an individual reaction.

This list is comprised of books chosen by graduating students who worked as student assistants in the University of Kentucky Libraries.  See what made the favorite/most meaningful list of these students and why.  You will find some reasons funny, some touching, some intellectual, some spiritual….the reasons for the choices made are as unique as the individual doing the choosing.

You may search by year, by student name or by book title.  Once the page is pulled up, click on the white letters to get the page.  You may even check the availability of the book to see if you may check it out for yourself!

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Each spring we have a Celebration to recognize our student assistants. At this celebration we display the books of those who will be graduating that year, give out awards and just have a chance to relax and maybe meet students working in other branches.  We also supply pizza and cookies to make for happy celebrants!  We have traditionally held the Celebration at William T. Young Library–our largest library. We quickly outgrew the Alumni Gallery and moved our celebration to a larger room (B108C) in the basement.  Shortly after that, we began picking a book-related theme for the event.

Shawn Livingston, Young Library Director next to book display

2013: A move to B018C with more room. Decorations were added. Oh the Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss gave the event colorful décor.

2016: It’s always fun to see what books/films are chosen!

Sarah Lewis’ Harry Potter book covers

The Owlery

2017: Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is our theme this year. Charlie doesn’t look happy–but it’s not because of a selection of the books chosen this year!

Hopefully the presenters won’t eat the lollipops!

Stars shine for A Wrinkle in Time over a sample of 2018 choices.

Delicious astral treats (thanks, Jeretta)2019 Our theme this year: Where the Wild Things Are Queen MiKayla at the crowns and candy bar table for graduating studentsThank you, Amber!We are all Wild Things at some point!

2019: A small selection of chosen books/films

Above:

Photos 1 – 5: 2009  The Student Celebration was held in the Gallery at Young Library.  Books chosen by the graduating students that year were displayed.  Cards were given to all of the graduating students participating in the program.  Pizza was enjoyed by all!

Photo 6: 2013  The celebration was moved to B-108C in Young Library to accommodate more guests.  The theme was Oh the Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss. “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you chose.”

Photos 7 – 10: 2016  The theme this year was Harry Potter. Book covers created for each of the 7 books by one of our students, Sarah Lewis as part of the display.  We also had an owlery. It was a “magical” event. “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

Photos 11 & 12: 2017 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory set this year’s graduating students off on their next life adventure…”if you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it. Anything you want to, do it; want to change the world…there’s nothing to it.”

Photos 13-16: 2018 A Wrinkle in Time gave us stars, constellations and planets as we welcomed the 2018 graduating students. “Life, with its rules, its obligations, and its freedoms, is like a sonnet: You’re given the form, but you have to write the sonnet yourself.”

Photos 17 – 21: The theme for 2019 was Where the Wild Things Are. Graduating students could make a crown and join King Max in his wild antics.  Queen MiKayla ruled.  Amber Litwiller, another one of our students, helped set up and decorate.  Several people stopped by to have their photo taken as Max. Candy bars had wrappers saying, “Oh, please don’t go — we’ll eat you up — we love you so!”  It’s hard to say good-bye to our students.