UA Students Launch Alabama Reads Campaign

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – With the goal of promoting literacy and small town life, students at The University of Alabama are working to kick off a statewide campaign called Alabama Reads.

Alabama Reads is designed to increase library usage and literacy rates in the state by encouraging citizens to read the Mark Twain classic, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.” The book was chosen to correspond with the Alabama Department of Tourism’s Year of Small Towns and Twain’s 175th birthday.  The statewide literacy campaign will be held next year from January-April.

The 15 UA students working on the campaign, who are studying public relations in the College of Communication and Information Sciences and are members of Capstone Agency and the Public Relations Student Society of America, will be designing and presenting their campaign ideas to the state public relations coordinators and library regional project directors.

On Thursday, Oct. 15, the campaign will be presented in Birmingham at the Alabama Public Library Systems Administrator’s Meeting. At the beginning of September, UA students followed the Alabama Reads van to five cities across the state to deliver “Tom Sawyer” books to public libraries.

Alabama Reads is an initiative inspired by the national reading campaign, The Big Read. Funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Big Read supports states across the country in reading a book of the NEA’s choice. Once this year’s Big Read concludes, Alabama Reads hopes to continue its efforts in the 215 participating public libraries in Alabama.

Previously, The Big Read had programs in Huntsville, Jefferson County and Perry County, but this year is the first statewide effort.