Online group to discuss ‘The New Jim Crow’

The librarian may leave the library, but the library doesn’t leave the librarian. An open Facebook group, UUA Common Read Lab, is sure to interest readers of the Unitarian Universalist Association’s “Common Read.”

The 2012-2013 UUA Common Read selection is The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander.

As recently as three months ago, I administered a lending library for a UU congregation in Lake County, Calif. When developing a collection or recommending books, one area I paid strong attention to was the “common read.”

(This interest extended beyond administration of the lending library; my own most recent common reads are Michael Malone’s The Four Corners of the Sky and Vanessa Diffenbaugh’s The Language of Flowers).

It seemed only natural to pass this resource along, given the importance I placed on the Common Read when building a collection for the library.

The UUA invites group participants to “Post information about a discussion group being held in your congregation or community, extend in-person conversations beyond your group, and connect with others taking part in the Common Read.”