This current moment of social distancing and public anxiety has left many of us with the contradictory needs to both feel connected and to escape: to feel less alone, but also to carve out space and time outside the constant stream of news and social media.
We believe that recreational reading can provide both at once — connection and escape — and the library’s role is to promote and facilitate reading even as our physical location is closed. That’s why, as part of the Books We Read initiative at Chang Science Library, we have launched Rutgers University Groups Reading Alone Together (RUGRAT).
There are many places to find books even with libraries closed, and we’re here to offer recommendations! Did you know you can download older books or virtually “borrow” newer ones for free from Internet Archive? Or that Librivox.org offers free audiobooks of classics? Check out more tips for finding ebooks that Rutgers can provide access to here!
The libraries also offer fun activities to do while stuck indoors — check out (and color!) images from the University Archives and Special Collections (thanks to Tara Maharjan!), or enjoy our Buzzfeed quiz!
Finally, books not only connect us to the worlds we find in them, but also through the opportunity to talk about them with others — we’d love to hear your thoughts! Please let us know if you have a book you’d like to recommend, or ideas for more ways to connect around reading.