Community Reads: The Frankenstein Project

SELCO's Community Reads Grant Program?is a subset of our Community Collaboration Grant. Designed specifically to aid libraries in their community-wide reading efforts, this program is intended to promote reading, research, and discovery through the sharing of perspectives among local residents who read the same book and participate in programs focused on the community selected title. Unlike Community Collaboration Grants, this is not a competitive grant program. It is reviewed by SELCO staff to assure compliance with state statutes. Each library may be awarded up to $1,500 toward its program, with funds able to be used to underwrite the honoraria and travel expenses of featured speakers and expand local advertising/marketing. To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Rochester Public Library partnered with the Mayo Clinic for the Frankenstein Project, a year-long exploration of medicine, science, literature and ethics. In addition to book discussions they incorporated Frankenstein into many programs throughout the year, including the Edible Book Festival, Movies You Must See Before You Die film program, and BioEthics at the Cinema program. To kick off The Frankenstein Project Rochester Public Library and the Friends of the Library sponsored a novella contest on topics inspired by Frankenstein. The keynote event was a presentation by the Bakken Museum, and featured an actor performing as Mary Shelley. The actor presented on the major scientific and political forces in the world at the time of Shelley's writing and the impact they had on the themes of the novel.