“A good book is the precious lifeblood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life.” - John Milton, English poet
Have you ever found a good book? If you haven’t, don’t go very far to find it. SSU Reading Club is willing to wait for you and help you. ST introduces SRC(SSU Reading Club), which is currently playing a big role in making SSU the most prestigious university in South Korea when it comes to reading.
▶ What Soongsilian can do from SSU Reading Club
Other programs Soonsilians can be participated in are as follows: a festival of the humanities, going on a trip to somewhere related to certain books, a lecture on writing, a project reading 7000 books and so on. If you join in doing such things, visit the website: http://cafe.naver.com/ssureadingclub
Moon Soung-nam (Business Administration, 06) being active in SRC says you can find a driving force of growth going through the process of digesting books. SRC is, however, has a limit in giving participants feedback on all the book reports.
▶ ST interviews Park Young-chul, a head of Academic Information Management Team.
Park : SSU Reading Club started in September 2007. The motive came from the desire to work for the good of the Soongsilians. I think that for the university librarians, providing the Soongsilians with good books is the most important thing because good books are very influential in shaping people’s thoughts (and by extension, people’s behaviors). It is also important to form communities, with the students as the main agents of the activities, to revitalize the activity of reading books. SSU is perhaps the first university to enforce this system.
ST: Please tell us what benefits the students can get from reading books.
Park : It is much the same as learning in school. It is not easy to find the truth, but it is easier to do so through thoughtful reading. I think that young people, particularly those in their twenties, have to spend time agonizing over what will enable them to develop more or to have a better way of life, but many of today’s youths no longer do this. Moreover, they have few opportunities to do this at present. SSU Reading Club offers the youths such opportunities. What’s most important for students is how they can best spend their spare time in college. The answer is by reading good books.
