Engaging Transfer Students: A Fiction Book Club and the Transfer Experience

Abstract

This chapter examines how our library engaged with transfer students through a library-run book club. Specifically, we examine our book club at the University of Washington, Tacoma— Real Lit[erature]: Reading for Social Justice—as a site for building community and relationships, in which students, faculty, staff and librarians connect over a shared interest in reading fiction and discussing specific content. We ask the following question: What sort of impact has Real Lit had on transfer students at UW Tacoma? Specifically: has participating in Real Lit affected their interactions with other students, their academic work, and their relationship with the library and library workers? Throughout our analysis, the theme of community-building as impactful to a student’s sense of well-being emerges. We believe that non-academic, interdepartmental, and intentional library programming that connects with a student’s sense of identity can play a role in building community and belonging by fostering relationship-building with library workers and thus reducing library anxiety.