Library Patrols

I just happened to wonder about something a few minutes ago: What would happen if we introduced library patrols where I teach? The name needs some work, I must admit, but here's the basic concept:

Once every week or two, for perhaps thirty minutes or an hour, we faculty (in rotation) could skulk amongst the stacks, watching the students who came by, seeing what titles they perused. Most students, of course, spend time in the library researching projects or papers they would rather not have to complete for classes they would rather not have to take, at least during those first couple years (remember, I teach at a community college). Most. Not all.

Now, let me explain, by way of a story of yesterday, what this might yield. I was in the library grabbing a few additional ideas for my Monday evening class, and a student happened by. I was not conscious beforehand that I was near the litcrit section, but the student was just reading titles as if he had no specific call number in mind. As I finished up, he selected a book on Marxist criticism (co-written by Terry Eagleton, of course), so I thought to note Eagleton's significant role in modern Marxist theory. He seemed pleased that he had selected that title and explained that he had a general interest in theory. That, in turn, led me to recommend Gilbert and Gubar's Madwoman in the Attic and whatever he might find by Derrida, Lacan, and a few others, noting, in general terms, what each brought to the table. After five minutes, he was smiling and visibly pleased by his selection.

Now, how much more could we, as educators, do if only, say, 1 in 3 were to have one (possible) success story like that per term? How many more students could we energize about those topics that they have chosen to explore? How many students on the brink of deciding a major would discover a long-buried passion that much sooner?

It's easy to say that learning doesn't end at the classroom door and that teaching is an ongoing project, but what does it mean? I say we can, and should, create programs that put us into contact with the students who don't even know they are looking for these things. We can go where they seek answers to the questions that most intrigue them, and when we are fortunate enough to find those students pursuing their interests, a little engagement will go a long way toward entending the education of that one student and prolonging, even deepening, that passion we all feel for education. Office hours be damned, or at least shown for what they too often are: a passive tool for engaging the most troubled or the most excited, often leaving out the great swath through the middle.