King
Library Team Will Challenge Guinness World Record
for Non-Stop Reading Aloud
August 8, 2003 -
A six-member team representing the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Library will attempt a new world record for non-stop reading aloud
as part of the library's August grand opening festivities. Members
of the "King's Dream Team" will begin reading on Wed.,
Aug. 13, at 10 a.m. on the second floor of the King Library (near
the elevators/escalators). The team has pledged not to stop until
they have surpassed the current Guinness World Record of 53 hours
and 2 minutes.
During their long read-aloud marathon, the team will read from
more than 100 books, short stories, plays, essays and poetry.
The first reading will be the famous "I Have A Dream"
speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The public is welcome to
attend this event during library
hours.
The rules for a Guinness challenge are strict and require that
all members of the team, including the coaches, two official witnesses,
and other support people not leave the reading area for the entire
time of the marathon. They are allowed five-minute comfort breaks
periodically, but otherwise will read, eat, and sleep in the public
setting.
No more than six individuals are permitted to read during the
marathon, each for a maximum of three hours at a time. No pause
between reading can be longer than 30 seconds.
The King's Dream Team is comprised of 12 individuals affiliated
with San José State University or the City of San Jose.
The six readers are:
- Mike Adams, chair of the SJSU Department of Television, Radio,
Film and Theatre
- Ramon Navarro Johnson, SJSU student and news director of KSJS,
the university's radio station
- Paul Kauppila, reference and instruction librarian, King Library
- Bridget Kowalczyk, literacy competence specialist, King Library
- Sandy Seronick, a youth services library assistant, King Library
- Annalisa Wilson, King Library page and student at Santa Clara
University
Completing the team are: team managers Christy Aguirre, a collection
development library clerk in the King Library, and Marilyn Seybold,
a reference librarian in the King Library. Alternate readers,
in case any one of the original team is forced to withdraw before
August 15, are: Harry Meserve, a reference librarian in the King
Library; and Nathaniel Yates, an SJSU mechanical engineering student
and a student assistant in the King Library.
The current international record for continuous reading aloud,
according to Guinness, was set by a six-member team at the Cultural
Centre of Rovereto in Tento, Italy. Those readers began on November
29, 2002, and finished 53 hours and 2 minutes later on December
2, 2002.
Both a videotape and an audiotape of the reading done by the
King's Dream Team will be submitted to the Guinness World Records
in England for verification of the achievement.
For more information, contact:
• Nancy L. Stake, San Jose State University, at (408)
924-1166
• Lorraine Oback, San Jose Public Library, at (408) 808-2176
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