The Southworth Library Learning Commons is participating in World Book Night U.S. and serving as a distribution point for volunteer book givers.

“I revel in the idea of sharing my favorite book with people who haven’t read it,” said Library Customer Service Specialist Loreen B. Murphy. “This is a great way for me to share what means the most to me with people who aren’t active readers.”

World Book Night U.S.is an ambitious campaign to give thousands of free specially printed paperbacks to light or nonreaders across America on one day. Volunteer book lovers help promote reading by going out into their communities and sharing free copies of the books they love. The mission of World Book Night is to share literature with those who do not have the means or access to printed books. The event is slated for April 23 with distribution points around the United States.

Area World Book Night U.S. volunteers in the community will be picking up their books at Southworth Library and sharing them in locations such as hospitals, nursing homes, schools, food pantries, and more.

Murphy and Assistant Librarian Cori Wilhelm have chosen respectively “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood and “Me Talk Pretty One Day” by David Sedaris. They plan to circulate on campus to find people who don’t read for pleasure.

SUNY Potsdam volunteers involved with the project include librarians Elizabeth C. Andrews, Abby L. Smith and Marianne Hebert, who will run a World Book Night U.S. table from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Barrington Student Union. They will be giving away 60 free books: 20 each of “The Phantom Tollbooth” by Norton Jester, “The Girl with the Pearl Earring” by Tracy Chevalier, and “Me Talk Pretty One Day.”

For more information about the World Book Night national event, visit: http://www.us.worldbooknight.org/

The Southworth Library is involved in several other innovative projects, including one in celebration of Poem in Your Pocket day. SUNY Canton faculty and students digitally recorded their own poetry and distributed it via a podcast and other downloadable digital formats. For more information, visit www.canton.edu/library.

Assistant Professor Matthew J. Burnett, who teaches in the graphic and multimedia design (GMMD) program, and Scott Fuller, a GMMD advisory board member and an associate professor at St. Joseph’s College of Maine, are presenting a new outdoor display as part of their collaborative “E-Fraction” exhibition.

The two artists are currently displaying their paintings, photographs, sculptures, and mixed media installations at SUNY Potsdam’s Gibson Gallery and will begin molding sculptural forms in snow on Monday, Jan. 30. SUNY Potsdam will host an artists’ reception to highlight the indoor and outdoor portions of the show at 5 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 2, at the Gibson Gallery. Their outdoor work will be illuminated nightly through Feb. 7 in the SUNY Potsdam Academic Quad. Both displays are free and open to the public.

“We have plenty of winter, plenty of snow and plenty of ice in our region,” Burnett said. “I love the idea of celebrating what is unusual and beautiful about winter rather than complaining about it. There is so much complexity and power in the way ice and snow form and dominate our environment.”

Last year, Burnett and Fuller used large snow sculptures as a canvas for moving projected images of their work at a large-scale St. Lawrence University installation. Their efforts were highlighted in the March 13, 2011 Boston Globe article, “Rethinking Snow.”

The pair first collaborated in 2006 to create a kinetic sculpture exhibition in Mt. Desert Island, Maine, and then again in 2008 at Saranac Lake’s winter carnival to create a large-scale interactive illuminated spiral ice structure. In addition to the St. Lawrence University exhibition, they presented their light and snow creations last year in Long Lake using old black-and-white photographs projected on their snow creations. Both artists have shown their work regionally and internationally.

Fuller said the exhibitions take a massive amount of coordination, cooperation, and direction from both artists. He and Burnett will be relying on students and faculty members from SUNY Canton and SUNY Potsdam to help create the massive outdoor snow sculptures.

“Although we’ve worked collaboratively on large environmental exhibitions, we’ve only had one traditional indoor show together,” said Fuller. “We have lots of drawings, paintings and photographs that have been developed around these installations. Our gallery exhibition showcases over five years of working together.”

Media inquiries should be directed to Gregory Kie, Media Relations Manager, or call 315/386-7527.