The following criteria will guide the Book Selection Committee in evaluation of nominations:

• Goals of the New Student Book Experience include:
  • Welcome new students into the intellectual life of the university
  • Provide an experience common to all incoming students, aiding them in connecting with each other
  • Offer a connection for each student to at least one faculty or staff member, through the welcome week discussions
  • Provide students with an active learning opportunity that relates to the academic expectations of the campus
  • Create an opportunity for critical thinking and ethical engagement
• Books nominated (and finally selected) should be:
  • Compelling, intellectually stimulating, able to generate interesting discussion
  • Engaging on a variety of levels
  • Appropriate for the developmental level of incoming students
  • Addressing issues meaningful to students of diverse backgrounds, including our international students
  • Something the bookstore can and will obtain and offer at a reasonable price
  • Relatively short; books of fewer than 325 pages have an advantage in the selection process.
  • Not widely required as reading in Maryland public high schools; not a self-help book
  • Not made into a movie recently
  • Widely available in paperback
  • Recognizing that all good texts raise issues, the Book Experience does not seek out texts likely to be overtly offensive to a significant portion of the university community.