By Nathan Degenaars
March 20, 2026
In the fall of 2023, in response to a study showing an increase in the decline in literacy in Americans, Kathleen Klaiber, professor of English/ESL, and Cindy Hagelberger, professor and librarian, started the Reading Club at GCC with the goal of giving or furthering a student’s love for reading.
Klaiber had high hopes for the new club. They hope to “connect reading and pleasure instead of reading and pain,” she said. Klaiber said the club is made to be welcoming to everyone looking to join, whether a student already likes reading or wants to improve their reading.
Winner of the 2024–2025 Emerging Club Award for the student group that demonstrates moving beyond expectations of a new or reestablished club, The Reading Club is very flexible with what it does and where it meets, either in front of room B283 in the waiting area close to the Humanities’ offices or in a room that is not being used at the time the club is meeting. The club meets twice a month on Wednesdays at noon.
Reading club is also informal and very much in the hands of the students when it comes to what books are read and what trips are taken. One of the events that the Reading Club does is visiting privately owned bookstores. On those trips, students get to choose if they wish to go to local markets and stores that might be out of reach for students who live in the dorms.
Other events include a used book sale fundraiser, making a book vase, and bringing authors to GCC. The club organizers are working to get John Conroe, the author of the book series The Demon Accords, to visit GCC.
Hagelberger is the “silent partner,” in the club, she said. She brings supplies that the club might need, tracks down copies of books the club could use, and helps with the stand at the GCC Club Fair.
Hagelberger also connects the Reading Club to the Richmond Reads Community One Book Program. Batavia’s Richmond Memorial Library’s goal is to bring the community together by reading a chosen title and discussing it. GCC and the Reading Club both participate in this program.
“Everyone is welcome as long as you want to read,” Hagelberger said.