Humanities Express

Alumna Urges Donating Books to Ohio's Public Libraries

According to Chris Woodyard, author of the Haunted Ohio series, (Kestrel Publications), the great ghost book giveaway has been a howling success. Woodyard recently offered Ohios public libraries free books and bookmarks to use as incentives in their summer reading programs. "The response was amazing!" she said. "We have sent out over 1,100 books and 22,500 bookmarks to 91 libraries in 51 counties."

After earning a bachelor's degree in Medieval and Renaissance Studies in 1975, Woodyard ran a vintage clothing store, wrote textbooks for the Charles Merrill Company, and did freelance editing and writing for various Columbus organizations. A humanist to the core, she always knew that she would be a writer, and when her family eventually settled near Wright-Patterson AFB, she wrote a local guidebook called The Wright Stuff: A Guide to Life in the Dayton Area. A year later, at the suggestion of her neighborhood librarians, she wrote the first of the Haunted Ohio series.

Since that time Woodyard has written seven nonfiction books on Ohios ghostlore, including Haunted Ohio V: 200 Years of Ghosts, honoring Ohios 200^th anniversary of statehood and featuring hauntings from historical sites around Ohio, from Adena to Zoar. She has also established Kestrel Publications; created the Invisible Ink catalog of books of over 100 other ghostwriters from around the world; and developed www.invink.com, the Invisible Ink Web site, which is full of ghostly resources, including a Chill-drens Corner. Her Haunted Ohio series can be found at local bookstores and libraries.

A library, of course, is the humanist's laboratory. So it's scarcely surprising that, for Woodyard, libraries have been simply invaluable: "I did much of the research for my books at libraries around the state," she says. "I've made many wonderful friends in the librarian community and in the audiences of talks sponsored by libraries. Libraries have been so good to me as an author and publisher that I wanted to give something back, especially at a time when library funding is being cut so drastically."

This College of Humanities alum is now challenging other authors and publishers to support Ohios libraries: "I'd like to say to all Ohio authors: call your local library and donate some books, bookmarks, and posters, or urge your publisher to donate. Summer reading clubs," adds Woodyard, "are a great way to encourage a life-long love of reading."

The College of Humanities is proud of Woodyards accomplishments and salutes her determination to inspire additional acts of reading--which, after all, are the foundational acts of humanists everywhere.