The committee of the University of Wisconsin’s new Go Big Read program has a daunting task ahead.

The group will aid Chancellor Biddy Martin in selecting a book that is not only substantial but also appropriate in length, accessible yet thought-provoking, as a suitable read for every student on campus.

“We’re trying settle on what book to choose, but we’ve already had more than 600 suggestions,” said Ken Frazier, director of the UW General Library System.

Selecting a book is only the first step in initiating the Go Big Read program at UW, a direct cousin of Martin’s New Student Reading Project, which she began in 2001 at Cornell University.

“From the very first time I met Chancellor Martin, she was interested in having a common book program that would involve a much broader and connected community of university people,” Frazier said.

That community, including UW students, faculty, academic staff, alumni and other Madison citizens, can submit common book suggestions online until Friday. The Go Big Read committee, a group of students, UW Library System officials and public radio representatives, will narrow the suggestions to a short list of approximately 10 strong candidates by the end of March, Frazier said.

The chosen book will be provided for students for the fall 2009 semester, either for free or at reduced cost. Ideas for programming include bringing the author to speak on campus and holding faculty-run discussion groups, among others.

While the chancellor’s pick is anyone’s guess, Frazier said she previously selected fiction and classical works for Cornell’s program.

“I kind of favor non-fiction over fiction,” Frazier said. “When you’re talking about a work of fiction, the conversation often focused on whether or not you liked the book. With a more topical non-fiction book, you can find your way into the subject itself, the thing that’s being written about.”

Caton Roberts, a UW psychology professor and faculty director of Chadbourne Residential College, said he thinks Go Big Read is an idea worth pursuing.

“I’m cautiously optimistic that it has some wonderful possibilities for stimulating exchanges between students and faculty, and faculty and faculty,” Roberts said.

Roberts would know — for the past two academic years at CRC, he has shepherded the Common Read program, which provides a free book to each resident, who is encouraged to read it and participate in discussions with faculty and staff and other related programming.

Georgia Strebe, a UW sophomore and resident of CRC who has read Common Read books in the past, said she can see the merit in a campuswide program.

“It’s something that unites UW students right off the bat,” Strebe said. “There are a few other things that unite UW students as well, like Wisconsin winters, football games — that stuff. But (with Go Big Read) right at the beginning of the school year, anybody can talk and know about something together.”

UW junior Ryan Williams said he doesn’t see the same potential.

“I think it’s well-founded; the idea behind it is really good, but I think the follow-through, as with many college programs, will be lacking,” Williams said. “It’ll hit to a very small minority of the students.”

Roberts said persuading students to take part in CRC’s Common Read program has sometimes been a challenge.

“We’re happy that we get as high a level of participation that we have, although in an ideal world, one would want to see even a much higher level of participation,” Roberts said.

Frazier said Go Big Read aims to involve a few thousand students in its first year, a relatively modest sample the UW community, and building on those numbers in subsequent years with the success of the program.

Participation will be opt-in for the campus at large, he added, though the book could potentially be integrated into the curricula of some Communication-A courses.

Strebe, who would like to see a controversial book selected, said that program could benefit everyone on campus, regardless of who participates in it, adding conversations may even start about why students chose not to read the book.

“Most of all, we’re hoping to have some fun with this,” said Frazier. “Have it be an experience that people remember as representative of what a great university should be like.”