University co-ops have it right.

A promotional campaign organized by co-ops with the name of Dokusho (reading) Marathon appears to be catching on.

College students seem to like the simple formula: Read a book, write up a short comment and get a gift-after finishing a set number of books.

A little incentive peppered with extras can go a long way in motivating students to crack a book. The plan seems to work much better than just nagging them to ``read more books.''

``That is soooo cute.''

``I have to read more books.''

Those coeds were gushing at the items available from Dokusho Marathon at the Waseda University Co-op book center on the Nishiwaseda campus.

``Runners'' who reach the 100-title benchmark receive the kawaii (cute) gifts.

Launched last April, the Waseda campaign has registered 200 students. Two have attained the 100-title goal, and many others have read 80 to 90 titles.

Most marathons work like this.

Step one: Register.

Step two: When you finish a book, fill in the commentary card, drop it off at the co-op and get your card stamped.

Step three: Collect 10 stamps and receive a 500-yen coupon for books at the co-op.

A similar Dokusho Marathon began last October on the Komaba campus of the University of Tokyo. Whereas many universities make ``100 books in four years'' the goal, the University of Tokyo doubles that-``100 books in two years.''

The campaign was the brainchild of a nationwide university co-op association book-staff meeting held in June 2003. As of December 2004, 128 co-ops at 85 universities were participating.

Masataka Kyo of the university co-op association book center commented, ``It's gone beyond our expectations.''

Of course, there is no denying it's the treats, including discount coupons, that have pushed the movement so far.

College students, just like little kids who collect gold stars in class, eagerly count their stamps. The feeling of achievement is appealing.

Co-op officials everywhere have come to realize that good old word of mouth has power.

Many stores use students' commentaries as promotional blurbs at their bookstores.

Yumi Watanabe of the Waseda University Co-op book center said: ``We've got a strong flow going: `This is good'-`Oh, I'd better read it.' That is enough to sell books.''

The most popular genre at the Waseda store is the literary section. Classics like Natsume Soseki's ``Kokoro'' are popular.

The same is true at the University of Tokyo.

Two-thirds of the books are paperbacks, and many co-ops claim the campaign has boosted paperback sales.

However, even with those pluses, Dokusho Marathon can do better. The campaign can hardly be said to have ``permeated'' campuses nationwide.

There are about 9,000 undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Tokyo Komaba campus, but only 100 are registered ``marathon runners.''

Katsumi Nagareda of the co-op admitted: ``Maybe we need to do more PR. We'll promote the campaign to new freshmen.''(IHT/Asahi: February 12,2005)