Lovin' leisure reading! Encouraging students to up their game with a good book by Sharon Reid,...
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Lovin’ leisure reading! Encouraging students to up their game with a good book Sharon Reid: Academic Librarian [email protected] Photo attribution: Top left: “Reading” by Paul Bence, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0 Top right: “Caught reading” by Jayel Aheram, licensed under CC BY 2.0
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Transcript of Lovin' leisure reading! Encouraging students to up their game with a good book by Sharon Reid,...
Lovin’ leisure reading!
Encouraging students to up their game
with a good book
Sharon Reid: Academic Librarian
[email protected] Photo attribution: Top left: “Reading” by Paul Bence, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
Top right: “Caught reading” by Jayel Aheram, licensed under CC BY 2.0
Why so keen to encourage leisure
reading?
Sound pedagogical reasons:
• “Frequency of reading for pleasure correlates
strongly with academic achievement” (1)
Proven mental health benefits:
• “Research shows that reading improves mental
wellbeing, and reduces stress levels by 67%” (2)
(1). National Endowment for the Arts (2007) To read or not to read: a question of national consequence.
Washington: National Endowment for the Arts
(2). Galaxy Research, Mindlab International, 2009, cited by The Reading Agency Reading Well. [Online].
Available at: http://readingagency.org.uk/adults/quick-guides/reading-well/ (Accessed: 4 December 2013)
So, what exactly do we do?
Student Book Club (Club 790)
Leisure Reading Collection
BookCrossing
World Book Night
Radar (University book club)
Spread the word! Internal and external events; Conferences;
Local radio; partnership with public library service
Library-wide Reading Development Group
Club 790: Student book club
Club 790
Official launch (with guest author) March 2013
Every 6 weeks in term-time, in the Library,
5.30pm
•“I’ll be coming to the meeting … I can’t wait to
talk about the book”
•“Thanks so much for doing this club by the way,
it’s been great!”
(Book club members, 2013)
Some of the books we’ve read….
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time /
Mark Haddon
The Reluctant Fundamentalist / Mohsin Hamid
Killing Floor / Lee Childs
The Book Thief / Marcus Zusak
Sing you Home / Jodi Picoult
The Hunger Games / Suzanne Collins
The Kite Runner / Khaled Hosseini
We Need to Talk about Kevin / Lionel Shriver
Little Face / Sophie Hannah
Study Skills Workshop
Difficulties in sustaining membership
Problem
Unreliability!
Attendance has fallen considerably this year
Solutions
An official launch EVERY year
Leisure Reading Champions (students)
Adding variety into meetings – film tie-ins, book
swaps, themed refreshments, games
Promotion is key - introductory packs, roll-up
banner, World Book Night, induction, etc.
Leisure Reading Collection
Leisure Reading Collection
Standalone Collection with bespoke shelving
and comfortable seating area
Wide range of genres + Mood-boosting titles
+ self-help Books-on-Prescription titles
Annual budget of £300 plus £5000 from a bid
for sustainable funding
Leisure Reading Collection
Leisure Reading Collection
Study Skills Workshop
BookCrossing
BookCrossing
Participation in the BookCrossing scheme
1345 books registered to date
Wicker baskets of books across campus
“Read and release me” initiative
Advertise for donations to keep the scheme
running
Rota for restocking baskets
“I’m free! Pick me up!” logo to raise visibility
BookCrossing journal entries (1)
“The book is advertised as hilarious etc, but it made
me cry. It could so easily have been about my family
…Thank you, Natasha, for writing this book and
thank you, Loughborough University, for enabling me
to see it while I was waiting for coffee. I will pass it on
to others in the family.”
“Loved this book......really made me want to visit
Florence . So descriptive ! Great story line that held
me till the end . Would love to read more from this
author.”
BookCrossing journal entries (2)
“Collected the book from the basket in the
Martin Hall Cafe on the Loughborough Uni
campus. It has travelled a far way to Russia
and Turkey with me …”
“Picked the book up in Hue [sic], read it
through Vietnam and Indonesia. Left the book
in Six Degrees Hostel, Jakarta.”
What next?
Consolidate, expand and evaluate existing initiatives
Re-launch Club 790 and promote heavily
BookCrossing and the Student Union
Establish Departmental Leisure Reading Champions
One book, one campus…eventually!
Contact …
Sharon Reid
Academic Librarian
Responsibility for Reading Development
University Library
Loughborough University
