Sharon Reid is an academic librarian at Loughborough University who encourages students to read for leisure through several initiatives. She runs a student book club called Club 790 where students discuss books every 6 weeks. The library also has a leisure reading collection with 300 books and comfortable seating. Through the BookCrossing program, over 1,300 books have been registered for students to borrow and pass on. Reid hopes to expand these programs and establish more reading champions to promote the benefits of leisure reading on mental health and academic achievement.

1. Lovin’ leisure reading!
Encouraging students to up their game
with a good book
Sharon Reid: Academic Librarian
S.D.Reid@lboro.ac.uk
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

2. 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)

3. 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

4. Club 790: Student book club

5. 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)

6. 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

7. Study Skills Workshop

8. 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.

9. Leisure Reading Collection

10. 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

11. Leisure Reading Collection

12. Leisure Reading Collection

14. Study Skills Workshop

15. BookCrossing

16. 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

17. 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.”

18. 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.”

19. 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!

20. Contact …
Sharon Reid
Academic Librarian
Responsibility for Reading Development
University Library
Loughborough University
S.D.Reid@lboro.ac.uk