Cats, comics and Knausgård : promoting student reading at a UK academic library with a leisure reading collection

Hurst, S; Marsh, D; Brown, DA; Forbes, SA

Abstract

This case study describes the creation of a leisure reading collection in the Clifford Whitworth library at the University of Salford. It briefly surveys existing literature on leisure reading collections and looks at the growing interest among UK academic libraries in recreational reading. It considers the reasons for promoting reading as a leisure activity to students and describes the processes of selecting, purchasing and marketing the collection at Salford. It also considers possible future developments for the collection and the evaluation of the library’s attempts to encourage a culture of reading amongst Salford students. The positive response to the collection suggests the development of leisure reading is a worthwhile activity for academic libraries to focus on and the study contains useful information for others who are interested in creating a similar collection.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 22, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Aug 25, 2017
• Publication Date: Aug 25, 2017
• Deposit Date: Sep 11, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 11, 2017
• Journal: New Review of Academic Librarianship
• Print ISSN: 1361-4533
• Electronic ISSN: 1740-7834
• Publisher: Routledge
• Volume: 23
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 442-452
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13614533.2017.1371612
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13614533.2017.1371612
• Related Public URLs: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/racl20/current