Manchester students: Falling in love with reading

摘要

RECREATIONAL reading, leisure reading, reading for pleasure, call it what you will, but the idea of having separate reading collections to encour age reading outside the curriculum has been around for a while. In many cases the project develops directly as a response to a wider strategic aim and the library sets aside funding to establish the collection. For example, at the University of Salford, the idea of a leisure reading collection came as a response to perceived low levels of student reading and a high student dropout rate. A library staff forum brainstormed ways to encourage students to read more widely, and thei leisure reading project was born.At Manchester Metropolitan University Library, we followed a different route: a simple comment from one of our staff about how our catalogue made it difficult to browse our fiction collection prompted a conversation about using the library's existin collection for leisure reading. We know our collection is strong in contemporary fiction and poetry in particular, supporting as it does the renowned Manchester Writing School. Why not promote our collection better, showcase what we've got, and help our students to explore reading for pleasure? Next step, a name, and 'Love to Read' (LTR) began. The LTR campaign was initially based on the two campuses at Manchester Met - the All Saints campus on Oxford Road, Manchester and the Crewe campus in Cheshire (the latter closed in June 2019). Three and a half years later, its remit has grown, and we have established a strong relationship with a public sector partner, Manchester Public Libraries, and are currently developing university-wide relationships around leisure reading, new students and author events. This article reflects critically on the challenges of LTR and what has or has not succeeded, and we look forward to future advances for our team and campaign.