Presented at LILAC 2022

1. Serving and
supporting students
as whole people:
Leisure reading for information literacy,
lifelong learning, and mental and emotional
well-being

2. SUBTITLE: ARIAL BOLD/REGULAR
Body copy in Arial, use normal sentence case.
Bullet list
• Bullet one
• Bullet two
• Bullet three

3. Connection to information literacy?
• Leisure reading  academic achievement (Gallik,
1999; Kelly et al., 2009; Krashen, 2004; MacAdam, 1995)
• Leisure reading  creativity & mental well-being
(Gelade, 2002; Hurst, 2017; Kelly, 2005; Wycoff, 2003)
• Leisure reading  empathy (Mar 2019; Fong, Mullin,
and Mar, 2013)

4. Connection to information literacy?
• Leisure reading  academic achievement (Gallik,
1999; Kelly et al., 2009; Krashen, 2004; MacAdam, 1995)
• Leisure reading  creativity & mental well-being
(Gelade, 2002; Hurst, 2017; Kelly, 2005; Wycoff, 2003)
• Leisure reading  empathy (Mar 2019; Fong, Mullin,
and Mar, 2013)
68% of academic
libraries have
leisure collections!
(Brookbank, Davis, Harlan,
2018)

5. Social constructivism &
critical pedagogy
• Life experiences and the
whole person
• Authentic learning
• Lifelong learning

6. Social constructivism &
critical pedagogy
• Life experiences and the
whole person
• Authentic learning
• Lifelong learning

7. Research questions
• Are students reading for leisure in order to
realize all the benefits?
– If so, why do they read?
• How much and what are they reading?
• Where are they getting their books?
– If not, why not?
• Do students know about and use leisure reading
collections in academic libraries?
– Is having a leisure collection enough?
– How do academic libraries encourage leisure reading?

8. Research design
• Interviews
– 10 questions w/sub-questions depending on
responses
• Observations
– 1-2 hours at a time, 2-3 sessions per site

11. Results

12. Results

13. Results

14. Results

15. Results
“[I read] for personal development. Reading
is important. It gives you that chance to
think about things from new perspectives,
which is what I like to do as well. I like to
see things from a different point of view.
And I think reading novels or any type of
other literature—not school-wise, but book-
wise—gives me the opportunity to do that.”

16. Results
“[Reading] gives you a
break. So, a lot of time I'll
read when I'm just too
stressed, I want to read and
just go into another world.”
“[I read] to get rid of
anxiety and depression.
I've been through a lot of
anxiety for a long time, so I
have been reading books
to help.”

17. Results
“It has to be educational for me. So I have to
see value in it. I don't read anything…that
doesn't have value for me. It has to educate
me in a certain way. I don't read books just
for the sake of being submerged in the story,
that's not me. I read something so that I can
get information, knowledge out of it.”

18. Results
“You know, if I spend too much time reading
Twitter I get a little disappointed in myself. I just
feel like reading for leisure has more benefits
overall, rather than just scrolling through social
media. I've never spent hours on social media
and felt good about it, but if I spend a few
hours with some book I usually feel like it was
time well spent.”

19. Results

20. Results

21. Results

22. Results

23. Results

24. Results

25. Results
“There's very
large lettering
that says [what]
it [is].”
“When I started going to school
here…I just saw it when I first
started using the library. I was like,
‘Oh, look at all these colorful,
pretty, new books.’ So I saw it
because of the display element I
guess.”

26. Results

27. Results
“They are usually
books that staff or
someone has
donated, so they're all
kind of similar things.
So not a lot of them
are ones...I've either
already read them, I
already have them, or
they're not my thing.”

28. Results

29. Results

30. Results

31. Results

32. Results

33. Takeaways
• Students are reading!
• …But maybe not using your leisure collection 
• There are things you can do to increase its use
– Responsive to student reading habits
– Updated regularly
– Promoted to students—tell them about it!
– Centrally located
– Recommendations/picks
– Visible and fun displays
– Genre information
• Students don’t use the public library in their
university town, so it is up to us to serve their
needs.

34. SUBTITLE: ARIAL BOLD/REGULAR
Body copy in Arial, use normal sentence case.
Bullet list
• Bullet one
• Bullet two
• Bullet three

35. Takeaways
“Reading
should be fun
as well as for
work.”
“...it's fun to explore
your interests - it
makes you feel like
more of a person.
“I think a lot of people in uni
come to hate reading…So, it's
kind of nice that the library has
that balance of a reminder that
you can just enjoy this.”

36. References
• Behler, A. (2011). Leisure Reading Collections in College and University Libraries: Have Academic Librarians
Rediscovered Readers’ Advisory? In Zabel, D (Ed.), Reference reborn: Breathing new life into public services
librarianship (pp. 133-142). Libraries Unlimited.
• Brookbank, E., Davis, A. M., & Harlan, L. (2018). Don’t Call It a Comeback: Popular Reading Collections in
Academic Libraries. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 58(1), 33-34.
• Chen. (2007). Extracurricular Reading Habits of College Students in Taiwan: Findings From Two National
Surveys. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 50(8), 642–653. https://doi.org/10.1598/JAAL.50.8.3
• Critten, J. and Stanfield, A. G. (2016). Social constructivism and critical information literacy. In Pagowsky N. and
McElroy, K. (Eds.), Critical Library Pedagogy Handbook, Association of College and Research Libraries, a division
of the American Library Association.
• Elliot, J. (2007). Academic Libraries and Extracurricular Reading Promotion. Reference & User Services Quarterly,
46(3), 33-43.
• Eskin, Mehmet, et al. (2016). Suicidal behavior and psychological distress in university students: A 12‐nation
study. Archives of Suicide Research, 20(3), 369-388, doi.org/10.1080/13811118.2015.1054055.
• Fong, K., Mullin, J.B., & Mar, R.A. (2013). What you read matters: the role of fiction genre in predicting
interpersonal sensitivity. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 7(4), 370–376.
• Gallik, Jude. (1999). Do they read for pleasure? Recreational Reading Habits of College Students. Journal of
Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 42(6), 480-488.
• Gelade, G. A. (2002). Creative style, personality, and artistic endeavor. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology
Monographs, 128, 213-234.
• Gilbert and Fister B., (2011). Reading, Risk, and Reality: College Students and Reading for Pleasure. College &
Research Libraries, 72(5), 474-495. https://doi.org/10.5860/crl-148
• Hurst, Susan, et al. (2017). Cats, Comics, and Knausgård: Promoting Student Reading at a U.K. Academic
Library with a Leisure Reading Collection. New Review of Academic Librarianship, 23(4), 442-452,
doi:10.1080/13614533.2017.1371612.
• Kelly, K. E. (2005). The relationship between worry and creative personality. Counseling and Clinical Psychology
Journal, 2, 75-80.
• Kelly, K. E. and Kneipp, L.B. (2009). Reading for Pleasure and Creativity among College Students. College
Student Journal, 43(4), 1137-1144.
• Krashen, S. D. (2004). Power of Reading: Insights From the Research (2nd ed.). Libraries Unlimited.

37. References continued…
• Lacy, M. (2014). The slow book revolution: Creating a new culture of reading on college campuses and
beyond. Libraries Unlimited.
• Mar, R. A., et al. (2009). Exploring the Link Between Reading Fiction and Empathy: Ruling Out Individual
Differences and Examining Outcomes. Communications: The European Journal of Communication Research,
34(4), 407-428.
• Marks, S. (1976). Browsing Rooms Redivivus. American Libraries, 7(2), 94-95.
• Milliot, J. (2018). Nonfiction Categories Continued to Grow in 2017. Publisher’s Weekly.
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/75877-nonfiction-categories-
continued-to-grow-in-2017.html
• Milliot, J. (2021). Print Book Sales Rose 8.2% in 2020. Publisher’s Weekly.
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/85256-print-unit-sales-rose-
8-2-in-2020.html
• Milliot, J. (2022). Print Books Had a Huge Sales Year in 2021. Publisher’s Weekly.
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/financial-reporting/article/88225-print-book-
sales-rose-8-9-in-2021.html
• National Endowment for the Arts. (2004). Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America.
http://www.nea.gov/pub/readingatrisk.pdf
• Nicholson, H. (2012). How to Be Engaging: Recreational Reading and Readers' Advisory in the Academic
Library. Public Services Quarterly, 8(2), 178-186.
• Rathe, B. & Blankenship, L. (2006). Recreational Reading Collections in Academic Libraries. Collection
Management, 30(2), 73-85.
• Smith, R. (2008). Giving Pleasure Its Due: Collection Promotion and Readers' Advisory in Academic Libraries.
Journal of Academic Librarianship, 34(6), 520-526.
• Stallman, Helen. (2010). Psychological distress in university students: A comparison with general population
data. Australian Psychologist, 45(4), 249-257, doi.org/10.1080/00050067.2010.482109.
• Ward-Griffin, Emma, et al. (2018). Petting away pre‐exam stress: The effect of therapy dog sessions on
student well‐being. Stress and Health, 34(3), 468-473, doi.org/10.1002/smi.2804.
• Wycoff, E. B., & Pryor, B. (2003). Cognitive processing, creativity, apprehension, and the humorous
personality. North American Journal of Psychology, 5, 31-44.
• Zauha, J. (1993). Recreational reading in academic browsing rooms: Resources for readers’ advisory.
Collection Building, 12(3/4), 57-62.

38. Elizabeth Brookbank
Associate Professor /
Instruction Librarian
Western Oregon University
Email: brookbanke@wou.edu
Twitter: @elizabethbrookb