October 2, 2017, by Katherine Beers

The new Leisure Reading Collection at Greenfield Medical Library

We have a new leisure reading collection in the Greenfield Medical Library. Libraries, Research and Learning Services (LRLR) have created this new collection  to support student well-being and broaden student horizons.

Drawing on the ideas behind Bibliotherapy , the concept that reading can be an effective way to relieve stress, this new pilot collection aims to support students studying the Medicine and Health Science subjects. It is housed at Greenfield Medical Library which is the ‘home’ library to these subject areas.

The leisure reading collection brings together a selection of titles from the following areas:

• Books that provide an insight into what it is like to live with various medical conditions or to work as a professional within the MHS field.
• International fiction to promote a greater cultural understanding, and possibly give some of our international students a glimpse of home.
• British fiction will draw readers into closer literary worlds, places like Leicester or Essex.
• Some books within the collection have been chosen for sheer fun and relaxation, including humour, science fiction, Nordic Noir, and guides to mindfulness.

If you’re curious about this new collection there are a few options to find out more:

• Watch a short video showing explaining the basics
• Visit Greenfield Medical Library to browse the books in person
• Or you can type Greenfield Medical Library leisure reading into NUsearch and search the Library Catalogue, to see the full list of titles.

Books can be requested online and delivered to any library. Unlike our ordinary loans, books from this collection can be borrowed for a three week loan period and you are limited to taking only one book at a time.

If you’re interested in some of the research exploring the benefits of reading literature to support wellbeing, this article in The Lancet provides some more background information. Alternatively there is a free MOOC available on the Future Learn platform, developed by the University of Warwick, Literature and Mental Health: Reading for Wellbeing.

Our pilot will gauge the interest in, and impact of such a collection. If you borrow a leisure reading book, please fill in the short survey accompanying the book, or online here. We would like your feedback to better understand how best to take this project forward.

This blog post was written by Carol Hollier, a Teaching and Learning Librarian in Libraries, Research and Learning Resources.

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