The Library is running a Big Read Challenge and we hope we can encourage as many members of the College community to join in and read.
At the heart of the challenge is the hope that the perception some people have towards reading will change.
While we hope those participating in the challenge will be willing to write reviews of the items on the Library Catalogue, the focus of the challenge is to expand on their current reading preferences and hopefully motivate them to discover something new.
Reading for pleasure has been identified as a great way to improve confidence in writing and expression, as it exposes readers to new themes, styles, techniques and vocabulary.
In May 2012 the Government’s Education Standards Research Team published a document called “Research evidence on reading for pleasure that researched the “evidence on the trends and benefits of independent reading”.
Identified in the report are “a positive link between positive attitudes towards reading and scoring well on reading assessments” and that benefits also included increased “text comprehension and grammar, positive reading attitudes, pleasure in reading in later life, increased general knowledge”.
The Big Read is a reading challenge which is being run in conjunction with the Reading Agency, World Book Day (5th March) and World Book Night (23rd April).
To participate in the Big Read Challenge all you need to do is read six books and complete the sections of the booklet to record your progress.
The only caveats we include are that the books have to be available from Bradford College Library and that at last four are from our Reading Collection.
To start the challenge just collect a booklet from the Library Information Desk and start reading.
The Library received numerous postive comments from readers about how much they had enjoyed the blind date with a book and the idea for the next display planned to maintain the popularity of this idea.
