By Sarah Gallaher | Staff Writer
If you enter Moody-Memorial Library on a Monday afternoon, you’ll have trouble finding an open seat as students crowd the library to complete tomorrow’s assignment. Most have notebooks or laptops open, but how many do you see with books? No, not a textbook or a classic novel we’ve all read three times since high school, but a leisurely read?
Despite the copious number of students at the library, very few actually read the thousands of books in Baylor’s collection. Why? It could be because students have so much required reading material that they reserve little time to read for fun. However, the selection of books offered at campus libraries could be another explanation for the lack of readers on campus.
While Baylor boasts a wide variety of academic journals, classic works of literature and valuable research, most of the material offered does not appeal to students. Perhaps if campus libraries offered more modern leisure material, students would be more inclined to read on their own.
Research done by the National Library of New Zealand shows that leisure reading increases overall reading comprehension, expands vocabulary and fosters academic success.
“These findings suggest that we need to pay attention to developing students who can read,” the website reads. “But we also need to develop students who want to read — that is, students who are readers.”
Despite the research showing the benefits of reading for pleasure, few students read outside of class on a regular basis. However, there are plenty of books in the young adult and fiction genres that have widespread success among young readers, some of which can be found at Moody. These genres, aimed at college-aged readers, can be the bridge between academic reading and leisure reading.
Surprisingly, Moody boasts a decent selection of young adult and fiction books. However, this selection is quite outdated, which is the main issue preventing casual readers from finding interesting material to read. Upon browsing the young adult and fiction sections, students will find older books not of interest to many modern readers. As for today’s bestsellers, many new books are unavailable to students aside from academic material.
The young adult genre in particular is unique because it caters to a specific audience: young adults. This means that the demographic shifts every couple years as young adults become adults and children become teenagers, most often included within the young adult genre.
As the demographic shifts, young adult writers have to adapt to their new audiences. While some young adult classics have stood the test of time, many bestsellers are from recent years. This is where the problem with campus libraries arises: The Zeta Collection, which caters to children and young adults, consists of mostly older works published prior to 2000, with the newer books generally ranging from the early 2000s to the early 2010s.
A few notable works from recent years can be found on the University Libraries website, such as “Daisy Jones and the Six,” published in 2019, or “Better Than the Movies,” published in 2021. But the majority of the collection is from earlier years, and many of today’s top titles are absent from the online database.
While many might argue that an academic library like Moody does not need to carry this type of material, doing so might actually encourage students to take advantage of the library as more than just a study space. By being able to check out today’s bestsellers in the young adult and fiction genres, students can build greater reading comprehension skills and are more likely to return to the library when searching for academic material.
Next time you find yourself stuck studying in Moody, take a moment to browse the shelves. You may find that reading can be fun, and if more students express interest in leisure reading, perhaps campus libraries will expand their collections.
