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Library Loans up by 71% as World Book Day approaches

With Thursday 3rd March marking World Book Day, Eastleigh College is encouraging learners to utilise our enhanced library service in the Learner Hub, which has seen a 71% increase in loans over the last two years.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and refurbishment of our Learner Hub area, the Eastleigh College library service was closed between March 2020 and September 2021. Despite this stoppage of services, the College has seen a 71% increase in library loans between January to February 2022 compared to the same months in 2020.

Jessica Munday, Learning Centre Team Leader, said: “We have seen a notable increase in physical stock being taken out compared to the use of digital resources – I believe this is due to learners having had access to digital resources only during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has strengthened their appreciation and desire for physical books.”

World Book Day was initiated on 23rd April 1995 to celebrate books and authors while encouraging young people to appreciate reading as an activity. Baroness Gail Rebuck, who founded World Book Day, said: “We wanted to do something to reposition reading and our message today is the same as it was then – that reading is fun, relevant, accessible, exciting and has the power to transform lives.”

Eastleigh College recognises the power of reading for young people, which was the driving force behind the introduction of a Reading Champions Scheme in house with our SLUKY learners, which helped to increase their confidence and ability. The success of this has further encouraged us to purchase the Oxford Reading Club online scheme to help even more learners progress with their reading, listening, speaking and vocabulary.

This scheme will allow the learner and tutor to see how their reading is progressing, gradually moving them up levels in a similar way to a school reading scheme, but with age appropriate books. We will be trialling this with our new intake of refugee learners, before expanding this to our SEN learners and then the wider College population.

For more information about this year’s World Book Day, please visit the website here.