This article reports on a study investigating leisure reading among university students using Kindle devices. The study employed a pre-post reading engagement survey of a cohort of twenty-one college students. Students participated in the study by completing self-reported surveys before and after a semester-long reading engagement program. The program involved preloaded audio and e-books on Kindle Fire devices, giving students the option to read, listen, or read and listen simultaneously. The students were selected by their enrollment in either a reading improvement class or a comparative literature class contained within a multilingual student course cluster. All students either struggled with English language skills, based on SAT scores, or were ESL students. Students indicated in the presurvey results that they spent less than one hour weekly reading material. In the postsurvey results, analysis shows that students were more interested in recreational reading materials, noting that they were likely or very likely to read or listen to books outside of class material in the future. Increasing Leisure Reading among University Students with Audio + Text DevicesEncouraging students to read can be challenging. Leisure reading, also known as recreational reading, is particularly difficult for busy college students. Torn among classes, work, internships, family obligations, and socializing, reading for fun is often last on a long list of priorities, if it was even an interest to begin with. However, literacy is an important skill that will have an effect on the remainder of students' lives. Research has found that the more one reads, the better one gets at reading, and the less one reads, the more impeded one's literacy skills become. 1 Literacy skills are the foundation on which college classes are built. By encouraging students to improve these skills, librarians and instructors also help students feel confident in their classwork. With this in mind, how do instructors and librarians encourage reading for fun?One idea explored in this study is to use technology in an innovative way to open students to different ways of reading. Kindle Fires, loaded with text and audio content able to be read and listened to simultaneously, may help students improve literacy skills and help them become more than reluctant readers. This study looked at two classes where students were provided Kindles with audio and text book selections and measured levels of engagement and interest in leisure reading before and after using the device.

During summer term, an academic library can be a very quiet place. With fewer students on campus, more online classes, and shorter library hours, there is often a lack of interaction between librarians and students. This is a missed opportunity to engage those students who are on campus.

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Jansen, Annie (07/2021). "A case study of a popular titles collection circulation at a regional campus undergraduate library". Public Services Quarterly (1522-8959), 17 (3), p. 166. A Case Study of a Popular Titles Collection Circulation at a Regional Campus Undergraduate LibraryThis study analyzes fifteen months of circulation data from a popular titles collection at a regional campus undergraduate library. To better understand how popular titles collections in academic libraries are used, this data analysis shows a breakdown of use amongst the entire campus population (students, faculty, and staff). Faculty are the most frequent borrowers of items from this collection, followed by students and staff. Further analysis shows that fiction is more popular than non-fiction. Amongst circulated titles and in the broad fiction category, American literature and English literature are ranked highest. Young Adult literature is another category in which items frequently circulated. Finally, this article touches on the benefits of using a rental plan for leasing titles in a browsing collection, including a better ability to meet specific needs on campus or among student groups than with traditional acquisitions processes.