{"id":4820,"date":"2025-09-06T10:21:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T09:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/library\/?p=4820"},"modified":"2025-09-05T10:28:28","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T09:28:28","slug":"national-read-a-book-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.napier.ac.uk\/library\/2025\/09\/06\/national-read-a-book-day\/","title":{"rendered":"National Read a Book Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

National Read a Book Day<\/h1>\n

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If there is anything us library workers love to promote consistently, is a love of reading. Whether it is a book, eBook, journal, article \u2013 you name it, we will always make a point of advertising the benefits of reading. As well as what resources we have to offer. Therefore, National Read a Book Day provides us with a great opportunity to promote both our resources at the library, how to access them (and how accessible they are), and the benefits of reading for literary and personal development, academic progression and overall wellbeing. Although it has unclear origins, National Read a Book Day is widely observed annually throughout the UK on the 6th<\/sup> of September by book lovers, advocates for reading and, of course, us library workers.<\/p>\n

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National Read a Book Day itself primarily encourages the celebration of reading as a simple pleasure and leisurely activity that has many benefits. Did you know that reading for at least thirty minutes a day is thought to potentially increase your life expectancy? This is due to the cognitive enhancement that reading can provide, including better memory, attention to detail and a reduction in stress levels. Stress is a major contributor to the development of heart disease, cancer and stroke, which are all leading causes of earlier fatality. Therefore, reading can potentially act as a preventative measure against stress progressing to a stage where your risk of developing these conditions and illnesses significantly increases.<\/p>\n

Reading as a Pastime<\/h2>\n

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Many individuals would say that reading is their favourite pastime and recreational activity for relaxation; however, some individuals feel that reading can seem like a chore at times. If you are a student and have been doing a lot of heavy reading and studying for exams and upcoming assignments, that can most definitely be the case, especially if you feel your head has never left a textbook in weeks! The last thing you probably want to do after or during the midst of this is pick up a book. Nevertheless, finding the right book, or even just a fun, light and heartwarming read can feel like a bit of leisure during stressful periods like this. Even if it\u2019s just for a short period of time a day \u2013 on your lunch break, just before going to sleep, or even on your daily commute to make it go by a little faster. Audiobooks are also a great way to get lost in a good story on the move \u2013 whether you are on the train, bus, or even a walk.<\/p>\n

Our Library Catalogue<\/h3>\n

Although a majority of the stock we hold at our campus libraries consists of academic resources and textbooks, we do have some lighter and more leisurely reads available to borrow and request at Sighthill, Merchiston and Craiglockhart campus. If you happen to be passing by one of our campus libraries and come across a book that interests you on one of our shelves (or displays, we love a display), you can use your student card to take it out on loan at one of our self-service kiosks.<\/p>\n

Alternatively, if you have a specific book in mind, you can check if we have it on LibrarySearch<\/strong><\/a> and put in a request for it to be kept on our hold shelves for you to collect later on. We will keep it on hold for you for up to seven days. If we do not have the book which you are looking for, you can submit an Inter Library Loan request form, and we can check if another library has it in stock, then request it from them to lend to you through us. Books borrowed from our own campus libraries can automatically renew for up to four months unless requested by another patron and there are no other copies available to meet this request. When it is requested, you will be notified via email and will have seven days to return the book from when this email is sent to you.<\/p>\n

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Here are some recommendations from us at the library for National Read a Book Day…<\/p>\n