A place for literary reading in university libraries

Abstract

The present study aims, on the one hand, to reflect on reading practices within the university library, describing and explaining the various possibilities and their connection with the purpose of university education, and on the other hand to demonstrate as an extra reading activity teaching at the academy – a reading group – can provide meaningful reading experiences for those involved. To this end, the study develops a theoretical reflection, based on a literature review, which highlights the contributions of literary reading and reading groups in an academic context to the dynamics of lifelong learning. Then, interviews with participants in a reading group, carried out in a university library, are analysed, seeking to explore the impact of the experiences declared in this area on their daily lives. It is concluded that the reading groups assume themselves as an essential strategy to promote literary reading and learning transversal skills, namely academic skills based on critical reflection, orality and relational interaction, revealing, at the same time, the intertwining the reading  hared with the daily lives of each of the participants, which goes beyond life in the gym. The study leaves clues to an extensive field of reflection and action.