Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Porch Reads: Encouraging Recreational Reading Among College Students., Heidi Gauder, Joan Giglierano, Christine Schramm

Joan Plungis

Leisure reading in America has declined in the last 20 years, especially among 18 to 24 year olds. Studies show, however, that a positive relationship exists between college students' academic achievement and the time they spend in recreational reading. Reading for pleasure improves reading comprehension, writing style, vocabulary, spelling, and grammatical development. Librarians at the Roesch Library, University of Dayton (OH), collaborated with colleagues in Residence Education on a yearlong pilot recreational reading program to address this cultural shift on a small scale. Porches, informal gathering places familiar to students, served as an appropriate theme for the program's goal of …