“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” – Dr Seuss
Today, the 7th March, is World Book Day!
First created by UNESCO in 1995 as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, World Book Day is marked in over 100 countries around the globe. The first World Book Day in the UK and Ireland took place in 1997 and since then it has been a huge celebration every year, highlighting how much “reading is fun, relevant, accessible, exciting, and has the power to transform lives”[1].
Here in the Arden Library Service, we believe in the power of reading across all genres, topics, subjects, specialisms, and interests. When you read – whether for study, for interest, or for enjoyment – you gain so much, which is why we’ve decided to highlight some of our eBook options for students if you fancy a bit of wider reading alongside your studies!
You should be familiar with accessing our eBook collections through your Key Texts areas on your Subject Guide (if not, you can find these available here: Arden University Library: Subject Guides), but did you know that we have lots of popular non-fiction reads available through our eBook platform too?
We did a little digging behind the scenes, and discovered that our top 5 most popular non-fiction eBooks over the last year are...
1. “Mindset: Changing the way you think” by Carol Dwek
2. “Seeing Gender” by Iris Gottlieb
3. “Productivity Hacks” by Emily Price
4. “This Changes Everything” by Naomi Klein
5. “The Invisible Gorilla” by Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons
We also have available to you some sneaky extra spots to find eBooks that you can read for enjoyment alongside your studies, kicking off with our eBook Central and EBSCO eBooks collections. It may surprise you to find that both collections also offer titles that include popular classics and non-fiction reads – such as “1984” by George Orwell, “In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote, “Principled Spying” by David Ormond and even “Killers of the Flower Moon” by David Grann! So if you’ve been to see the film recently, you can check out the book as part of your Arden University Library – a real World Book Day treat!
And if you’re a history-lover, we have a collection that you might be interested in browsing: Archives Unbound, part of Gale Research Complete. Archives Unbound presents topically-focused digital collections of historical documents and primary sources across a wide range of areas, including British and European History; American Studies; Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies, and many more… Find original newspapers, information and documents like the FBI File on Eleanor Roosevelt, original folklore, science in World War II, amongst many other interesting treasures – perfect for anyone with an interest in history and world culture.
Finally, you’ll find lots of classic reads available through Project Gutenberg – a free, open access provider of over 70,000 eBooks, which you can download or read online. Project Gutenberg even have audiobook versions available of almost 5,000 titles via The Project Gutenberg Open Audiobook Collection. Some of their most popular titles include “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley, “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen, and “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” by Arthur Conan Doyle, but there are thousands upon thousands there to explore!
If you have any suggestions for eBooks to add to the Library Portal, you can fill in our eBook Request Form here – and, as always, we love to hear your feedback so you can get in touch with us either via our Library Portal Feedback Form here or by emailing libraries@arden.ac.uk. Keep an eye on our X (formerly Twitter) feed as well, for all our latest news and events – both book-related and more.
Happy World Book Day, and happy reading!
[1] Rebuck, G. (2024) ‘About Us’ [online] London: World Book Day. Available from: https://www.worldbookday.com/about-us/
Reading and Research