What books are college students reading today?
On the occasion of the 27th World Book Day, let's talk about what college students read.
Literary books are very popular
In February this year, we counted the big data of book lending in 101 colleges and universities in the past year, and the data showed that "Ordinary World", "Three-Body" and "Alive" were loved by many college students and ranked in the top 3 of the borrowing list.
The books shortlisted for 4 to 10 places of borrowing are:
4. "Those Things of the Ming Dynasty"
5. "One Hundred Years of Solitude"
Tied for No. 6."White Night", "The Kite Chaser", "The Dedication of Suspect X"
9. "Relief Grocery Store"
Tied for 10th place" "Selected Works of Mao Zedong", "Xu Sanguan Selling Blood"
Looking at the list, we found that literary books are the most sought-after. Among the 20 books with the highest number of borrowed books, 18 are literature books and 2 social science works.
These popular books, most of which are classic books, have been highly recognized by readers after time precipitation.
As a college student who loves "Ordinary World" said, the ordinary world, there is not much vigorousness, there are sorrows and joys in life, there are gains and losses. Tian Xiaoxia's drowning and He Xiulian's illness reflect the variability and complexity of life. But as the poet Gu Cheng said, "Man can be born like an ant, and beauty is like a god." This book enlightens life in plain language, tells us to face life, love life, and forge ahead with heart, conveying the spiritual connotation of "self-improvement", which is worth reading.
Among the top 10 on the loan list, there is another book that attracts special attention - "Selected Works of Mao Zedong". In fact, "Mao Zedong's Anthology" is not the first time to enter the list, in 2020 it has ranked among the top 10. Why do "00" college students love to watch "Mao Xuan"? Perhaps it is related to the "four histories" study and education activities held by university libraries in recent years, or the book can bring people different feelings.
"Netizens from different ages, the encounters of reading 'Mao Xuan' may be different, and the harvest and perception after reading it are not the same, but one thing is definitely the same: 'Mao Xuan' is enlightening and spiritually happy after reading it, and there is no whole thing to understand in the past, in an instant, there is a sense of happiness in the martial arts to open up the second vein of Ren Dou, which is worth recommending." A netizen once commented on the book.
In addition to the favored humanities and social sciences books, professional books are also frequent visitors to the university book lending list, especially the outstanding performance of industry-specific colleges and universities.
In the Beijing Film Academy Book Borrowing Top 10 list, the 10 books borrowed by the school's students are all professional books, including: the screenwriter's must-read classics "Story: Material, Structure, Style and principles of screen drama" and "Saving the Cat: A Treasure Book of Film Screenwriting", as well as "Introduction to Art" and "How to Read: How to Interpret Visual Materials". Students of Chongqing Medical University also borrowed more professional books, involving 9 medical books such as "Color Atlas of Human Anatomy", "Pharmacology Study Guide" and "Pathology Study Guide". Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Hebei Medical University, Shenyang University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and other universities in the top 10 books to borrow, 8 are related to the major.
Campus bookstores are "on the rise"
Another place to read outside of the library is the campus bookstore.
Haitang College, located in Tianjin University
Image source: Courtesy of Begonia College
In addition to selling books, the campus bookstore will also provide readers with services such as book lending and free reading, and will also hold special cultural activities such as book festivals and lectures by famous artists. Nowadays, the campus bookstore has become an important place for students to study and live. But not every college has a highly booked campus bookstore.
In this regard, the Ministry of Education issued the "Guiding Opinions on Further Supporting the Development of Physical Bookstores on Campus of Colleges and Universities" in 2019, requiring that each university should have at least one physical bookstore on campus with the variety and scale of book operations that is compatible with the characteristics of the university, and if there is none, it should be rebuilt as soon as possible.
Subsequently, various localities actively took action to include the construction of campus bookstores in the plan. For example, Hubei has formulated the "Three-year Action Plan for the Construction of Physical Bookstores on Campuses in Hubei", proposing a construction plan to achieve full coverage of 128 college campus bookstores in the province within three years. Anhui also proposed to accelerate the construction of college campus bookstores to achieve "one school, one bookstore, one product and one characteristic". According to reports, as of now, Hubei has built 22 double reading university campus bookstores, of which 12 are in Wuhan. Moreover, recently there has been good news about the official opening of the Beiyue Bookstore of Hubei Urban Construction Vocational and Technical College.
So, what does the ideal campus bookstore look like in the eyes of teachers and students?
Max has previously conducted research, "the bookstore has a wide interior space, elegant decoration, distinctive characteristics, and equipped with a warm reading space" is the appearance of the campus bookstore in the hearts of teachers and students, and it is best to be close to the student or teacher's accommodation area in the geographical environment.
Teachers and students have different views on the types of books in bookstores. More than half (53.1%) of the teachers surveyed believe that the books purchased by campus bookstores can be niche but reflect the professional characteristics of the school, while more than 70% (73.0%) of the surveyed students hope that the book varieties are "perfect" to meet the different needs of readers.
How do university teachers and students think about the expansion services in addition to reading, book selection, and book purchase? The data shows that "regular or irregular organization of cultural activities" is the most valued campus bookstore service for teachers and students, and half of the respondents chose this option. This was followed by "discounts for teachers and students" (48.3%) and "provision of meals" (40.7%).
For the types of cultural activities, "Author Meetings" (55.3%) and "Reading Salons" (52.0%) are the most anticipated by university teachers and students, followed by "exhibitions, exhibitions", with nearly 40% (39.0%) of the support.
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