A new lease of life for the Literature Collection

The library has, for many years, maintained a small collection of books called the ‘Literature Collection’ which contains a few hundred works of fiction with some kind of educational theme. Classic examples include Malcolm Bradbury’s ‘The History Man’, ‘Lucky Jim’ by Kingsley Amis, and ‘Goodbye Mr Chips’ by James Hilton.

This has, however, been rather neglected and we haven’t really added to it for several years. We have decided to spend some money on it this year, as we believe it could be a very interesting resource for our users that offers a rather different of view of ‘education’.

For example, works of fiction offer some fascinating insights into how places of learning have changed and the experiences of the people who study and work in them. Or the effects on people’s lives of education (or lack of it) and are an easy and enjoyable way of dipping into social history as well as a good read.

We don’t want it just to be a collection of ‘classics’ though. One of our library assistants has been hard at work creating a ‘wish-list’ of things that she thinks deserve a home here. And this is where YOU can help.

We would really welcome suggestions for books that you think would be good to have in this collection. They don’t need to be traditionally about ‘education’ – any works of fiction with some link to the theme will be considered!

We are also not restricting it to UK publications, and so would especially welcome ideas for international titles and authors.

Please let us have your ideas by leaving a comment, or just come in to the library and speak to a member of staff on the Enquiry Desk.