Here at UBC it is Reading Week, which means of course most students book it to the library… kidding! Nearly every person on campus has escaped the ivory tower for greener pastures, but that doesn’t mean our faithful readers can’t take a look at our collections still. Did you know since they are digital accessible online, for everyone all over the world? Of course you did!

For our blog this week we’re going dive right into reading theme across the ages in our digital collections.

The Reading Room in the Library in 1919 at UBC – this is how librarians dream Reading Week turns out

A Chinese English Reader from 1890 – translating the words you need to know, like ‘pig’ and ‘a good new tea-pot’

The Great battle of Messines Ridge : Reading the news from the trenches 1,000 yards from the Bosch present position – That is some dedication to reading!

Students taking a reading test . Who knew you needed such complicated machinery to read?

Fun literary celebrity intermission! – Allen Ginsburg reading his poetry to a number of UBC students in 1963

Or, if looking at people reading or books about reading isn’t your bag check out this article on the cultural production of reading and readers from UBC Theses and Dissertations – one of the many in our collection.

Of course… you don’t have to take my word for it – check out the collections for yourself by clicking on the images or searching Open Collections!

This is what everyone should be doing to celebrate Reading Week: Relaxing on a cruise!