Reading for pleasure for just 30 minutes a week is associated with many benefits, from increased life satisfaction, self-esteem, better sleep, creativity, and happiness to improved social skills. It helps us rediscover all of who we are as we recognise feelings and situations faced by characters, reminding us of our common humanity and helping us remember and reconnect to all that we are and not just those aspects of ourselves we feel reduced to by the doubts and anxieties of the moment. So where can you most easily find things to read for pleasure?

Looking for open-access publications, journals, research articles, monographs and theses that you can read for free online? The British Library has now brought together the major open access repositories in one place to help you discover scholarly publications and resources that are freely available to all, wherever you are.

This visually inspiring resource comprises 170 ebooks relating to fashion and textiles, design and illustration, photography, film and media, architecture and interiors and marketing and advertising. You can search by keyword or browse key topics in each of the subject …

Bloomsbury Applied Visual Arts Read more »

With almost all our journals, ebook collections and hundreds of specialist subject databases available online through the Library website, you really do have a digital library you can carry in your pocket, almost all drawn together for you to explore …

A digital library in your pocket Read more »

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week and at this time of year students and staff are particularly under strain busily preparing for exams, completing dissertations and finishing off final submissions. Our brains are crammed with ‘useful’ information, our bodies …

Reading for Pleasure – Happy days are here again! Read more »