Läsfrämjande lärosätesbibliotek

The aim of this article is to contribute to the understanding of how academic libraries in Sweden engage in reading promotion. The following questions are addressed: (1) What functions does an interdisciplinary and cross-professional book club at an academic library serve for participating students? (2) What new role does the aca-demic library play for these students? Empirical data were gathered through a case study of a specific book club. Participant observations were used together with nine semi-structured interviews that were conducted with students who had attended the book club. Tools from the sociology of reading are used in the analysis. These include concepts from sociologist Elizabeth Long (2003), who describes the “social infrastructure of reading”. The empathetic development that can occur through fiction is problematized by using Megan Boler’s (1997) concept of “passive empathy” and “testimonial reading”. Additionally, Erik Klinenberg’s (2018) theory of libraries as a part of the “social infrastructure” is utilized in the analysis. The results indicate that the social reading within the book club enables students to read and reflect on reading as a social activity, their education, future professions, and the role of the library. The academic library emerges as an integral part of the university’s social infrastructure. The book club not only fosters encounters with literature but also facilitates interactions among students through ensuing discussions. The role of the library and its librarians is to facilitate these encounters—both with the book and with other students—and to ensure they take place.