Warning Banned Books!

To celebrate Equality and Diversity Week 2012 all three LRCs showcased Banned Books!

Banned Books created a stir at all the sites with students getting involved in the quiz as well as discussing the books that were banned and also the issues surrounding the banning of books.

The aim of the quiz was to correctly identify whether the books had been or are currently banned either here in the UK or in another country. We used the following website as a guide to which books were banned and why. We had over 220 entries so a big thank you to everyone who took part!

The winners are: Lorna Taylor (FC), Mo Herbert (MW), Mary Apple Radam (GC).

Here are the answers so you can check which ones you got right:

Birdsong - Not Banned
Women in Love - Not Banned
Hairy Scary Monster - Not Banned
To Kill a Mocking Bird - Banned
Black Beauty - Banned
A Clockwork Orange - Banned
Refugee Boy - Not Banned
Wild Swans - Banned
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - Banned
The Perks of being a Wallflower - Banned
The Brutal Art - Not Banned
And Tango Makes Three - Banned
The Da Vinci Code - Banned
The Godfather - Not Banned
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Banned 


Students also submitted comments and reviews of Banned Books -  here are a few along with some pictures of our displays. Enjoy!

Wild Swans by Jung Chang. "It is a brilliant book! So vivid and honest and it's all true. It actually happened that is what is so incredible. I admire these 3 brave women."

"Harry Potter banned in America? Meant to be a so called 'free country'! Censorship comes to mind."


"American Psycho should be permanently banned it's a very disturbing read" 


"Adolf Hitler's 'Meine Kampf' should not be banned - he was entitled to his political opinion."

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. "I loved Of Mice and Men because it was interesting and made me want to read more."


The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. "My favourite book ever. Clever, smart, thoughtful and very moreish. Read this hundreds of times. Worth a read!"

Happy Christmas!

Don't forget that even though we're closed over Christmas and the New Year you can still access all our e-books and other online resources 24/7.

Look for the LRC under Key Courses on Moodle to find links to Heritage (library catalogue) and our e-resources.

Just like Sainsbury’s!

That was a comment from a teacher about a recent move of stock.  I assured him that there was a purpose to the move.

We have had to reclassify stock for two reasons:

• changes in the latest version of our classification scheme, Dewey
• the fact that the combined catalogue for the three sites shows up any areas where one or two have made changes to the official classification. (We do this to make things easier for our students.) However, if we don't all use the same number, we can end up with one book having three classification numbers.

So far we have moved stock in these areas where the Dewey number has changed:

• 760 Graphic arts have been relocated to 740
• 775 Digital photography has been moved to 770 for general works and 771 for manuals
• 778.5 Cinematography and videography have relocated to 777

Some of the subjects we have moved as we have standardised our local practice are:

• Research Skills and Study Skills (various classification numbers)
• Artists and painters that were spread throughout 700-719 and 759 are now just at 759

Students and staff: if your books are not on the shelf where you expect them to be, check the catalogue or ask a friendly librarian!

Top e-books in November

Business once again hold onto top spot in the pages viewed chart for last month. Beauty Therapy are also holding onto their chart positions and we have behavioural ecology books in the top ten for the first time this year.  In our downloads chart Early Childhood have claimed top spot this time round.

Here's November's chart:

3786   BTEC Level 3 National Business Book 1
1957   BTEC Level 3 Business Book 2
359     Behavioural ecology
333     An introduction to behavioural ecology
262     Beauty therapy. - 3rd ed.
226     Aromatherapy : therapy basics
200     Research methods for business
186     Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice
176     Doing research in the real world
172     Business information management : improving performance using 
           information systems   

The top downloaded books for November were:

8   Child development for early childhood studies
5   Construction technology
4   Special educational needs, inclusion and diversity
4   Managing behaviour in the early years
4   BTEC First Business: Level 2
4   An introduction to behavioural ecology
4   Advanced construction technology

Six Book Challenge 2013

FC LRC & GC LRC are pleased to announce the launch of the Six Book Challenge 2013!

Do you want to improve your reading and literacy skills? Do you want to get back into reading but don't know where to start?

If the answer is yes, then get them involved in the Six Book Challenge!

We had a trial run of the challenge last year with two ESOL groups at Guildford and 15 students at Farnham with some success but we are now opening it up to any students that want to improve their reading skills and/or get back into reading.

The challenge is for students to read six books before the end of June 2013.

Well not just books... poetry, newspapers,  magazines and e-books count too! All you need to do is pop along to the LRC and sign up. It doesn't take long, just a minute or two to fill out a little form. Then we give you a reading diary so you can record what you read and rate it out of 5. Once you have read something and recorded it in your diary pop back into the LRC to get it stamped by a member of the LRC team.

When you have filled up your diary and read all six books you have completed the challenge and you will receive your certificate and get entered into a National Prize Draw. First prize is a theatre trip to London for 2 and three runners up will get a Kobo e-reader.

Don't worry if you don't know where to start or what to read the LRC staff can help you and you can also check out this useful website to help you find your next read. There will also be freebies and incentives throughout the challenge to keep you motivated! :)

Over 23 students have signed up already! Why not join them and give it a go?!?