Unread Books

 

Source: Gilmour, C. 2026. "Hoard habit to break: Confessions of bibliomaniac". The Sun Herald, February 22: 37.

I read this article a few weeks ago, and like Cherie (and many others), I like to buy books because I want to read them, but sometimes time catches up with us. The late Clive James (1939-2019), I remember, admitted in a newspaper feature years ago that he had many books he had bought but never had time to read. It has been the same with me. Quite often, I am distracted by the offerings of local libraries and even the school library (whether I want to read it for enjoyment or for my work).

Some suggest that there are people who "hoard" books and that it's a bad thing, especially if the books remain unread. Studies have shown that households that have their own libraries can foster reading and literacy skills in children. Just having books around may tempt a person to read. I'll admit, one reason I enjoyed reading as a child was shaped by the presence of books in my house, particularly the bookshelf in one of our corridors at home or even books in the homes of family members. It was my way of passing the time, especially since I was not a social kid and could get bored easily.

School Libraries can sometimes be seen as hoarding books, though there are mechanisms in place, such as weeding, that allow for a well-maintained, utilised and current collection. Sometimes schools that have engaged in significant weeding of a collection can still be labelled hoarders, but the question has to be asked: why? Space on shelves has been freed up, sometimes shelves even removed, and more space is available for other uses, but a fail grade is still issued. 

Reflecting on Cherie's quote:

Unread books represent the electric promise of knowledge or stories yet to be known

There are unread books in our libraries. Some may have been popular a few years ago and well borrowed, but have lost their appeal, while some books simply never are borrowed at all. What could we do to promote them?

• A book display "If you enjoyed reading xxx, you will enjoy this one."
• In a thematic book display, promote the well-read, but add a few of the unread ones or ones that have been unread for some time
• Non-fiction - promote their usage more actively if you do not already do so
• Include them on a reading list as recommended reads. Students do love to read books that have been recommended to them.

Also, studies have shown that students are also more likely to engage with books if they work in the presence of them, e.g. the campfire layout of school libraries where students can work at tables with books on shelves surrounding them 

NSW Premier's Reading Challenge - 2026

The last time I devoted an entry to the NSW Premier's Challenge (PRC) was in 2018. I did make references to the PRC in 2023 and 2024. In 2023, I had mentioned that there were no spine labels to identify PRC Books while commenting on Genre Labels on the spines of books and in 2024, I mentioned PRC medals being presented to students as part of the school's annual presentation day at the Sydney Opera House.

Firstly, I can mention that last year I finished labelling the spines with books featured in the NSW Premier's Reading Challenge in 2025. I had done this largely unassisted, carefully going through our fiction collection, item by item. We had countless books that were meant to be listed as PRC books, but because they had a different ISBN number from the one officially listed on SCIS, I had to manually add them in OLIVER.

This also meant that I could update the PRC lists and also created a general list to consolidate the reading lists for secondary schools into one list. In effect, I doubled the number of available items with a PRC listing. I estimate around 1000 books in the fiction collection at my school are in the PRC.

I designed my own label using Microsoft Word and an RAECO template and applied it as a standard label to all PRC books, since the Year 5-6 reading list can also be accessed by secondary school students. Any PRC Books that were not Year 5-6, Years 7-9 and Year 9+ were not stickered.

Feel free to email me at fabian.amuso@det.nsw.edu.au if you would like a copy to use when labelling PRC items in your collections.

For our PRC display, just having the label on it has saved time setting it up.

In 2024, I also began presenting Gold and Platinum awards at our school assemblies each year. I enjoy the opportunity to recognise the students who commit themselves over a sustained period of time. It is an advocacy tool in itself, encouraging students to challenge themselves to set reading goals and realise that reading for pleasure can be rewarding. You can be rewarded for reading regularly. For some students, it may be the only time they are recognised at a whole-school level for their efforts in anything. 

Let's see what 2026 brings. I know one student who has not participated for a few years wants to give it a go this year, and I feel encouraged when a student seeks assistance with filling out their reading records, even at this early stage.

What I am also encouraged to is how its easier to participate than ever e.g. books read aloud by teachers in high school count towards the total of 20 books read, whereas it was previously for primary school participants only, an additional month added for students to participate and complete the challenge but also only needing to read just 10 books from the official list (down from 15).