You may have been intrigued by the seven book covers posted on our Twitter account without any explanation or link. I hope that the #BookCoverChallenge @IOELibrary and elsewhere has reminded you what a beautiful creation of the human spirit a book is, quite different from an orally transmitted story or from an article presented online.

I also hope that many readers of this academic library asked themselves why it is teeming with quirky bees, pidgeons, and monkeys – as well as humans who are busy studying (or demonstrating).

Well, the UCL Institute of Education is not only a social science research institute but a teacher training college; so the Newsam Library provides many thousands of teaching resources and children’s books, in the so-called Curriculum Resources Collection.

Two of our seven book covers belonged to our non-fiction section; one contained children’s poetry, illustrated by the author; one was a picture book about books which appears to be for young children but is really a satire for adults: It’s a book.

Two books were taken from one of our academic collections, which you will find stretching along the upper and lower floors: one recent but radiating a Sixties/Seventies spirit with its retro look, the other one brand-new and published by the UCL Institute of Education Press.

One title was actually a literary work for adults: apart from fiction for children and teenagers (‘young adults’), the Newsam Library holds novels and films, sometimes biographical or autobiographical, dealing with schools and colleges.

This Education in Literature Collection is located at the back of the Teaching Room, behind the Children’s Book Corner, and you may take the volumes or DVD’s out.

Incidentally, in that cosy nook of the library you will pass some colourful finger-puppets and animal masks, as well as various teddy-bears with other beasts and birds, not on book-covers, but as three-dimensional objects.

If you feel like indulging in a bit of reading, joining the bear on the arm-chair or lying on the rug, here are your justifications:

1. After reading a book — particularly at the IOE — I might change the world.
2. I need to relax so that I can work harder afterwards on changing the world.
3. “People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading” (Logan Pearsall Smith). Remember: It’s a book.