Read Smarter, Not Faster: Reflections on a Speed Reading and Reading Retention Workshop for Engineering Graduate Students

Abstract

In December 2014, we received a request to teach a speed reading workshop for engineering graduate students. We seized this nontraditional opportunity to engage with these infrequent library visitors. This article discusses the design, delivery, and assessment of our Speed Reading and Reading Retention workshop, held in April 2015. In researching this topic, we discovered that the scholarly research on speed reading shows a physiological limit to reading rate and that speed reading is essentially skimming. Therefore, we chose to briefly present this research, while mainly focusing on proven reading retention techniques and study habits. A postworkshop survey showed that over 80 percent of the attendees agreed or strongly agreed that the workshop was useful and informative, but some students still wanted to be taught how to speed read. A survey 1 year after the workshop revealed that an average of 51 percent of student attendees were more confident in their study habits and reading retention skills after attending the workshop. We discuss several reasons why this type of workshop falls within the purview of an academic library, including connections to the ACRL Framework. Finally, we recommend several lessons learned in hopes of inspiring other STEM librarians to teach similar workshops.

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