Scholars in college learning and writing studies have argued that reading has an image problem: we have trouble "seeing" it. This study contributes to making reading visible by collecting a series of images used by faculty and students enrolled in first-year experience courses. Qualitative analysis of interviews with five faculty and 34 students focused on these research questions: a) how do faculty and students describe the role of reading in first-year experience courses? b) do faculty and students differ in their descriptions of reading? and c) do groups of students differ in their descriptions of reading? In the interviews, participants repeatedly used spatial images: mirrors, boxes, classrooms, maps, and landscapes. My analysis grouped these images into two categories: readers outside texts and readers inside texts. I argue that using such images to describe reading is an important activity for first-year students, and that it a central element of course design and classroom discussion for faculty who teach first-year experience courses.