Date post: | 01-Jan-2016 |
Category: |
Documents |
Upload: | katherine-gordon |
View: | 217 times |
Download: | 2 times |
Marija Dalbello
Reading Interests of Adults
Reading in Institutional Contexts
Publishers and the Literary MarketplaceRutgers
School of Communication and [email protected]
Image credit: Victor GAD
Overview _______________________________________ Introduction - “suppliers” of reading in focus
The Public Library Movement and attitudes about reading
Reader Advisory Principles Tools Interview
Genre constructions in publishing and the literary marketplace
Conclusion
The public library movement _______________________________________
The other side of the reading revolution - managing the reading tastes of the public
Role of libraries in upholding cultural authority
Attitudes to fiction reading and collection development
Paternalism - library as an educational institution
Mass support at the center of debates
The role of librarians as reformers
The objectives of the public library _______________________________________
Reformative
Educational
Recreational
Democratic
The objectives shape attitudes of the library community over time, and dominate in some periods more than others
Overlap during the Progressive Era
The Progressive Era (1890-1920) _______________________________________Pivotal years
Pre-1890 PATERNALISMApostles of Culture
pastoral tendenciesconventionalconservativelibrarian as arbiter of taste and cultural
authority
Post-1890 LIBERALISMpeaks in 1895-1896 tied to activities of maverick librarians John Cotton Dana, Melvil Dewey - to uphold democratic principle in librarianshiprecognition of recreational readingemphasis on management and “library science” rather than social control (access)
Practices for regulating reading _______________________________________ Paternalist - Liberal tensions and associated practices
Paternalist
lists and bibliographical aids for recommended readingtwo-book system of lendingtesting periods for fiction
Progressive
open shelves common in most public libraries in 1900
Reformers’ voices upholding the “democratic principle” _______________________________________ “Is a free public library justified in supplying to its readers books which are neither for instruction nor for the cultivation of taste; which are not … good literature; which are books for entertainment only – such, for example, as the ruck of common novels?” (J.C. Dana?)
“the librarian should not carry his head so high in the clouds as to forget that the vast majority of people are bowed down by their cares and burdens, and care more for mental relaxation than instruction” (G. Cole)
“Look at your position as a high-grade business one, look after the working details, have things go smoothly, know the whereabouts and classification of books, and let people get their own meat or poison.” (M. Dewey)
The Progressive Era (1890-1920) _______________________________________
Democratization
The “fiction problem” fizzles out in years prior to WWI
Widespread acceptance of mass reading
But, the fiction debate persists and continues
Objectionable fiction
PAUSE HERE Find examples that still point to the unresolved tension about the role of libraries and reading materials
The therapeutic ethos (1920-1930) _______________________________________
Surge in reader advisory services and increase in the number of professionals
Reading at the center of life-enhancing activities counter the disillusionment of the Great Depression era
The democratization of reading and accessible classics
J. Haldemann’s Little Blue BooksThe Book of the Month Clubpublic evening schoolscorrespondence courses
The scientific librarianship (post-WW2) _______________________________________
Focus on information and documentation
Emphasis on technical aspects of librarianship
Idea of guidance into certain forms of literature discredited
Affirmation of free access but not directed educational service
Agnostic librarianship - facilitating rather than evaluative
Reading constructed within the context of information behavior
Reader advisory not relevant in that context of practice - reading constructed within utilitarian framework
Readers’ advisory today _______________________________________
The renaissance of reader advisory in the 1980s
And still growing and developing as noted by the development of reader advisory tools and increased knowledge about the readers’ advisory interview
publication of genre guidesdevelopment of online resourceslibrary school offering of adult reading advisory courses
RA under-resourced, awareness of skills needed to advise low
Librarians not properly trained
Need to increase training opportunities for reader advisors (especially for work with adult readers) in library schools
Readers’ advisory history in brief _______________________________________
Historically, scorn for pleasure reading and even today not advertised
From didactic activity aimed at moral transformation, to fiction guidance with no attempt to improve reader’s reading tastes
Periodization of readers’ advisory services Public Library Movement and associated programsPre-WW2: adult education programPost-WW2 disappearedRecent years: renaissance
Readers’ advisory programming methods_______________________________________Passive
Eliciting reader tastes (circulation, surveys) Book recommendations Consultation with colleagues New fiction racks, book displays Book reviews, patron popularity Posting best sellers lists Genre shelving Book displays Bookmarks Booklists Annotated bibliographies Newsletters Sponsored book clubs
Active Readers’ advisory interview (in-depth process,
follow-up, use of tools)
Readers’ advisory _______________________________________Tools Collection development and current awareness,
historyLibrary Journal, Publishers’ Weekly
Genre guides follow list from syllabus page
Databases (by subscription)Reader’s Advisor Online, NoveList
Library portals and enthusiast sitesReader’s Robot
And beyondsocial networking, bookmarking
sitesInterview Neutral questioning technique and reader advisory
probing Closing the interview with invitation for feedback,
longitudinal (reader histories), librarian’s knowledge of fiction genres and titles essential
Reading in applied contexts - implications _______________________________________
Role of libraries in promoting reading improve reader advisory servicesProgramming for readersUnderstanding readers and their uses and gratifications from reading
Role of LIS programs in teaching about readingInformation allows to avoic complexities involving matters of race, class, sexual orientation, age and gender distinctionsContent of information vs. access to information (library as reading institution)
Role of research in understanding the process of reading
a form of behavior operating as a complex intervention in the ongoing social life of actual social subjects
Library Journal
PAUSE HERE Familiarize yourself with the latest issue of the Library Journal online; access Wikipedia article.
Publishers’ Weekly
PAUSE HERE Familiarize yourself with the latest issue of the Publishers’ Weekly online; access Wikipedia article.
Genre Guides
PAUSE HERE Access guide list from course syllabus page …
Genre Guides
PAUSE HERE and, familiarize yourself with organization of Genreflecting.
QuickTime™ and a decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime™ and a decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime™ and a decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime™ and a decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime™ and a decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime™ and a decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime™ and a decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime™ and a decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime™ and a decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime™ and a decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
NoveList
PAUSE HERE Familiarize yourself with NoveList online
The Reader’s Advisor Online
PAUSE HERE Explore The Reader’s Advisor Online
Neutral Questioning _______________________________________ Sense-Making (B. Dervin)
SITUATIONS - GAPS - USES users resolve uncertainty information-seeking situation methods of questioning neutral questioning technique
Closed questionsIs this for a project?Do you want American or Canadian author?
Open questionsTell me more about X.
Neutral questionssubset of open questions that guide conversation along dimensions relevant for information seeking situations - uncover expected and unexpected uses
Neutral Questioning _______________________________________ Examples of neutral questions Use neutral questioning early in the interview
TO ASSESS SITUATIONS Tell me more how this problem arose?
What are you trying to do in this situation?What happened that got you stopped?
TO ASSESS GAPS What would you like to know about X?
What seems to be missing in your understanding of X?What are you trying to understand?
TO ASSES USES How are you planning to use this information?If you could have exactly the help you wanted, what
would it be?How will this help you? What will it help you do?
Questions related to reading _______________________________________ Examples of neutral questions regarding FRAME (with the
following elements: setting, atmosphere, background, tone, special interests)
TO ASSES tone Tell me about the mood of the book you would like to read.
(to elicit suspenseful, light, romantic, humorous, upbeat, dark bleak tone)
TO ASSESS setting Do you like novels in specific time or place?
TO ASSESS atmosphere
Tell me more about a memorable character or setting you have enjoyed in a previous book.
TO ASSES special interests Do you like books with incidental information?
(to elicit whether they are interested in medieval life, gardening, cooking, …)
Other techniques in readers’ advisory _______________________________________ Librarians may ask questions related to genre dimensions
(guided, not closed)
Consult Genreflecting (Ch. 3 - Catherine Sheldrick Ross) for further guidance on specific questions:
To dentify previous reading patterns To determine current To probe using standard reference techniques in a
reference interview
Map your knowledge structure and tools to what you learn from readers to search in reader advisory tools
Genre in the Marketplace
_______________________________________
How genre is negotiated in the making of literature
Materiality of the book
Branding
Imprints
Bookstores
Literary Prizes
Conclusion
_______________________________________
Debates about fiction reflect institutional history (of the American public library)
Evolution of reader advisory from moral guide, to reader guide, to provision of reader access to books they wish to read (from paternalism to democratic approach to literacy)
Reader advisory work (tools, guides, interviewing techniques)
The taxonomies of genre shaped and articulated through negotiation of meaning between the providers of reading (libraries, publishing industry), readers, and authors