Promoting reading 1
The specific form of service that entails providi
ng suggestions for reading (particularly in the USA) is termed Readers’ Advisory. Readers’ Advisory is a form of literature mediation, and in the same way as we can differentiate between direct and indirect literature mediation, a distinction can be drawn between direct and indirect Readers’ Advisory. For instance, a direct Readers’ Advisory service might be in the form of a conversation, during which a series of questions are put to a user for the purpose of making a non-judgemental inventory of the person’s interests and providing him or her with reading tips and advice on the basis of these. In Sweden, the interaction/communication between the librarian and the user includes the equivalent of a readers’ advisory service. This interaction has the aim of meet his/her needs for information, but may also more specifically be about providing advice and tips in the user’s choice of reading.. In a comparison between the past and the present, Readers’ Advisory services have meant that the relationship between the reader and the librarian has become less and less didactic in nature. If in the past librarians generally felt that they knew what was good for the reader and guided the reader in certain specific directions, they have now become more of a link between the book and the reader. A Readers’ Advisory service is one of the most fundamental functions of a library, but is also used in the bookshop context in both its direct and indirect forms. One of the most frequent reading promotion methods used at public libraries is book presentations in the form of booktalk. Booktalk is a much more common activity in the reading promotion activities of public libraries among children and young people than book circles, for example. The booktalk method boils down to talking about books in order to stimulate interest in reading. Booktalk can convey enthusiasm for reading and also help readers to find books that they like. The booktalk method has been used for a long time but has undergone radical changes over time with regard to selection, pedagogy, approach to the audience, objectives, implementation, and anticipated results. It has been concluded that booktalks during the 1970s were heavily influenced by the notion of popular education, while during the 1990s greater emphasis was placed on the personal reading experience. No major Swedish study has been published that seeks to answer the question of the impact of traditional book presentations or booktalk on reading. Some thesis projects on booktalk point to an increase in the borrowing rates for the books that librarians have chosen to talk about, but these are individual observations rather than any kind of major statistical survey. A number of English language doctoral theses which have investigated traditional forms of booktalk and their impact on lending rates and attitudes to reading are conclusive however: books that have been the subject of booktalks show significant increases in circulation, on the other hand, booktalks have no appreciable effect on attitudes to reading. Booktalk at Swedish public libraries is often about fiction. A study indicates that approximately 90 per cent of booktalks are about fiction in all the studied age categories. This is a remarkably high figure in the light of what we know about boys’ interest in non-fiction. Booktalk activities have changed character over time due to technical innovations of various kinds. One can point to examples of how today’s booktalkers utilise everything from scanners and digital cameras to computer programs such as PowerPoint and iMovie, websites like YouTube and Amazon, etc. There are also projects that have made use of the potential of digital developments to breathe new life into booktalk 106