By analyzing the readers group of picture books to see the promotion of picture books from public libraries
Date Issued
2008
Date
2008
Author(s)
Hsu, Ching-Yueh
Abstract
Picture books have seen a prosperous trend in both publishing and sales in the past decades. This study adopts an in-depth interviewing method, and aims to analyze respects and related activities of picture books, including the components of the readers’ group, the motivations and purposes of reading origination, the experiences and sensations spurred by reading, the viewpoints of adult readers, the way people feel about the promotion activities held by the local public libraries. The results from above-mentioned analyses, hopefully, can serve as a valid reference for the local public libraries when they carry out next-time promotion campaigns on picture books. Through purposed sampling I choose adult picture-books readers and divide them into three categories as follows: the picture-books lenders from local public libraries, the frequent browsers and buyers of picture-books zone at bookstores, and active participants of related Web sites and blogs. Each category comprises 6 to 7 persons, with a total of 19 interviewees. The study infers a larger proportion of the readers of picture books are females with young kids. These women often acquire their own picture-books reading hobby after reading to their children in the first place. When asked about the major time points that they were first exposed to picture books, three popular answers are being at school, pregnancy and entering the work market. Each and every components of a picture book not only activate the feelings from the readers, but spur their imagination, strengthen their creativity and expand their outlooks. Regarding reading, the preferred types and tastes are individualized, and the channels of recommendation on relevant information diverge. Among those who love reading picture books, few take actions in joining the discussion on associated issues. Among the interviewees, when deciding on buying a picture book, price is the dominating factor, whereas as they decide whether to lend a picture book from the library, a barely sufficient stock and bad-shaped book covers are two major factors to consider. As for picture-books promotion activities held in the library, most readers give that a high credit, while the effect of such an activity depends on the availability or interest of the readers. The interviewees think the discussion boards of a Web site provide ample knowledge and information on picture books. For the bloggers, setting up a blog on picture books can be beneficial and reciprocating. This study provides three suggestions as regards to the picture books activities held by public libraries. First, concerning the participants, the library may invite the target audience to join in the activity, while investigate the specific needs of these participants. Additionally, libraries ought to make better use of available picture books to help the immigrants to learn the language as well as the culture in Taiwan. Secondly, the reservoir and stocks in a library should be better attended to. A library is supposed to speed the acquisition procedure, add duplicates for those most popular with lenders, take good care of the book covers, so as to strengthen the willingness of these regular readers. A library should also place those picture books that are intended for adult readers in the general books zone and the children’s books zone simultaneously, or make different arrangements when display. Moreover, when purchasing new books and building the subject book lists, the library may refer to the help and opinions from experts and scholars of the field. Those relevant Web sites or blogs are also valuable information for libraries. In the meantime, the picture books classifying system is recommended for the library. Besides, we suggest non-urban public libraries pay more attention to the quantity and quality on the purchase of picture books, as well as emulate the picture-books promotion activities by the urban-area public libraries. Finally, as regards to the promotion activities, forums or classes should be specifically designed to accommodate different reading groups. Take for instance, renowned publishing companies, authors and persons who have expertise in the field are good choices for forum invitees, lecturers. They can be encouraged to deliver articles on library periodicals to promote librarians and readers’ knowledge of picture books. Blogs on picture books built by libraries are a good forum for the exchange of information and opinions from readers. Concerning the promotion or publicity, libraries may devise diverse approaches, such as readjusting to the weekend styles of today’s readers, and taking initiative on introducing the application to primary school teachers. The library may introduce the production of local illustrators and authors through the promotion activity to encourage more and better creative works.
Subjects
picture book
picture books reading
public library
Type
thesis
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