Everything is tagged "Library Trends", so you can use that link to pull up the features of each article and its authors in reverse chronological order here. Or you can use the page I have created for this entire issue to read any article at any time. All of it is open source and free through Project Muse.
Today it is the first article in the issue. But before I get to that, I also want to note that this article is also the first in Section I, “Laying the Groundwork for Twenty-First-Century Readers’ Advisory Service,” which features four articles that establish the foundation upon which we believe twenty-first-century readers’ advisory service should be built. The authors in this section look at service to readers from theoretical and educational perspectives.
And first up is:
pp. 238-266
Abstract: As the world we live in changes, due to global crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and factors such as politics and poverty, people are experiencing increasing levels of stress in their daily lives. Stress also plays a key role in what people choose to read. With this in mind, how exactly does stress and mood affect one’s reading habits? This paper is a deep dive into how significant cultural events and personal stressors have impacted reading/library usage for patrons and library personnel and how library workers connect with communities. Additionally, this paper will also explore how genre interest has emerged and changed over time. This research will aid library staff with their readers’ advisory endeavors and help readers better understand how their reading interests and habits change based on external and internal factors.
Avery Alexander is a 2025 graduate of the University of Washington’s Library and Information Science master’s program. Previously, she attended Ithaca College and received her bachelor’s degree in English, with minors in journalism and linguistics. She is currently pursuing her Doctorate of Information Science in Information Science Leadership and Community Engagement at the University of Maryland College Park. Her career and research interests include readers’ advisory, readers’ services, and community engagement, as well as equitable and inclusive library and information practices.Rebecca Reeves is a 2025 graduate of the University of Washington’s Library and Information Science master’s program. Before that, she attended the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, located in Belton, Texas, and received her bachelor’s degree in mass communication, with a concentration in journalism and a minor in marketing. Her research interests include mental health, communication strategies and needs, community engagement, and genre trends and interests.
This article brought Robin and me so much joy to bring to you because it was written as a paper while the two authors were in their graduate library program. We were interviewed as part of their project and were provided with a final paper to see back when they wrote it. We actively solicited them to consider reworking it for this issue.
They were out of school by the time we got to really working on this, but they rose to the occasion and gave us an article that not only was a perfect kick off to the theoretical and education based section to the issue, but also, they captures the moment we are in now by defining "today's reading reality," especially through the lens of those of us who provide service to readers.
I will write about the different voices, writing style, and topics we brought together in this issue throughout this series of posts, but among Robin and my proudest moments in creating this issue is helping to get excellent student work published for everyone to read and learn from.
Please click through to read Alexander and Reeves' article here through Project Muse for free (just verify you are a human) or check out my page for Library Trends 75(2).
No comments:
Post a Comment