Exploring engagement with non-fiction collections: sociological perspectives
| Date | 03 April 2018 |
| Pages | 43-49 |
| Published date | 03 April 2018 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/CC-08-2017-0034 |
| Author | Sarah Knudson |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Collection building & management |
Exploring engagement with non-fiction
collections: sociological perspectives
Sarah Knudson
Department of Sociology, St. Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to build on limited understandings of how readers engage with non-fiction. Drawing from prior research and
three recent case studies involving non-fiction reading, this paper considers heterogeneity in modes of reading and the central role of libraries in
fostering non-fiction reading cultures.
Design/methodology/approach –Findings from three recent case studies of non-fiction reading about relationship advice; developmental
disorders; and financial planning, based on qualitative interviews, participant observation and survey data, are used to assess and expand
understandings of non-fiction reading and collections.
Findings –There is considerable heterogeneity in modes of non-fiction reading, and readers often appropriate non -fiction texts for purposes
unintended by the authors. Both physical and online libraries function as sites where non-fiction reading can be used by a broad range of
demographic groups to participate in individual or group-based resistance to structural and cultural sources of power and inequality.
Practical implications –This paper provides insight into the role and value of non-fiction collections.
Social implications –Findings speak to the value of robust funding for print and online non-fiction collections in communities and schools.
Originality/value –This paper offers new empirical and theoretical insight into how non-fiction collections are used by a range of demographic
groups in community and school contexts. Sociological theories are introduced to highlight the role of non-fiction collections in facilitating social
change at individual and group levels.
Keywords School libraries, Public libraries, Advice literature, Non-fiction reading, Reading cultures, Reading modalities
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Sociological studies of culture have a long-standing interest in
texts and their readers. Initially,research in this vein centred on
“highbrow”books or other written products that were
considered “legitimate”by virtue of their inclusion in literary
canons (such as subject curricula and university collections)
and their receipt of prestigious awards (Alexander, 2003;
Corse, 1995;Mukerji and Schudson, 1991). These inquiries,
however, focussed on academic or so-called expert
interpretations, uses and evaluations (Bourdieu, 1984;Beljean
et al.,2015;Lizardo and Skiles, 2008). Over the past 30 years,
the “everyday”readers, texts and collections that had been
overlooked have become central research foci (Lichterman,
1992;Radway, 1984;Simonds, 1992;Staiger, 2005). Non-
fiction texts, collections and their readers –the focus of this
paper –make up an important though still understudiedpart of
this area of inquiry.
Along with the shift towardsstudying “everyday”readers and
texts, critical approachesthat consider the broader implications
of texts and reading have gained popularity. These critical
approaches are rooted largely in Marxist theories that see the
production, organization and consumption of cultural goods
like books as processes that arise out of –and reinforce –social
relations of power and social inequalities (Fuchs, 2014). By
using critical frameworks alongside a sociological lens that
connects micro-and macro-level practices to reveal the political
dimensions of personalexperiences (Mills, 1959), many studies
of texts and readers now emphasize how reading –while often
seen as a private and highly individualizedexperience –is in fact
patterned and bound up in processes that contribute to social
inequality and change. For example, research shows how
communities of readers reading a commongenre or topic may,
in loosely or highly organized ways, use their reading
experiences as a springboard for political activism (Lamb,
2005;Steinem, 1992;Taylor, 1996;Wu, 2014). Together,
these research contributions encourageawareness of how texts
and reading can foster resistance to cultural and structural
power, and how interpretations of and reactions to texts are
shaped by readers’culturalcontexts.
Despite the critical and “everyday”turn in the field,
sociological studies of readers still concentrate on fiction
(Griswold,1993, 2000;Puri, 1997) and on primarily white,
educated and middle-class women as readers (Staiger, 2005).
Beyond the study of literary canons, there has been minimal
sociological interest in text collections (whether physical or
virtual), and on how collections factor into how books are read
or otherwise used. To date, most collections-related research
has focussed on what does not get to become a part of text
collections as a result of institutions’gatekeeping practices
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on
Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/2514-9326.htm
Collection and Curation
37/2 (2018) 43–49
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 2514-9326]
[DOI 10.1108/CC-08-2017-0034]
Received 8 August 2017
Revised 8 August 2017
Accepted 17 October 2017
43
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