Reader Development in Practice: Bringing Literature to Readers

Citation

Duckett, B. (2009), "Reader Development in Practice: Bringing Literature to Readers", Library Review, Vol. 58 No. 8, pp. 618-619. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530910987118

It is interesting to reflect that in Georgian times, book clubs, reading groups and libraries developed in response to the need of the public to access books and other reading matter, and now, two hundred years later, the reverse seems to be the case: we actively promote our libraries and seek to develop the reading skills of the public. The cynic might argue that we do so to generate a public who will justify our existence, but there is no such unworthy thinking in this book! Its fifteen contributors – academics, librarians, writers and readers – are idealists all, all concerned with igniting “The imaginative spark” to use the words of the title of the introductory chapter; all concerned to counter the negative comment of an interviewee in Chapter 5 that “Libraries have always put me off. I just haven't an idea at all where to go in a library”.

In the Introduction, author Ann Cleeves describes the writing process from the germinal idea to publication and beyond, suggesting ways in which this knowledge can assist the reading development process. This is followed by a section of chapters on reader development strategies used today, such as promotions and partnerships, and considers the impact of recent and current reader development schemes and outlines possible developments. Starting with a discussion on partnerships in reader development, the section moves on to look at methods for making literature accessible to all. This chapter makes the important point that since libraries are under a legal requirement to cater for the disadvantaged, we should include the poorly literate. There follows a discussion of managing fiction in one particular library authority and the section finishes with an inspiring account of how a reading scheme benefited the less educated. This success is demonstrated by interviews with some of the people who benefited.

The next clutch of essays features three specific genres of literature. In “Two worlds collide: hypertext and rewriting” we are introduced to the world of Barthes’ ideal text, “writerly” texts and “readerly” texts, disassembling, lexias, deconstruction/reconstruction and multicursal narrative. The account of rewriting R.L. Stevenson's The Strange Case of Mr Jeykell and Mr Hyde in hypertext format is informative if rather unconvincing. Hypertext, “in which the structure is nodal and it is the interaction between the lexias, and the reader's individual navigation of them, which creates the stress … .” (!) seems better suited to web design and gaming. But the chapter on “Dire consequences?: the development of futuristic fiction as a genre for young readers” was most challenging, especially for us oldies concerned about “the emergence of a bleak, dystopian literature for young readers” – a genre that calls into question some stock assumptions that adults hold about the nature of childhood and young readers as a group. The dangers of future technologies – influenced by Orwell's 1984 and Huxley's Brave New World – leading to nightmare visions of the future dominated by a totalitarian state of robocops, or amoral cyborgs and urban hells is popular reading for the young. The author charts the shift in writing from authors seeing naïve or rebellious children saving us from these urban hells to children as rational agents who understand and adapt the new technological cultures better than ourselves: “more politically literate, less idealistic and less naïve readers”; more comfortable with media convergence and “hybridity”. There is hope in them there young! In “Cheers Ta: reflections on making poetry accessible to all”, we return to a more familiar genre of imaginative literature.

The next clutch of essays looks to the future. “Premature elegies: e‐books, electronic publishing and reading” considers e‐books to have been a failure and hypertexts a dead end for books. Their value lies in journals and the “long tail”: the archival dimension and print on demand represented by Project Gutenberg and Google Book Search; also in the peripherals of tracing books and marketing. Similar views are expressed in “Beyond the Caxton legacy: is this the end of the book and its communities?” The effect of the electronic dimension on book shops is stark, yet it does remove some barriers to use. There is a symbiosis. The views of a bookseller are also featured, giving an account of his survival strategies. Finally in this section there is a discussion of the role of academic and practitioners in educating future professionals. The syllabus outline and account of a course on “Literature and its Readers” provide some good discussion points. Finally we have “A bookworm's eye view”, an account of choosing a book reading group and of taking part.

Each section and each chapter has an editorial introduction, which I found a touch irritating – the patronising “you‐will‐find‐this‐and‐learn‐that” sort of thing. And as is often the case in anthologies which report developments, there is a proliferation of personal accounts, but the text is fresh, stimulating and fun to read; the editors have made an excellent selection covering a wide range of topics. Each chapter has its own bibliography, there is an excellent index, and the book is brilliantly crafted, one of Facet's best.

A final thought: I struggle with the paradox (apparent?), much in evidence in the professional press, of the emphasis on reader development while at the same time exhorting librarians to leave behind the comfort of the print‐based culture and embrace Web 2.0. This book goes some of the way to dealing with this paradox, but maybe something more is needed on the joys of better information skills, of information literacy groups! But I recommend Reader Development: the contributions are articulate and thoughtful, there is a judicious blend of the academic and practical; and the contributors are enthusiasts. I enjoyed my read and I am, I am sure, much developed.