{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,15]],"date-time":"2026-05-15T19:35:28Z","timestamp":1778873728573,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2002,3,1]],"date-time":"2002-03-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1014940800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Journal of Librarianship and Information Science"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2002,3]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Reports results of a study, undertaken at the University of Sheffield and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB), which addressed the question of what motivates adults to invest time in reading as a means of assessing the value and impact of public library book reading. The methodology for the full AHRB project involved an extensive literature review, focus groups and a preliminary questionnaire survey issued to all UK public library authorities to assess the current level of activity in relation to fiction and fiction promotion. In addition, stock management and selection policies were evaluated and used to inform interviews with library stock managers and those responsible for reading promotion. The paper focuses on that part of the study where participants were asked to talk about their reading. Individual readers were interviewed and focus groups were undertaken to examine people\u2019s reading experience. The focus groups were selected to reflect the variables in the population and included non-users as well as users of the public library service. The results confirmed that reading imaginative literature is regarded as a special activity which serves to satisfy a wide variety of needs. The data dispel the myth of the stereotypical image of a reader as someone who is introverted and reluctant or unable to participate fully in society. There is convincing evidence that through reading a person\u2019s life can be transformed. Also, for those who regard themselves as readers, reading is not only deemed a special activity but a crucial one. Their accounts reveal that the reading identity is not fixed but changes according to time and personal development.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/096100060203400104","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2005,2,7]],"date-time":"2005-02-07T23:27:51Z","timestamp":1107818871000},"page":"33-41","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":34,"title":["The value and impact of reading imaginative literature"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"34","author":[{"given":"Bob","family":"Usherwood","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Information Studies, The University of Sheffield, Centre                         for the Public Library and Information in Society,"}]},{"given":"Jackie","family":"Toyne","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Lincoln"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2002,3,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"atypb1","volume-title":"Becoming a reader- The experience of a reader from childhood to adulthood","author":"Appleyard, J.A.","year":"1990"},{"key":"atypb2","volume-title":"Local literacies - Reading and writing in one community","author":"Barton, D.","year":"1998"},{"key":"atypb3","volume-title":"Readers and reading","author":"Bennett, A.","year":"1995"},{"key":"atypb4","volume-title":"Reading the situation - Book reading, buying & borrowing habits in Britain","author":"Book Marketing Ltd and The Reading Partnership","year":"2000"},{"key":"atypb5","volume-title":"Borrowed time? 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MA Thesis, University of Sheffield"},{"key":"atypb26","volume-title":"Checking the books: The value and impact of public library book reading. 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