The Reading Interests and Habits of Young People in Digital Age as a Starting Point for Public Libraries Services

Suvremeno društvo je društvo digitalnih tehnologija koje oblikuju i značajno određuju život žitelja digitalnog doba, čak i onih koji se njima ne služe izravno i aktivno. Utjecaj digitalnih tehnologija najjači je na one koji su s njima u svakodnevnom kontaktu, a to su mladi koji ih u pravilu prvi prihvaćaju i njima se najviše i najradije služe. Utjecaj digitalnih tehnologija toliko je jak da mijenja paradigmu bitno ljudskih aktivnosti poput čitanja. Pod tim ne mislimo samo na prelazak s papirnatog na elektronički tekst, nego i na posljedice koje ta promjena ima na čitanje kao aktivnost te percepciju čitanja među mladima, njihove čitateljske interese i navike koji također doživljavaju preobrazbu. Istraživanjem provedenim u ovom radu pokušalo se utvrditi čitateljske interese i navike mladih korisnika Gradske knjižnice Solin u svrhu unaprjeđenja knjižničnih usluga za mlade te postizanja njihovog većeg obuhvata. Doprinos istraživanja je višestruk: osim što donosi stavove mladih prema čitanju u digitalnom dobu, pruža i smjernice u kojem bi se smjeru knjižnične usluge i programi za mlade trebali razvijati po mišljenju mladih kao korisnika, ali i po mišljenju knjižničara kao zaposlenika.Modern society is a society of digital technologies which shape and significantly define the life of digital age inhabitants, even those who do not use them directly and actively. The impact of digital technologies is the greatest on people who are in touch with them everyday. Those are young people who generally first accept technologies and use them most frequently and most gladly. The impact of digital technologies is so great that it changes the paradigm of the essentially human activities such as reading. By that we do not only think of the transition from paper to electronic text but also of the consequences that change has on reading as an activity and perception of reading among young people, their reading interests and habits which are also being transformed. Research conducted in this thesis tried to determine the reading interests and habits of the young users of Solin Public Library with the aim of improvement of library services for young people and achievement of their greater coverage. Contribution of the research is manifold: except for bringing the young people's attitudes toward reading in digital age, it provides guidelines for development of library services and programs for young users according to the opinion of the young people as the users of the library but also according to the opinion of the librarians as the employees of the library