Approach to the state of the art of reading promotion in Colombian public libraries.

Abstract

This work presents the result of a research on reading promotion activities in Colombian public libraries. It searches for the presence of libraries in the written culture as well as the role played by the reading promotion initiatives. It establishes the hypothesis that public libraries in Colombia are going from a traditional model, as a Temple of Knowledge, to another model, which is more dynamic and of a social intervention nature. This research starts from the suggested categories in the questionnaire designed by Brioney Train, from the University of Sheffield, which had as a goal to know the scope of services and activities that, in the British community, intend to stimulate the reader and promote the reading in and outside the library. However, it was done within the category system developed by the research group in public library and reading. This research was carried out in four stages. In the first stage, the questionnaire proposed was made suitable to the International survey and accepted by the Reading section of IFLA. In the second stage, criteria and procedures to allow the questionnaire application in the public libraries in Colombia were defined. In addition, the list of sources of authority by which geographic location, name, and basic data of libraries were established. In the third stage, the questionnaire was delivered. Finally, in the fourth stage, preparation, analysis and interpretation processes were carried out. Among the results of this research, we stand out the analysis of the public library situation in Colombia, the reading promotion and its effect in the transformation of the public library, the librarians, their training, the planning, and the policies of reading promotion.