Search

The Japanese describe themselves as a “nation of readers”. This is not incorrect if you look at the history of reading in Japan, which dates back to the 5th century, when the Chinese writing system arrived in this country. The Japanese gradually adapted it to their own language. The creation of the kana syllabic alphabet enabled the flourishing of literature, and thus the copying activities, especially at the Japanese imperial court. The monks in the temples were also engaged in copying Buddhist texts, but they were the first to accept printing with wooden blocks, which arrived from China. Over time, the printing of books of various genres began. Itinerant merchants and numerous bookstores where books were also rented, tried to satisfy the hunger for reading of all social classes. The book market grew more and more, and the real reading revolution came with the period of intensive modernization of the country in the second half of the 19th century, when Japan made all its efforts to reach and overtake Western models. Publishing, as well as the developed library activity of modern society, rest on such foundations. The reading culture of today’s Japan is reflected in the number of published books, but also in the steady growth of the number of libraries, both public and special, as well as libraries within the educational system in Japan. Today, all segments that form that culture, such as education, printing, publishing and library activities, etc., adapt to the new era defined by globalization and digitalization progress. Although the impressive growth of the figures, which illustrate the size of the book and magazine market, has stopped in recent years, they still prove the fact that the Japanese are truly the “nation of readers”. Libraries also manage to keep up with new trends, so digital libraries appear on the Internet, while all others have available digital catalogs and reading materials. If we look back at the centuries-old attachment of the Japanese to books and reading, and if we look at the technologies we are surrounded by, it is clear to us that librarians are constantly faced with new challenges. Just as the copyist at the Japanese court supplied court ladies with the latest readings, the traveling merchant did his best to make the book reach the most remote mountain villages, the modern librarian also does his best to overcome all obstacles and meet the expectations of increasingly demanding library users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores activities of public libraries under changed conditions caused by the official announcement of the infectious disease COVID-19 pandemic, paying special attention to the work of the Public Library Bor during the lockdown and afterwards. Public libraries worldwide had to find a way to continue their work and to overcome fears, confronting contradictory information, as well as to make, often alone, hard decisions of what services to offer and how to deliver materials to users. Libraries were deciding on options ranging from minimal restrictions to the total lockdown. On the other hand, library users had to turn to online sources of information and services in order to satisfy their needs and interests, so that the paper also explores the effects of these new working conditions on the usage of digitized materials and virtual library services. The conclusion is that libraries should carefully evaluate their possibilities and resources, adjusting their services and programs to what people need the most. As the course of the pandemic is constantly changing, libraries need to focus on improving their virtual offers and finding the way to do so with minimum and tolerable expenses, having in mind that many public libraries in Serbia have already faced budget reductions and cuttings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2018, the Public Library of Budva decided to start building a digital library with the desire to expand the existing offer of online services and meet the needs of the modern audience that is increasingly using digital content. Sometime after launching the Digital Library of Budva (DLB) in November 2019, two issues naturally have raised, asking for evidence-based answers: the effectiveness of invested resources and the direction of the further development. Although the content is locally oriented, the hypothesis was that this new channel of presentation would attract audiences from a far wider geographical area. This hypothesis is confirmed, as well as the empirical observations that there is a direct and high correlation between the number of sessions and presence at social and other media, and that users are inclined to access the DLB via mobile devices, behaving more like sightseers than attentive readers. The analysis of web traffic during one year was performed using Google Analytics. The main aim of the analysis was to get a clear insight into the structure, interests, and behavior of users. It was supposed to be a base for achieving all the defined goals – increasing the number of users, acquiring regular users, extending sessions, and increasing the number of digital unit downloads. Despite limitations in the author’s specific knowledge of webometrics and the possibilities of Google Analytics, and the short period that was being analyzed, the results and conclusions are valuable for determining the main directions of the future DLB development policy. The analysis has shown three main areas as the most important to pay attention to – expanding the offer of digital content with visual materials, a greater presence in the media and on social networks, and popularization of DLB in places of professional and scientific communication. Achieving better results in these three areas would help justify all the mentioned reasons for creating the Digital Library. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores activities of public libraries under changed conditions caused by the official announcement of the infectious disease COVID-19 pandemic, paying special attention to the work of the Public Library Bor during the lockdown and afterwards. Public libraries worldwide had to find a way to continue their work and to overcome fears, confronting contradictory information, as well as to make, often alone, hard decisions of what services to offer and how to deliver materials to users. Libraries were deciding on options ranging from minimal restrictions to the total lockdown. On the other hand, library users had to turn to online sources of information and services in order to satisfy their needs and interests, so that the paper also explores the effects of these new working conditions on the usage of digitized materials and virtual library services. The conclusion is that libraries should carefully evaluate their possibilities and resources, adjusting their services and programs to what people need the most. As the course of the pandemic is constantly changing, libraries need to focus on improving their virtual offers and finding the way to do so with minimum and tolerable expenses, having in mind that many public libraries in Serbia have already faced budget reductions and cuttings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]