Croatian bestsellers in public libraries: the most borrowed books study Mirko Duić, miduic@unizd.hr Department for Information Sciences, UNIZD Laura Grzunov, grzunov.laura@gmail.com

Research goals how often the users of Croatian public libraries have borrowed books of authors from Croatia in comparison to books of non-Croatian authors characteristics of the most borrowed books of Croatian authors

Literature Duić and Juric 2016 among 600 most borrowed books in four large Croatian public libraries, most borrowed are books by authors from USA (41%), UK (19%), Sweden (11%), Norway (7%) Croatian books - 3.2% (19 books ) the most borrowed books are almost exclusively novels published in the last 25 years

J. Buschman, 2005: “On libraries and the public sphere” libraries and other educational institutions are threatened by profit-oriented organisations A. Y. Goldsmith, 2008 dissertation about publishing of foreign children’s literature in USA Goldsmith advocates a need to publish culturally conscious books, which provide the authentic feeling of a certain culture from the perspective of its members

H. Schiller, 1990-1991 who are owners of media and what influence have their advertisement incomes? only rich capitalist societies have enough financial power for global promotion campaigns reduction of the diversity of cultural works

People’s interest for culturally diverse works many Croatian readers are primarily interested in books of non-Croatian authors Plavšić and Ljubešić, 2009 young users of ten libraries in Istria, Primorje and Gorski Kotar, prefer books which are present in the media (14 to 28 years) the youngest respondents don’t mention almost any Croatian writer as a favorite writer

Novaković and Medić, 2011 84% of pupils of gymnasium in Zagreb have greater interest in books of world literature than for Croatian literature Kraus, 2016: “Exploration of the book market in Croatia” books by authors from Croatia are mostly read by 15% of respondents, books of non-Croatian authors are mostly read by 35% of respondents, and there are 48% of respondents which read equally Croatian and non-Croatian authors

Research questions How often the users of Croatian public libraries have borrowed books of authors from Croatia in comparison to borrowing books of non-Croatian authors What are the characteristics of the most borrowed books by authors from Croatia: when they were published for the first time are they written by male of female authors are they fiction, non-fiction books or picture books what are their genres

Methodology comparative analysis of library catalog records catalogs with accessible data about the numbers of book borrowing libraries in following big Croatian cities: Zagreb, Rijeka, Split and Pula

Methodology In catalog of each library, 75 most borrowed books by authors from Croatia were determined. Therefore, the total research sample was 300 books. These books were most borrowed in the period of one year Data from library catalogs, Goodreads, Moderna vremena

Most borrowed books of Croatian authors Research results Most borrowed books of Croatian authors without required reading books books of authors from Croatia comprise a very small share of the whole list of most borrowed books

Positions of 300 books of Croatian authors on the list of the most borrowed books

among 99 most borrowed books: 3 books of Croatian authors among 399 most borrowed books: 16 books among 1999 most borrowed books: 203 books

Positions of books of Croatian authors on the list of the most borrowed books

Various aspects of 300 most borrowed books of Croatian authors

Types of literature of the 300 most borrowed books of Croatian authors

Number of the most borrowed books of Croatian authors in relation to their types of literature

Number of the most borrowed books of Croatian authors in relation to their genres

published for the first time Number of the most borrowed books of Croatian authors in relation to time periods in which they were published for the first time

Almost all books were published for the first time after the year 2000 Almost all books were published for the first time after the year 2000. In the time period from the years 1920 to 2009 there are only 39 books or 13% of the sample. * * * * * * *

Almost all books were published for the first time after the year 2000 Almost all books were published for the first time after the year 2000. In the time period from the years 1920 to 2009 there are only 39 books or 13% of the sample. * * * * Average number of borrowings of each of the 300 most borrowed books of Croatian authors

Number of borrowings of the most borrowed books of Croatian authors in relation to gender of their authors

Discussion considerable number of fiction, non-fiction and picture books of Croatian authors is published every year and acquired by libraries however, among the most borrowed books in libraries there is a very small number of books by Croatian authors library users prefer books of foreign authors. reasons? influence of educational and media organisations?

Discussion popularity of foreign books: global promotional campaigns in various media huge difference in book preference is especially pronounced in most lucrative, highest positions of the bestseller lists strong preference for reading books of foreign authors could continue to exist for years

Discussion there is a lot of quality content created outside Croatia, but if it is not balanced with quality content created by Croatian authors, then readers are not in adequate position to inform and educate themselves about important parts of reality that surrounds them what are the possibilities for Croatian librarians to support the growth of interest for quality books of Croatian authors?

Discussion There are very few information in media about books that are not published recently. If library users mostly borrow books published in the last few years, then we have a situation that full potential of library collections is ignored. Findings about the popular types and genres of the most borrowed books of Croatian authors, could help to create better promotion

Conclusion mission of libraries and other educational organizations is to entertain, educate and inform are existing reading preferences (un)problematic? cultural diversity divide librarians as active bystanders what about the long tail?

HVALA! Thanks!