1. Croatian bestsellers in public libraries: the most borrowed books study
Mirko Duić,
Department for Information Sciences, UNIZD
Laura Grzunov,

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. H. Schiller,
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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

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

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

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

15. Various aspects of 300 most borrowed books of Croatian authors

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

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

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

19. 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

20. 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 In the time period from the years 1920 to 2009 there are only 39 books or 13% of the sample.
* * * *
* * *

21. 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 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

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

23. 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?

24. 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

25. 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?

26. 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

27. 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?

28. HVALA!
Thanks!