Reading Clubs as Participatory Art and Science in Public Libraries

Abstract

The social rating, the feeling of identification with a brand, the group with which an individual associates can be tools for stimulating the need for reading through the creation and development of reading clubs. Reading circles are a form of participatory art and science. The sense of associativity contributes to the education of active citizenship, to the creation of the sense of community and civic belonging, increases the pluralism of ideas and actions, intensifying human communication. The collective allows the sharing of experience and reading states. In addition to intellectual development, clubs, through their informal format, contribute to the stimulation of unconventional thinking, critical thinking, horizontal interpersonal communication and the development of socially proactive interpersonal relationships. A new concept applied to functional literacy is that of transliteracy, which we will not refer to in this article. The public libraries of the Republic of Moldova saw in the last decade an opportunity in these forms of providing reading services. Branches of the B.P. Hasdeu Municipal Library provide users with a wide range of clubs, workshops and cenacles in which reading and post-reading dialogue are the main occupation of the group. The purpose of these services is to increase interest in books and develop reading skills in the community. UDC: 027.4:[028:061.237(478)]; JEL: I30; M31; Z13.