FIMS Publications

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2009

Volume

79

Issue

4

Journal

The Library Quarterly

First Page

465

Last Page

483

Abstract

Situated in a review of rural, cultural, and youth geographies, this article reports on a qualitative study of the role of reading and libraries in the lives of older rural teenagers. The primary method of data collection was the use of in‐depth, flexibly structured interviews with twenty‐seven youth between the ages of fifteen and nineteen years, supplemented with data from unobtrusive observation and environmental scanning in a specific geographic locale. Four themes are discussed: the habitual, quotidian reading of teenagers; the shifting visibility of the public library; the Internet and the World Wide Web as a default reading site; and the temporal constraints on reading for pleasure. With the use of ideas informed by cultural geography, the space of nonactive teen readers and the placelessness of reading are explored.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

Citation of this paper:

Rothbauer, Paulette. "Exploring the placelessness of reading among older teens in a Canadian rural municipality." The Library Quarterly 79.4 (2009): 465-483.

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