Bibliotherapy in Lithuanian Public Libraries: Service Identification and Analysis
Bibliotherapy in Lithuanian Public Libraries: Service Identification and Analysis

Summary/Abstract: The article presents contemporary conceptions of bibliotherapy elaborated by researchers in different countries (the USA, Great Britain, Israel, Russia and Lithuania). On their basis, a schematic coverage of library provided-bibliotherapeutic services was worked out that served as a framework for the analysis of the prevalence of bibliotherapy in Lithuanian public libraries. Main international experience of the bibliotherapy practice in public libraries is related to: 1) inter-institutional collaboration with health-care institutions by providing access to texts recommended by medical professionals; 2) organization of group (or individual) work with library users in terms of bibliotherapy; 3) compiling lists of recommended literature or creating full-text databases on the theme of bibliotherapy; 4) providing access to reading and target recommendations to groups of social exclusion; 5) providing the service of reading recommendations (mainly with the aim of emotional support) to readers. On that basis, a brief semi-open questionnaire for Lithuanian libraries was worked out, followed by a request to answer whether the named bibliotherapeutic services were provided by the surveyed libraries and to comment on the way of their provision. The outcomes of the survey showed that 43 % of the surveyed libraries were implementing joint activities with other local health-care institutions. 28 % of the surveyed Lithuanian public libraries organized group or individual bibliotherapeutic work with library users. 17 % of the surveyed Lithuanian public libraries compiled lists of bibliotherapeutic literature and thus provided library users with access to bibliotherapeutic information. A vast majority of the surveyed libraries (62 %) provided the services of book delivery and mobile libraries in social institutions of different localities. Over 73 % of the surveyed libraries agreed that they applied bibliotherapy and indicated different schemas of doing it without using the term of bibliotherapy or using a different term.

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