READING IN THE TIME OF CORONAVIRUS: READING HABITS OF CROATIAN CITIZENS DURING THE PANDEMIC OF COVID-19 DISEASE

Abstract

Purpose. The purpose of this paper is to present fi ndings of the research conducted in 2021 on reading habits of Croatian citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic and examine whether there were changes in reading habits and time spent in reading during this period compared to the time before the onset of coronavirus disease. Approach/methodology/design. Online questionnaire was used to collect data about Croatian citizens of 15 years of age and older in the period from 15 February to 1 March 2021. The questionnaire consisted of 29 multiple-choice and open-ended questions. The questions were focused on reading habits and interests, preferred formats of library material they read, and the impact of pandemic on the interest for books and reading in general. The sample consisted of 2.147 respondents from all parts of Croatia. Results. The results have shown that 90.9% of the respondents preferred printed books while only 8.8% preferred e-books. In addition, only 16.3% respondents stated that their interest for e-book has risen during the pandemic in comparison to 2019. A statistically signifi cant difference between the sexes was observed: Men tended to read e-books more often than women, whereas women tended to spend more time in a day reading than men. The results have also shown that the respondents who used to read a lot before the pandemic, continued to do so in 2020. Those respondents who did not read books before the pandemic, as a rule, did not start reading them during the pandemic. Reading habits of the respondents (regarding format, genre etc.) have remained similar to those before the pandemic. Limitations. The research was conducted online, therefore excluding the citizens who do not tend to use information communication technology (ICT) – it is assumed that these are mostly the older adults. Also, it should be noted that the citizens with higher education as well as library members and inhabitants of the Osijek-Baranya County were more represented in the sample than in the general population. Originality/value. The paper brings the results on reading and reading habits of citizens of the Republic of Croatia during the pandemic of COVID-19 in 2020. The fact that a considerably large number of the respondents participated in the research contributes to the reliability of the results.