Page 79 - Journal of Library Science in China, Vol.45, 2019

078 Journal of Library Science in China, Vol.11, 2019

Their reading habits must better reflect the role of the omnimedia environment. Therefore, with the
current youth reading behavior as the observation starting point can help us to grasp the trend of
reading behavior in the omnimedia era.
So, has the contemporary youth reading behavior been influenced by the omnimedia
environment, and showing a trend towards hybrid reading? If the answer is yes, what are the
specific characteristics and manifestations of hybrid reading behavior? What’s the point of its rise?
How should we construct a popular reading strategy that is appropriate to it? To answer this series
of questions, this study launched a survey of reading behavior for young adults, trying to identify
signs of the transition from traditional reading to hybrid reading, and to explore its characteristics
and impact on the construction of reading promotion strategies.

1 Literature review

Reading behavior is an interdisciplinary research field, which is used as a research object by
sociology, education, library science, communication science, publishing and other disciplines.
In the digital age, digital reading has become a common topic among various disciplines in terms
of reading behavior research, and changes in relevant research perspectives have also emerged
accordingly. Early understanding of digital reading was dominated by negative evaluation.
Dillon (1992) finds that different from reading on paper, reading on-screen is found to be slower,
less precise, and more difficult to understand than on paper. Z. Liu (2013) believes that screen
readers spend more time on browsing, scanning, keyword reading, one-time reading, non-linear
reading. With less time spent on deep reading and intensive reading, sustained attention also
declines. But in recent years, neutral or even positive views have increasingly emerged. For
instance, Eden and Eshet-Alkalai (2013) point out that today’s young readers are as skilled in
reading digital text as they are reading paper books, because digital reading has become part of
their daily behavior. According to Peters (2009), the growth of online reading and cloud reading
was creating an online community of readers in real time, evoking the interest of readers and
authors in communicating. Therefore, readers are flexible and creative, and in comparison, we
should be more concerned about the career path of librarirans and the variation of reading.
In this context, more and more scholars propose that further study be conducted on the change of
reading behavior in the digital environment, and that readers be offered options to try various new
reading models. As Wolf and Barzillai (2009) argues, in order to promote a deep understanding of
online reading, the process of deep reading on the web should be studied. Shabani, Naderikharaji,
and Abedi (2011) point out that research on changes in reading behavior can help improve the
relevance and effectiveness of reading promotion. Peters (2009) points out that, readers nowadays
have more choices in their own reading experience, but this process is bound to face some
challenges. Libraries therefore should help users overcome these challenges, and encourage,
support and help readers to make various reading attempts.