Page 66 - Journal of Library Science in China 2020 Vol.46

CHEN Geng & HU Yachun / The attribution analysis of low participation in public reading 065
among rural residents: A survey from 77 administrative villages and rural libraries in Hubei Province

The attribution analysis of low participation in public

reading among rural residents: A survey from 77
administrative villages and rural libraries in Hubei

Province 〇a ①

〇b * 1
CHEN Geng & HU Yachun 2
1 National Institute of Cultural Development in Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
2 School of Journalism and Communication, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China

Abstract
In the context of promoting nationwide reading and revitalizing rural culture, encouraging and guiding
rural residents to participate in reading has drawn much attention from the academic and industry
circles. Nevertheless, rural residents are characterized by low participation in public reading at present.
Based on Kelly’s cube theory, this paper analyzes the three dimensional causes of rural residents’ low
participation in public reading, including person, stimulus and circumstance through questionnaires and
field interviews in 77 administrative villages in Hubei province. It is shown that the reasons for low
participation of rural residents are complex and varied, which may be the single attribution of person or
stimulus, or the composite attribution of person and stimulus, person and circumstance, as well as the
combination of person, stimulus and circumstance. Though the factors belong to internal and external
causes respectively and hierarchical structure exists among the three, they are mostly related to the
internal factor of person, so the factor of person need to be paid special attention to. In this regard, we
should stimulate and strengthen the internal demand for public reading of rural residents at the person
dimension, explore the cooperative production mode of stimulus at the stimulus dimension, optimizing
resource allocation and innovating effective stimulus means. As for the circumstance, we should create
a good public reading atmosphere and stimulate the enthusiasm of rural residents to participate in public
reading.

Keywords
Rural residents, Public reading, Low participation, Farmers’ reading room, Reading culture

0 Introduction

In traditional cognition, reading is embodied as a personal behavior in most cases. However,
with the emergence and popularization of reading space such as modern public libraries, reading
began to enter the category of public domain or public space as a kind of public reading behavior.

① This article is an outcome of the project “Research on the Condition of Rual Libraries in Hubei Province” (No. ZGDC201910)
supported by the Federation of Social Sciences in Hubei Province.
* Correspondence should be addressed to CHEN Geng, Email: chengeng127@126.com, ORCID: 0000-0003-3842-803X.