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МИР БИБЛИОТЕК
Научная статья
УДК 821.161.1:027.021(510-21) https://doi.org/10.20913/1815-3186-2022-1-39-48
Analysis of the Demand for Russian Literature in Shanghai Library
Xiaoqin Zhang, Ting Yang
Zhang Xiaoqin,
Shanghai Library (Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of Shanghai),
1555, Middle Huaihai Rd., Xuhui District, 200031, Shanghai, China, MA, Libraria: Reader Service Department
ORCID: 0000 0001-5085-9655 e-mail: xqzha g@libnet.sh.cn
Yang Ting,
Shanghai Library (Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of Shanghai),
1555, Middle Huaihai Rd., Xuhui District, 200031, Shanghai, China, MA, Librarian, Reader Service Department
ORCID: 0000-0002-2800-2572 e-mail: tyang@libnet.sh.cn
Abstract. This research focuses on Shanghai Library users' demand for Russian literature of different literary periods. Method of sampling and questionnaire were applied for the study. Analyzing the online circulation records of Chinese translations of Russian literature in the main collection of Shanghai Library from 2016 to 2019 and providing an overview of reader demographics are two major tasks. As a typical example, the circulation records of 2019 are thoroughly examined. The aim of the study is to identify the level of demand for Russian literature at various times and the factors influencing the changing trend of demand. The results obtained from the research show that despite the large total number of visitors and the frequency of use of the main collection, the demand for Russian literature was relatively low, especially when compared with other foreign authors. Russian literature from the 19th century and Soviet literature are in the highest demand. Readers didn't show an obvious interest in contemporary Russian authors. The demand for these three types of authors is clearly uneven. Russian-American writers, as a special group, are also popular choice of readers. The largest reader group consists of middle-aged women. Male readers have a more steadfast and clear preference for one particular author than female readers do. The demand for Russian literature in the library is influenced by such factors, as age and gender, the spread of culture through mass media and social networks, and reading promotion practices by libraries. These factors interact with each other.
Keywords: Russian literature, reading preferences and motivation, circulation records, frequency of use, reading promotion Citation: Zhang X., Yang T. Analysis of the Demand for Russian Literature in Shanghai Library. Bibliosphere. 2022. № 1. P. 39-48. https:// doi.org/10.20913/1815-3186-2022-1-39-48.
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Received 03.10.2021 Revised 25.12.2021 Accepted 10.01.2022
© X. Zhang, T. Yang, 2022
39
Востребованность русской художественной литературы в Шанхайской библиотеке
Сяоцинь Чжан, Тин Ян
Чжан Сяоцинь,
Шанхайская библиотека (Шанхайский институт научно-технической информации), ул. Хуайхай, 1555, район Сюйхуэй, Шанхай, 200031, Китай, магистр, библиотекарь, отдел обслуживания читателей ORCID: 0000-0001-5085-9655 e-mail: xqzhang@libnet.sh.cn
Ян Тин,
Шанхайская библиотека (Шанхайский институт научно-технической информации), ул. Хуайхай, 1555, район Сюйхуэй, Шанхай, 200031, Китай, магистр, библиотекарь, отдел обслуживания читателей ORCID: 0000-0002-2800-2572 e-mail: tyang@libnet.sh.cn
Статья поступила в редакцию 03.10.2021 Получена после доработки 25.12.2021 Принята для публикации 10.01.2022
Аннотация. В исследовании рассматривается востребованность русской художественной литературы разных эпох среди читателей Шанхайской библиотеки. В ходе исследования были применены выборочный метод и анкетирование. Проанализирована частота использования китайских переводов русской литературы с 2016 по 2019 г. в основном фонде Шанхайской библиотеки (особое значение придано показателям книго-выдачи 2019 г.), даны характеристики читателей русской литературы и составлен читательский портрет. Цель исследования - определить степень востребованности русской художественной литературы разного времени и выявить факторы, влияющие на этот параметр. Обнаружено, что на фоне общего количества посетителей и показателей книговыдачи русских авторов в Шанхайской библиотеке используется редко по сравнению с другими зарубежными авторами. Востребованность русской классики, литературы XX в. и современной литературы неравномерна: наибольшим спросом пользуются произведения XIX в. и советского времени. Популярна также особая группа авторов - русско-американские писатели. Мало читают современных российских авторов. По количеству читателей самой большой является группа женщин среднего возраста; у мужчин проявляется более устойчивый интерес к какому-либо одному автору. Выявлены следующие взаимосвязанные факторы, влияющие на востребованность русской литературы в Шанхайской библиотеке: возраст и пол читателей, распространение культуры через СМИ, практики продвижения чтения в библиотеках.
Ключевые слова: русская литература, читательские предпочтения и мотивация, выдача книг, частота использования, продвижение чтения Для цитирования: Чжан С., Ян Т. Востребованность русской художественной литературы в Шанхайской библиотеке // Библиосфера. 2022. № 1. С. 39-48. https://doi.org/10.20913/1815-3186-2022-1-39-48.
Introduction
1. Related studies
The first Chinese translation of Pushkin's novel "The Captain's Daughter" was published in Shanghai in 1903. It was the first time Russian literature had been introduced to China. The last 25 years have witnessed the change of literary situation in Russia, with the emergence of new names and trends.
In this study, we will use the term "frequency of use" to refer to the number of times a book has been checked out or consulted on the premises in a library within a period. Frequency at which a book is read indicates the level of demand for it, therefore it's an important index of circulation record.
The paper analyzes the change in demand for Chinese translations of Russian literary works from 2016 to 2019 in the main collection of Shanghai Library. Circulation records of 2019 were thoroughly examined as a typical example to characterize reader group and identify reading preferences. A questionnaire survey was conducted among users, in order to clarify their motivation and reading habits.
Decades ago, Chinese researchers have studied the collection and utilization of Russian original books and periodicals in China's public and university libraries. These studies have shown that elderly people, Chinese students and foreign students studying in China are the three main reader groups (Gan, 1993; Li, 1992; Ma, 2008).
In recent years, scholars have already paid attention to the demand for Russian classics and its promotion in university and public libraries. Ding Lishan has analyzed the Chinese university students' reading interest in Russian classics and their reading habits, using methods of survey and interview (Ding, 2018). Xie Lei has researched the reading promotion practices of Russian classics of the library of Liaoning University in city Shenyang (Xie, 2018). According to the above-mentioned articles, most Chinese college students have read Russian classics. Their knowledge about it mainly came from school, social networks didn't play a big part in attracting their interest in Rus-
sian culture. Huang Qin'na and Kong Demin studied the promotion of Russian literature and art in the WeChat public service account (Huang, Kong, 2020). Public libraries in Hangzhou city, China have made great efforts on the digitalization of literary classics (Xuan, Huang, 2017). However, few studies have focused on the reading of contemporary literature.
In Russia Khisamudinov A. A. has studied the collection and publishing of Russian periodicals in Harbin in the early 20th century. The author also presented the history and development of library activities in Harbin, giving a brief review of library book funds and the construction of bibliography (Khisamudinov, 2013, 2016). Some analyzed Russian literature in the cultural space of China from a linguistic and cultural perspective (Gorkovenko, Petukhov, 2011). To our knowledge, few studies have been yielded by Russian scholars in terms of Russian literature collection in public libraries, considering readers of all age groups.
Although we can see the obtained achievements in researches on the utilization and promotion of Russian classics and periodicals in Chinese libraries, papers on the demand for Russian literature of different centuries in public libraries are scarce and rare.
2. Method
2.1. Method of sampling
In order to evaluate the level of demand for Russian literature and get an overview of its changing trend during the past few years, we calculated the frequency at which Chinese translations of Russian literature were used and the number of their readers throughout 2016-2019. Books of Russian literature are sorted according to the classification in the 5th edition of "Chinese Library Classification". According to the "Chinese Library Classification", works by Russian migrant writers like Ivan Bunin and Aleksandr Solzhenit-syn belongs to Russian literature, while Vladimir Nabokov and Joseph Brodsky are classified as American authors (Chinese Library..., 2012). In this article, Russian literature implies works written by Russian authors in a broad sense, including Russian-American writers, but they are analyzed as a separate group.
This study focused on printed books in the main collections of Shanghai Library and did not assess electronic books of other resources. We used 3939 circulation records. All the books were classified by author. These authors were then divided into 5 categories according to the history of Russian literature: A. 19th century Russian literature, B. the Silver Age (the 1890s-the 1920s), C. Soviet literature (1917-the 1990s) and
D. contemporary literature (from the 1990s to now). E. Russian-American author. The data collection period was from September 24, 2020 to November 8, 2020. The data analysis was performed using Excel.
2.2. Questionnaire survey
A brief questionnaire was carried out among Shanghai Library users who visited the main collection during the survey period, so that we could reveal the relevance of reading motivation, habits and transmission of Russian literature to the circulation records of literary works in the library. Survey period began on December 2, 2019 and ended on December 28, 2019. The questionnaire sheet and its answer forms were sent through and collected by Wenjuanxing, a Chinese online survey platform powered by https://www.wjx.cn.
In total, 104 respondents submitted their answers. Female respondents are more numerous than males (61 versus 43). The majority of respondents were young people aged 18-30 (66), followed by middle-aged people aged 31-45 (18).
The questionnaire sheet was organized with 8 questions that are divided into the following 4 sections,
• Overview of respondents: 1. Gender, 2. Age group, 3. Educational background, 4. Occupation.
• Reading habits, motivations, and the spread of Russian literature: 1. Have you read any Russian literature in the past three years? 2. What are your reasons or motivations for reading Russian literature? 3. Where do you get most of your knowledge of Russian literature?
• Preferable forms of Russian literature recommendation: 1. In what form (s) would you like libraries to promote Russian literature?
3. Level of demand for Russian literature in Shanghai Library
3.1. General trends and features of demand from 2016 to 2019
Table 1 shows that both the frequency (per year) at which Russian literature was used and the number of its readers increased steadily from 2016 to 2018, and then fell slightly in 2019. The number of readers account for about 4 % in average of the main collection, which makes the readers of Russian literature a noteworthy and stable group. A large number of users only read once or twice a year, which explains the low utilization rate of Russian literature in terms of frequency of use. Regarding monthly usage, summertime was the peak, especially in July and August. According to 2016-2019 Shanghai Libraries annual reading reports, two Japanese writers Higashino Keigo, Junichi Watanabe, and British writer Agatha Christie remained to be among the
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Xiaoqin Zhang, Ting Yang, 2022 no. 1, p. 39-48
Table 1. Level of demand for Russian Literature 2016-2019
Таблица 1. Степень востребованности русской литературы 2016-2019 гг.
Year Год 2019 2018 2017 2016
a. Number of readers - Russian literature а. Количество читателей русской литературы 645 664 556 501
b. Total number of readers -main collection b. Количество читателей основного фонда 136 014 140 661 140 880 138 912
a/b 4.73 % 4.74 % 3.95 % 3.61 %
c. Frequency of use - Russian literature c. Частота использования русской литературы 1026 1062 957 884
d. Total Frequency of use - main collection d. Частота использования основного фонда 467 227 456 272 460 254 453 826
c/d 0.22 % 0.23 % 0.21 % 0.19 %
e. Number of authors e. Количество авторов 103 105 97 94
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20 most popular authors in four consecutive years in Shanghai Library, while the other 17 were all Chinese1, 2 3 4. Hence, in terms of Russian literature, works by most authors were not in users' constant demand.
3.2. Demand for Russian literature in 2019 3.2.1. Author ranking based on frequency of use
Circulation records of 2019 were analyzed in detail as a typical example because of the timeliness of the data. In addition, library resources and services in 2019 were not as significantly impacted by COVID-19 pandemic as they were in 2020 and 2021, which also explains why records of 2019 were examined in our research instead of 2020 or 2021.
As shown in table 2, the ten most preferred authors belong to categories A, C and E, which account for about 60 % of the total frequency of use in 2019.
Books of Boris Pasternak have been read 12 times, making him the most popular B author. Dmitry Glukhovsky was the most requested D author that year. His novel "Metro 2033" has been read twice in 2019. Nevertheless, in comparison with
1 Shanghai Library (2020) Shanghai public libraries reading report 2019. URL: https://library.sh.cn/zt/ydbg/doc/%E9%98%85%E8%AF%B-B%E6%8A%A5%E5%91%8A2019.pdf (accessed 21.11.2021).
2 Shanghai Library (2019) Shanghai public libraries reading report 2018. URL: https://library.sh.cn/zt/ydbg/doc/%E9%98%85%E8%AF%B-B%E6%8A%A5%E5%91%8A2018.pdf (accessed 21.11.2021).
3 Shanghai Library (2018) Shanghai public libraries reading report 2017. URL: https://library.sh.cn/zt/ydbg/doc/%E9%98%85%E8%AF%B-B%E6%8A%A5%E5%91%8A2017.pdf (accessed 21.11.2021).
4 Shanghai Library (2017) Shanghai public libraries reading
report 2016. URL: https://library.sh.cn/zt/ydbg/doc/%E9%98%85%E8%AF%B-B%E6%8A%A5%E5%91%8A2016.pdf (accessed 21.11.2021).
other foreign authors, the demand for Russian literature was relatively low, especially for contemporary authors. The two most requested foreign writers in Shanghai Library in terms of loan records in that year were 20th century British detective writer Agatha Christie with 211 loan records and contemporary Japanese crime novelist Higashino Keigo with 964 loan records. The 19th century French writer Alexandre Dumas was read 152 times. In contrast, books by some well-recognized contemporary authors have never been borrowed in Shanghai Library. For instance, in 2019, Guzhel Yashina's "Zuleikha opens her eyes", the Chinese translation of which is available in Shanghai Library, was the most popular book in Vladimir Mayakovsky Central City Public Library, with 609 downloads on Litres.com5. However, this book has never been read in Shanghai Library. Thus, readers didn't show an obvious interest in modern Russian authors.
3.2.2 Differences in gender and age group
Table 3 shows the gender and age characteristics of reader group of Russian literature in 2019. In total, there were 613 readers. Female readers are more numerous than males. Examining the circulation data, we found that readers' preferences are quite steadfast and stable. Over 90 % of them read only one out of the five categories.
Dividing 613 readers by age and gender, we can see that the 31-50 age group has the largest number of readers, followed by 19-30, while readers aged below 19 only account for 0.65 % of the total
5 Information was provided on 2 Mar 2021 by E. V. Avramova, head of the Bibliographic Information Services Management department of the Vladimir Mayakovsky Central City Public Library.
Table 2. Author popularity ranking in 2019
Таблица 2. Перечень самых популярных авторов 2019 г.
Rank Место Author Автор Frequency of use Частота использования
1 Fyodor Dostoevsky (A) 138
2 Lev Tolstoy (A) 130
3 Maxim Gorky (C) 108
4 Vladimir Nabokov (E) 75
5 Aleksandr Pushkin (A) 65
6 Mikhail Sholokhov (C) 58
7 Anton Chekhov (A) 52
8 Ivan Turgenev (A) 37
9 Nikolay Ostrovsky (C) 31
10 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (C) 26
11 Nikolai Gogol (A) 21
12 Joseph Brodsky (E) 18
13 Mikhail Bulgakov (C) 17
14 Vasiliy Grossman (C) 16
15 Boris Pasternak (B) 15
16 Konstantin Paustovsky (AC) 14
17 Alexander Herzen (A) 10
18 Victor Astafyev (C) 9
19 Leonid Andreyev (A) 8
20 Yevgeny Zamyatin (AC) 7
20 Barlim Sharamov (C) 7
21 Ivan Bunin (A) 6
21 Mikhail Prishvin (C) 6
22 Mikhail Lermontov (A) 5
22 Strugatsky brothers (C) 5
23 Anna Akhmatova (B) 4
24 Marina Tsvetaeva (B) 3
24 Vladimir Mayakovsky (B) 3
25 Dmitry Glukhovsky (D) 2
Total Итого 896
Table 3. Reader demographics
Таблица 3. Структура читательской группы
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Gender Пол Number Количество %
Male 301 46.10
Female 312 50.89
Total Итого 613 -
Age Возраст Number Количество %
18 4 0.65
19-30 107 17.46
31-50 400 65.25
51-80 96 15.66
80+ 6 0.98
Total Итого 613 -
number. The middle-aged women make up the largest reader group of Russian literature. Given that only users aged 14 and older can apply for a library card in Shanghai Library, it's reasonable to presume that many parents borrowed books under their name for children during school summer holidays.
Despite the fact that most people only read Russian literature once or twice in 2019, we still found six readers who had no less than five loan records in 2019. Among them, four were male. For example, a 38-year-old male user had been constantly reading "The Brothers Karamazov" (book 1 and 2) by Dostoevsky from February to May, with eight loan records. Another 55-year-old man was reading "The Idiot" and "Demons" from January to March, with eight loan records. A 50-year-old man had been constantly reading novels by Tolstoy in two months, with seven loan records. A 38-year-old man had borrowed "The Quiet Don" eight times within three months. Only two women had more than five loan records for a single work. A 35-year-old woman had borrowed "The Quiet Don" six times from June to August. From September 2019 to January 2020 the Gorky Trilogy was lent out to a 40-year-old woman five times (all of the works mentioned above are Chinese translations). Thus, we can reach the conclusion that though the number of female readers is greater than that of males, males tend to have a clearer preference for a particular author, especially for those of the Golden Age.
With the aim of summing up the preferences of different age groups, the most preferred author of each category was chosen as an important representative (Table 4). The five most demanded authors are: A. Fyodor Dostoevsky, B. Boris Pasternak, C. Maksim Gorky, D. Dmitry Glukhovsky and E. Vladimir Nabokov.
Overall, 241 users' names have been retrieved, including 12 users who've requested more than one category of authors. As shown in the table 4, Fyodor Dostoevsky, a representative of 19th century Russian
literature, is the most sought-after author among all age groups, except the 31-50. On the contrary, D is the least demanded. Users aged 31-50 years old make up the largest reader group of Soviet literature represented by C. The second largest is the 51-80 age group. Youth between 19-30 years old prefer E to B, C and D. Compared with A, C and E, the Silver age literature represented by B is less requested.
4. Reading habits, motivations
and the transmission of Russian literature
As can been seen in Table 5, in 2019 less than half of respondents (43) read Russian literature between 2016 and 2019. Among these 43 people, 36 % read because of personal interest. Only nine people were motivated by book recommendations in the library, on social media, or on websites.
Over 70 % of respondents knew about Russian literature mainly from movies and TV, 56 % from school, and 52 % from different forms of art. As can be seen in table 2, among the top 10 authors, works by two of them are included in Chinese school curriculum. Therefore, school educational programmes have a significant long-term effect on library users' reading preferences. Novels by Russian writers, such as Lev Tolstoy and Vladimir Nabokov have been adapted into movies and TV series, creating a cultural and literary sensation. Stages based on plays by Anton Chekhov are often seen in theatres in Shanghai. Mass media and art motivate one's interest in reading the original work.
5. Influencing factors of demand for Russian literature
Based on the circulation records of the Shanghai Library's main collection and the questionnaire results, we reveal the following factors that influence the change in demand for Russian literature during 2016-2019.
Table 4. Preferences of different age groups
Таблица 4. Предпочтения различных возрастных категорий
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Age group Возрастная категория Num. of Readers of A Количество читателей A Num. of Readers of B Количество читателей B Num. of Readers of C Количество читателей C Num. of Readers of D Количество читателей D Num. of Readers of E Количество читателей E Preference Предпочтение
18 1 1 0 0 1 A=B=E>C=D
19-30 31 4 5 1 17 A>E>C>B>D
31-50 52 7 60 0 31 C>A>E>B>D
51-80 11 3 7 1 6 A>C>E>B>D
80+ 1 0 1 0 0 A=C>B=D=E
Total Итого 96 15 73 2 55 241
Table 5. Reading habits, motivation, and the transmission of Russian literature
Таблица 5. Читательские привычки, мотивация и канал распространения русской литературы
№ Question Вопрос Answer (single selection) Ответ (Выберите только один вариант) Number** Количество %
1 Have you read any Russian literature in the past three years? No, never 57 54.81
Yes, I've read a few (1-4 books) 31 29.81
Yes, I've read some (5-10 books) 5 4.81
Yes, I've read a lot (> 10 books) 7 6.73
Don't remember 4 3.85
Total Итого 104 -
Number of respondents who answered this question Количество респондентов, которые ответили на данный вопрос 104
2" What are your reason (s) or motivation for reading Russian literature? Personal interest 36 83.72
Recommended by others 16 37.21
For academic research 13 30.23
School curriculum 4 9.3
Book recommendations or ranks in social media 9 20.93
Total Итого 78 -
Number of respondents who answered this question Количество респондентов, которые ответили на данный вопрос 43
3 Where do you get most of your knowledge of Russian literature Film and TV 73 70.19
Print media 29 27.88
Social media 40 38.46
Art (music, painting, drama, etc.) 52 50
School curriculum 58 55.77
Anime and games 7 6.73
Total Итого 259 -
Number of respondents who answered this question Количество респондентов, которые ответили на данный вопрос 104
4 In what form (s) would you like libraries to promote Russian literature? WeChat public account 82 78.85
Live stream 27 25.96
Weibo 39 37.5
Short video 56 53.85
Other 9 8.65
Total Итого 213 -
Number of respondents who answered this question Количество респондентов, которые ответили на данный вопрос 104
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5.1. Differences based on age and gender
The demand for Russian literature in Shanghai Library has distinct age-based and gender-based characteristics. As mentioned above, middle-aged women are the largest reader group of Russian literature. Male readers show a more consistent and clear preference for one particular author than female readers do.
Social and political factors generate differences in the reading preferences of different age groups. Sino-Soviet relations during the 1950s had a profound influence on the Chinese education system at that time. A Russian language-learning boom was launched over the country. Translation and introduction of massive Soviet literary works during the 1950s contributes to middle-aged and elderly users' preference for Soviet literature. Famous Russian novels like "How Steel is Made" by Nikolay Ostro-vsky, "War and Peace" by Lev Tolstoy, "Sparrow" by Ivan Turgenev and "Man in a Shell" by Anton Chekhov remain to be an important part of Chinese curriculum standards in primary and secondary schools for years. This also explains why over half of respondents regarded school curriculum as one of the main sources from which they got their most knowledge of Russian literature. Therefore, Russian classics and Soviet literature are requested by readers of all ages. While Russian-American immigrant writers are welcomed by youth.
5.2. Spread of culture through mass media and social networks
Library readers' demand is significantly influenced by the spread of Russian culture through mass media communication. As can be seen in table 1, the number of readers and frequency of use have steadily increased since the launch of the Year of Literature in Russia and the announcement of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature winner.
The Year of literature was announced by President Vladimir Putin in Jun 2014 and officially launched in 2015. The event was reported and spread by a number of Chinese mainstream media outlets, such as China News Service6 and Xinhua News Agency7. A whole host of events aimed at popularizing reading and Russian literature took place both inside and outside Russia. In October 2015 Xuhui district Library in Shanghai organized a reading salon featuring "War and peace" by Tolstoy and "1812 Overture" by Tchaikovsky. Chinese researchers studied the Year of Russian literature as a brand operation from the perspective of library marketing theory
6 Wen Z (2015) Year 2015 is designated the Year of Literature. URL: http://ku.rn.chinanews.com/wapapp/cns/null/zw/5904558. shtml?target=_sel (accessed 21.11.2021).
7 Cao Y (2014) Russia has proclaimed 2015 the Year of Literature. URL: https://world.cankaoxiaoxi.com/2014/0613/400545. shtml (accessed 21.11.2021).
(Fan et al., 2016). Li Hongmei and Dong Menghua analyzed and summarized major events in Russia's Year of literature (Li, Dong, 2016).
Moreover, international literary prizes, such as the Nobel Prize in literature, greatly increase the social impact of East European authors worldwide. Works by Nobel Prize winners, such as Mikhail Sholokhov, Boris Pasternak, Ivan Bunin, Joseph Brodsky and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, regardless of the historic periods that they belong to, were preferred by readers from 2016 to 2019 (Table 2). In February 2016 Shanghai Library on its Weibo official page published information about the newly arrived Chinese translation of the novel "Voices from Chernobyl" by 2015 Nobel Prize winner Bela-rusian writer Svetlana Alexievich. Until now, all copies of the novel in the main collection of Shanghai Library have been checked out.
5.3 Reading promotion practices by libraries
Shanghai Library uses several leading platforms, such as Weibo (Chinese Facebook, a micro-blogging site), WeChat, TikTok to reach its users. Through reading promotion, library can highlight portions of its Russian literature collection. It's one way to make passive readers aware of what the library can offer them. Effective reading promotion practices lead to a higher demand for collections.
In the end of November 2020 Shanghai Library on its Wechat public account posted a short book recommendation named "Less well-known works by well-known writers" ("iguri), which gained 2342 pageviews. By scanning the QR code under the text with Wechat app, readers can get access to online full-text view of the novel "The Gift" by Vladimir Nabokov in a second. It made the loan records of his works from zero in Dec 2020 to six in January 2021. This year three Russian literature works have been mentioned in Wechat posts this year, among them only one there is contemporary "I choose to live" by Stacey Kramer. Other two are masterpiece 'Anna Karenina" and collection of poems 'Among the stars" by 19th century Russian poet Afanasy Fet. Accordingly, the lack of attention to works by contemporary Russian writers in reading promotion practices in Shanghai Library indirectly lead to their low popularity.
Mass media and social networks provide the conditions for successful message spreading. Under this circumstance, libraries could follow up all kinds of events that happen all over the world to gain insights and ideas for posts. Social impact and the image of libraries are enhanced through active promotion. Libraries across the country take a wide range of approaches to their social media presences, dedicate much time and effort to maintaining and managing their official accounts, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. Any event,
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whether it happens in the literature circle or not, may become potential online content on libraries' social media platforms. The popularization and spread of Russian culture through various media make it easier for libraries to carry out promotion
of their Russian literature collections. The promotion of Russian literature helps draw people's attention to the unique and vibrant cultural heritage of Russia. As a result, in the all-media era, the second and third factors mentioned above interact with one another and exert an active influence on the on the demand for Russian literature in Shanghai Library.
6. Conclusion
Shanghai Library has a large collection of Russian literature, but works by most authors were not in users' constant demand, compared with other foreign authors. The level of demand for works of different eras is noticeably uneven. Russian literature from the 19th century and Soviet literature are in the highest demand. Russian-American writers, as a special group, are also preferred by readers. While readers didn't show an obvious interest in modern Russian authors. The majority of readers read only one out of the five categories.
The biggest reader group consists of middle-aged women. Male readers have a more steadfast and clear preference for one particular author than female readers do. Regarding the preferences of different age groups, 19th century Russian literature is the most sought-after almost among reader of all ages. On the contrary, modern authors are the least demanded. Readers aged between 31 to 50 years old preferred to read Soviet literature.
Users' preferences and motivations are affected by such factors, as age and gender, the spread of Russian culture through mass media and social networks, and the effectiveness of reading promotion practices. The second and third factors mentioned above interact with each other. Effective reading promotion in social media may increase book circulation and therefore produce more value to library users.
Список источников / References
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Хисамутдинов А. А. Библиотечная история Харбина // Библиосфера. 2013. № 3. С. 11-17 [Khisamudinov АА (2013) Russian periodical press in Harbin. Bibliosfera 3: 11-17. (In Russ.)].
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