Professional paper
Bibliotherapy workshops in the libraries of the Primorje‑Gorski Kotar County
Anja Kučan Buterin
orcid.org/0009-0006-7510-4439
Abstract
The purpose of this work is to show the value and applicability of bibliotherapy, especially developmental bibliotherapy in the library space. Bibliotherapy, with an emphasis on developmental bibliotherapy, contributes to adequate development of socio‑emotional competences of children and young people, but also has a positive effect on elderly users. Librarians within the program of their library and/or institution can implement it. The work resulted from the analysis and comparison of texts created on the topic of bibliotherapy and the presentation of the implementation and evaluation of the bibliotherapy cycle of workshops. After the bibliotherapy workshops, it was noticed that good communication with users, development of group connection and supportive and respective atmosphere are essential for the workshop to be successful. Furthermore, the selection of adequate literature and work techniques that will be used for bibliotherapy purposes are very important. The results show the implementation of bibliotherapy workshops in the libraries of the Primorje‑Gorski Kotar County, with a special focus on the implementation of the “I’ll tell you a story” program in collaboration with the Rijeka City Library and the Association for the Promotion of Children’s Welfare “Portić”. The results of the workshops show the satisfaction of both direct users (children aged from 4 to 6) and indirect users (parents, guardians). The lack of this type of workshop in the libraries of the Primorje‑Gorski Kotar County and the wish of the users to continue the workshops shows that bibliotherapy workshops should still be the part of library services, which should continue to develop in the same direction. In this kind of work the librarians from different institutions stood out by showing their rich competences. Such professionals should, in addition to their professional librarian competence, have pedagogical competence, a developed sensibility in working with people, and be open to additional education and an interdisciplinary approach to reading. The paper is about the role of librarians in the application of developmental bibliotherapy in working with children, based on the cycle of bibliotherapy workshops as part of the Rijeka City Library’s “I’ll tell you a story” program. On a practical level, the described bibliotherapy workshops can serve as guidelines for creating similar programs in the practice of public and school libraries, as well as for improving practice in other libraries with similar experience.
Keywords
bibliotherapy workshops; libraries of the Primorje‑Gorski Kotar County; developmental bibliotherapy
Hrčak ID:
294540
URI
Publication date:
20.2.2023.
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