LAPSED CHILDREN - Tartu Ülikool

KULTUUR, SPORT JA VABA AEG CULTURE, SPORTS AND SPARE TIME
In 2006, a record
number (543)
of children’s books
were published
The number of
libraries is decreasing
Teenagers are eager
library users
Attending a library is
related to studies
Teenagers consider
music, cinema and
sports most important
Books and libraries
One can be pleased with the amount of children’s literature in our bookstores. As we take
the period of 2000–2006, the publication of children’s books at the beginning of the
millennium decreased to a small extent, but has increased in the recent years even to a
level higher than it was before. In 2006, 543 children’s books were published in Estonia, with
95% being the first editions. It was a record considering the period from the restoration of
independence. The total edition of children’s books was over one million copies. Thus, the
number of copies per one publication was more than 2,000, which exceeds the average
edition of a publication by one fifth. On the average 4.5 books per one child aged 17 and
under were published (the respective number in 2000 was only three) (Figure 2 on page 65).
School and public libraries are most engaged in servicing children. In 2000, there were six
children’s libraries with 10,000 registered readers in Estonia. In the next few years,
children’s libraries gradually merged into local public libraries and since 2005, the notion of
children’s library as a different kind of library ceased to exist.
In 2000, there were over five hundred school and public libraries, by the year 2006 the
number of school libraries had decreased by one sixth. In some cases, it was caused by
closing of schools but mainly by merging of school libraries into local public libraries for the
purpose of reducing costs and simplifying administration. Nevertheless, also the number of
public libraries decreased to a certain extent in the period 2000–2006.
Table 1 (p 66) shows that while the number of school libraries decreased in the reference
period, the number of readers and lending decreased proportionally even more quickly —
the number or readers among children from the 9th grade and younger decreased by
a quarter and the total of their borrowings by more than a third. Similarly, in public libraries
the number of readers among basic school children and younger decreased by nearly a
quarter and their borrowings by even more — 44% (all the same, two thirds of children aged
6–16 were registered readers in public libraries in 2006). The decrease can partly be
explained by a decrease in population — in 2006, the number of children aged 6–16 in
Estonia was smaller by a quarter compared to the year 2000. At the same time, the number
of visitors in Table 1 shows that children visit libraries as much as they did at the beginning
of the millennium (or even more, considering the decrease in the population). Obviously the
function of a library has partly changed — people do not visit a library merely to read or
borrow books but also to use the Internet or spend their free time.
Data from the cultural consumption module of the Labour Force Survey 2004 allow us to get
a closer view of children’s library related habits (by the example of children aged 15–17).
Children and youth are more active library visitors compared with other age groups.
According to the survey, four fifths of children aged 15–17 (41% of the population) had
attended a library in the year prior to the interview (Figure 5 on page 68). Nearly a quarter of
teenagers visited a library even more than ten times per year.
Figure 3 (p. 67) shows that the reasons for children to attend a library differ from those for
the rest of the population. Being school children, they mainly visit a library to study and
borrow books (compulsory reading, etc.). The share of visits for other reasons (selfimprovement,
using reading room, spending one’s free time, associating, using the Internet)
is significantly higher among children aged 15–17 compared with the total population. Nearly
40% of the reference age group visited a library to use the Internet (the respective
percentage of the total population was four times smaller).
The results of the same survey also showed that the share of those who had borrowed
fiction (belles-lettres), reference literature or periodicals from a library in the year prior to the
interview was twice as big among children aged 15–17 than among the total population.
More than two thirds of them had borrowed fiction, reference literature or periodicals, more
than a half had also borrowed informational literature.
Teenagers participating in cultural life
Data from the Labour Force Survey 2004 enable us to have a look at children’s attitudes
towards culture and sports and their activity in participating in cultural life by the example of
the age group 15–17 (Figure 4 on page 67).
The attitude of teenagers towards reading newspapers was clearly more indifferent than that
of others. The survey showed no such difference with regard to reading books (the number
of those who considered reading books very important was still smaller among teenagers
than among the rest of the population). However, youth aged 15–17 are much more active
118
LAPSED. CHILDREN