Survey of Reading Practices 2009 Summary for Strathcona County Library (Sherwood Park, AB) December 2009 This survey is part of a research study on reading practices conducted by Dr. Patricia Demers (patricia.demers@ualberta.ca) of the Department of English and Film Studies at the University of Alberta. Unless otherwise indicated, the results for questions that allowed participants to circle more than one answer are calculated out of the total number of responses to that question rather than the number of respondents who completed the survey. Sample size: 59 1 What types of writing do you like to read? Total number of responses: 285 Total number of respondents: 59 Novels: 50 Non-fiction: 47 Magazines: 38 Newspapers: 30 Short stories: 29 Poetry: 18 Online news: 16 Social networking: 12 Graphic novels: 11 Plays: 10 Blogs: 8 Comics: 6 Forums: 4 Other: 6 2 Newspapers 11% Magazines 13% Short stories 10% Online news 6% Poetry 6% Social networking 4% Graphic novels 4% Novels 18% Plays 4% Blogs 3% Comics 2% Other 2% Forums 1% On hand-held devices 1% How do you like to read? Audio books 7% Total number of responses: 84 Total number of respondents: 59 On computer 21% On paper 71 % 3 Do you care if your reading material is Canadian? Total number of responses: 61 Total number of respondents: 59 Yes No 18 responded YES 43 responded NO 27 30 % 70 % canwwrfrom1950.org 4 If not, why not? Note: We grouped the responses to this question into 5 catego- No reason 3% ries and calculated the percentages based on total number of Care to an extent 25 % respondents who answered the question. Total number of respondents: 40 Canadian writing uninteresting 5% Representative sample of comments: I always like to read Canadian - some really good authors and content out there but a good read is a good read. Want variety & diversity of perspectives 34% Select based on content quality 33% Why limit yourself to Canadian writing? I choose to read what interests me regardless of country of origin. 5 If you do care, what types of Canadian writing appeal to you? Total number of responses: 135 Total number of people who answered: 32 Newspapers 16% Short stories 21% Novels: 22 Non-fiction: 22 Short stories: 21 Magazines: 20 Newspapers: 16 Poetry: 12 Online news: 7 Plays: 6 Graphic novels: 3 Blogs: 3 Social networking: 2 Comics: 1 Magazines 12% Poetry 12% Online news 7% Novels 22% Plays 6% Comics 1% Graphic novels 3% Blogs 3% Social networking 2% Note: 16 respondents who said they do not care if their reading material is Canadian answered this question nevertheless 28 canwwrfrom1950.org 6 Yes 5% Total number of respondents: 59 7 Do you care if the writers you read are male or female? No 95 % If you do or do not care, provide a reason: Note: We grouped the responses to this question into 5 categories Total number of respondents: 36 Of the 2 respondents who said Of the 34 respondents who said YES 2 indicated that they prefer the female perspective Representative sample of comments: I find female characters written by women more convincing. NO 24 indicated that they do not see a difference between male and female writers or that content is more important than gender of the writer 6 indicated that they like a variety of perspectives 4 indicated that they prefer one gender over the other in certain genres Representative sample of comments:   I am interested in content and a good story - regardless of who writes it. Again I enjoy reading things from a wide variety of perspectives. Sometimes. I read what appeals to me, rarely notice gender of author as a choice point unless its romance or fantasy - then prefer females. Spy/ espionage/ suspense/ thrillers - prefer males. 8 Please provide examples of Canadian women writers you read: Total number of responses: 78 The most frequently listed women writers were: Margaret Atwood: 17 Alice Munro: 9 Margaret Laurence: 8 Gail Bowen: 5 Carol Shields: 4   (Letter size denotes frequency) (Letter size denotes frequency) 29 canwwrfrom1950.org 9 In what languages do you read? Total number of responses: 66 Total number of respondents: 57 French 4% English 85% English: 57 French: 3 Others: German, Japanese, Dutch, Punjabi, Hindi 10 Others 11% If you do read in multiple languages, do you do so occasionally or regularly? Occasionally Regularly 11 44 % Yes Total number of respondents: 9 56 % 91 % Do you enjoy reading material by international writers? No 12 11 % No Do you play electronic games that tell a story (massively multi-player online games, solo quest/adventure games, etc)? 9% Yes Total number of respondents: 46 89 % Total number of respondents: 56 13 Indicate gender/year of birth: Gender Gender Male 28% Total number of respondents: 58 Female 72% 30 canwwrfrom1950.org Age Year of birth Total number of respondents: 54 41-65 50% 18-25 7% 26-40 20% 66+ 23% 14 Additional comments (selected sample): Schoemperlan, Lori Lansens. However, much of that reading (the novels) is not totally voluntary as I feel a need to keep current with Canadian literary fiction for my library job. These are often the titles I’ll use for book club suggestions or for the reader who wants to read what’s being talked about on radio, etc. For pleasure reading I wait for particular writers in a range of genres - romance, fantasy, historical fiction, espionage. Literary fiction is rarely something I select for pleasure reading. And for my pleasure reading, the authors are often female, and generally not Canadian. I don’t really pay attention to the sex of the author - unless it becomes someone I want to keep reading. I love to enter the library and just randomly pick a book to read. Audio books are too slow for me, and my experience with ebooks is very limited as I don’t own one, have just experimented with those owned by friends. I would like to say that there are Canadian women authors that I like - Jane Jacobs and Heather Menzies for non-fiction, PK Page and Jon Zwicky - poetry, novels by Jane Urquhart, Frances Itoni, Margaret Sweatmon come to mind, also Elizabeth Hay, Diane 31 canwwrfrom1950.org