Vol. 6 No. 1 (2025): Thematic issue: Research on Reading in Nordic Library and Information Studies

Reading has been a subject of extensive debate in recent years. The debate has focused on the reading crisis among children and young people and reading is often charged with qualities such as literacy, empathy, education, democratic participation, among others. During these debates, public and academic libraries continue to play a crucial role in advancing both the study and practice of reading. Different notions of reading as expressed in debates, underline the multifaceted nature of reading and raise the critical question: what do we really mean when we talk about reading? Furthermore, what are the historical and institutional politics of reading in different settings? How are discourses of reading constituted, and is it possible to identify certain ideologies of reading? 

This thematic issue of Nordic Journal of Library and Information Studies pays attention to the multi-faceted and varying dimensions of reading, especially in relation to concepts such as reading practices and cultures, reading experiences and reading activities, e.g., reading promotion in different library contexts. The articles study reading from different methodological and theoretical perspectives, displaying the complexity of contemporary Scandinavian research on reading in Library and Information Science (LIS). In Norway, Sweden and Denmark, one of the most prominent discussions in recent years has centred on a presumed dramatic decline in children’s literacy levels, with PISA studies frequently cited as evidence. This has led to a broader interest in research on readers and reading: some of the questions that have been asked are: Who counts as a reader? What does it mean to identify as one? How do different modalities influence the way we understand and approach reading? And how do we understand the relationship between leisure reading - driven by enjoyment and curiosity - and reading as a skill, often framed in terms of utility and performance?