Arab online book clubs: A survey

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is to shed light on the current situation of Arab online book clubs and give a comparative account of their performance. Seven online book clubs were discussed, five from Saudi Arabia and two from Egypt. The empirical approach used to address the research problem was a field study with a questionnaire. Questionnaires were sent via e-mail to book club moderators to get general information about the clubs, membership, discussion, services, promotion and evaluation. The findings revealed that despite low participation and superficial discussion, and lack of services provided to readers, Arab online book clubs are becoming a promising environment for promoting reading, and motivate people from all ages to contribute and exchange ideas because these clubs have arisen with a primary objective to promote and enhance reading. The study showed that young Arab readers have begun to discuss books in online groups, and established their own online clubs. This means that Arab online book clubs work away from librarians and publishers in Arab countries. The research paper addresses the current lack of empirical literature on traditional and online Arab book clubs, and offers practical details and many significant results, so that Arab public libraries, communities, authors, publishers and even individuals can capitalize on the positive aspects of current book clubs and create their own. At the end of the paper, the author provides recommendations for the improvement of Arab online book clubs.

Promoting reading in the Arab world: The book club model

“…It may be important to illustrate the current situation of reading and literacy in Arab counties in order to understand the context of the current study. Several studies have illustrated the decreasing interest of Arabs in reading (Elsayed, 2010; Rajab and Al-Sadi, 2015) and comparisons with other countries in the western world on the average number of hours read per year are all too common. The numbers are surprisingly low, as cultural, political, and financial factors contribute to creating a large gap in reading levels compared with other countries around the world.…”

“…With these benefits of book clubs in mind, it may be logical to assume that they enjoy particular interest among researchers examining sociocultural phenomena. Yet, despite evidence of the proliferation of book clubs in many parts of the world, there exist few studies that document their benefits and potential in community settings in western countries (Clarke et al, 2017), and only one study that examined their status in Arab countries (Elsayed, 2010).…”

La promoción de la lectura: un análisis crítico de los artículos de investigación

“…Las principales conclusiones del aná-lisis de los trabajos de Elsayed (2010), Sauperl (2012) Monar (2012), Lluch (2014), Manso-Rodríguez (2012, 2015 y Lluch, Tabernero y Calvo (2015) muestran cómo las herramientas virtuales utilizadas son cada vez más numerosas y cómo multiplican las actuaciones, rompen las barreras físicas y temporales entre lectores, desdibujan el papel del mediador y transforman o substituyen los contextos lectores tradicionales.…”

Authors Using Social Media: Layers of Identity and the Online Author Community

“…There has also been considerable study of the bookish community centred around reading groups, both terrestrial and online [14,23]. These bookish communities are discussed in depth by Worrall [24].…”