How Media and information literacy affects reading of different text types: academic libraries and digital generation

Introduction: Book, writing and reading: the triptych of the interdependence of written culture in the face of new challenges in the digital age.

The processes of writing and reading have always depended on cultural, socio-economic, and technological conditions. At the end of the second decade of the 21st century under the influence of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), digitization and the Internet, information is structurally transformed by changing the processes of writing and reading, and consequently technological developments play a catalytic role in the transformation of writing materials and textual substrates. At the same time, the coexistence of the analogue and digital environments forms a hybrid reality which contributes to the redefinition of roles and strategies for cultural, research and educational organizations that include the reading process, textual information and the book at the core of their activities, such as libraries.

The extent, importance and techniques of written communication have evolved over the centuries from culture to culture as a result of various socio-economic and technological changes. For every significant change, there are various social, political, economic and cultural fermentations. These fermentations – in many cases in the communicative and cultural fields – find their visible expression through technological change, which can encapsulate the various pre-existing fermentations and questions and provide the catalytic impetus for change. In this perspective, any ‘revolution’ of books and media can only be understood at the historical level as the culmination of a movement of expansion and change that had begun much earlier (Barbier, 2002) and may involve technological, economic and socio-cultural transformations. These transformations are reflected in mass participation in the production and circulation of information, in mass access and active participation in written culture, in the democratization of knowledge and in the growth of the reading public (Banou, 2008, 2012; Bokos, 2002).

The analogue age of written culture includes the manuscript and typographic written culture. The manuscript written culture was oriented towards the producer, since each separate copy means a great investment of time for the copier, while the typographic one is oriented towards the consumer, since not so much time investment is required for the different copies (Ong, 2005). In addition, in the context of reading practices, the analogue age of written culture is oriented towards a modus legendi (reading mode) linked to the reader’s physical and material relationship with the book form (Petrucci, 2008).

Now, with the advent of the digital age, written culture faces new challenges. Therefore, analogous to the view that the invention of the printing press was an irreversible process (Eisenstein, 1982), the same could be said of the advent of digitisation and the internet, which essentially lead in an irreversible way to the digital age of written culture. In this new era, the structural triptych of interdependence is fundamentally transformed: writing, book formats, reading, structurally affecting every dimension of written culture (Kapos, 2021) and, by extension, libraries as information organisations. Thus, both the book publishing industry and libraries, with the advent of the digital age and the visible beginning of the advent of the eBook are in the process of new and structural transformations.

In the digital age, as Cope & Phillips (2006) point out, books in any format are everywhere, while the rendering of text and images has gone electronic following the systems of representation of print e.g. text pages, headings, links and indexing (search). Thus, in the context of the continuity, coexistence, convergence, hybridity and interaction of the printed book with new formats, as well as of the practices of traditional written culture with the new ones of digital culture, the technology may differ, but the basic structures and functions derived from the traditional world of the book and developed in the context of the evolutionary process of written culture are visibly or invisibly present (Kapos, 2021).

Furthermore, “electronic writing is participating in our material culture, like manuscript and print” (Bolter, 2006, p. 3) in conjunction with the development of digital media:

• it highlights new textual genres
• redefining the production and modes of publication of the text
• reshapes the reading process and reception
• changes the overall communication process and the relationships between the actors in the field (authors, readers, editors, publishers, providers, etc.)

Consequently, a new textual ecology is formed with main characteristics:

• the intense multimodality and interconnectivity of texts through non-linear and multimedia forms of content
• the unprecedented provision of possibilities for the reader (Apostolidou, 2012)
• the reduction of the reader’s distance from the author (Bokos, 2002; Bolter, 2006).

Now in the age of high literacy and electronic information processing (Ong, 2005), in the digital age, new links of contact between visual, oral and textual communication are created, as new media combining verbal, visual and audio representations provide fertile ground for the development of new textual forms and act as spaces for the reformation of existing forms and genres (Bolter, 2006). The practice of reading on screen takes place in a multimodal environment and in a context where media converge.

Important issues arise when reading books in the digital environment, which, on the one hand, change established reading practices compared to reading in the analogue environment of the printed book, and on the other hand, undermine the reading process especially of long narrative forms (Kapos, 2021). The issues related to the reading process itself of textual book content in the digital environment are coded as follows:

• fragmented and discontinuous reading of texts: a shift to smaller textual forms that require less attention and bypass the totality of the text as new ways of searching and locating specific points of textual content emerge (Carr, 2010)
• from linear reading and focus on content to non-linear reading and focus on form: in linear reading on paper, the focus is usually on the plot or argument rather than on the font or page layout. The reading process in hypertextual and multimedia content transitions to new non-linear reading strategies, where the focus is on the form, the medium and the interaction with it, i.e. the process as a whole, the experience of wandering and the continuous choice of the path, rather than on the written text (Aarseth, 1997; Bolter, 2006)
• distraction and lack of intellectual effort during the reading process: not only from other textual forms found in social networks and emails, but also from the inexhaustible options that are immediately and easily available when navigating in the digital environment, for example images, music, social media, videos (Poulet, 2009; Ackerman & Goldsmith, 2011)
• impact on assimilation and comprehension: the spatiality of reading in the print environment plays a role in the assimilation of long narrative texts in particular. Reading books in the digital environment provides fewer spatial cues (whether we read something at the top or bottom of the page, left or right, above or next to a picture) than reading in the printed book which offers physical reference points and still more closely matches the visual, cognitive and metacognitive demands of the reader’s brain (Tanner, 2014).

In this paper, taking the above into account and focusing our interest on academic libraries and scholarly books, we explore the challenges and perspectives facing academic libraries in the 21st century in their attempt to perform a multifaceted role in the hybrid environment of written culture in the service of a group of audiences belonging to the digital generation, students, who are de facto hybrid readers, who are constantly moving from the print environment to the digital environment and from paper to screen, wanting uninterrupted access to textual content from any device and in any way.

The academic library in the 21st century: developing a new reading paradigm through the provision of media and information literacy.

In the era of mixed media culture, libraries of all types are called upon to attract a new generation of readers, the “digital natives”, who were raised in the age of digital technology and possess a different reading.

Undoubtedly, we live in the age of the screen and the digital transition of traditional media. What will happen when the older generations – digital immigrants – are no longer the main reading public – consumers of textual information – and are replaced by the digital generation? It is becoming clear that the more the digital generation becomes active in the social and communicative world, the more drastically the paradigm will change in the media, in printed books, in reading activity and, consequently, in libraries, which will be called upon to rethink their roles and strategies in the age of networking.

Academic libraries could be at the forefront of implementing a new reading paradigm focused on the digital generation, a generation that on the one hand, while everyone refers to it, has little in-depth knowledge of its reading preferences, trends and behaviours and on the other hand, it should not be lost on all actors in the written culture ecosystem that this is the generation that will be the catalyst for developments in the field in the near future.

The digital generation

In the literature, the generation of “digital natives” is referred to by a variety of names and the chronological context in which it belongs is not entirely clear. Generation Z, the so-called “zoomers”, iGeneration, or digital natives, that is the generation that was born between the mid-1990s and 2010, have grown up within an Internet-connected environment. To add to this, the pervasiveness of the ever-evolving portable handheld devices defines this generation’s characteristics, stances, and attitudes as they have replaced to a large extent traditional means of human communication, interaction, and information access. Despite living in diverse contexts from a cultural, social, economic, or political perspective, digital natives tend to bear common characteristics and striking similarities due to the globalization and technologicalization impact. They navigate from formal to non-formal and informal online environments interacting with peers in a globally-connected world. Considering this, their values and norms of conduct are more than ever before less dictated by place of origin and social position, willing to adopt new trends, converging to a new cultural imprint that distinctively differentiates them at large from previous generations (Panagiotou, et.al., 2022).

Libraries are called upon to play a pioneering role in this paradigm shift by redefining roles and strategies with an emphasis on extroversion, synergies and networking, in order to, among other things, respond to the needs and expectations of the digital generation. The library landscape is in a constant state of mobility and renegotiation of the ways in which it manages and communicates textual content to the general public. Textual content is available on many different platforms, each of which is subject to the limitations of its format. As the ways of accessing textual content increase and often intertwine with each other, it becomes important to investigate the relationship of the digital generation to reading books and searching, accessing, understanding, processing, and remembering textual content from different formats.

In this era of coexistence of the analogue and digital environments, a new kind of user-reader emerges who interacts between these two environments. They develop different skills and progressively learn to navigate the digital world as well as their physical environment. Buildings, books and magazines are transformed from tangible reality into images and representations.

Taking into account this user-centered approach, it becomes evident that the choice and use of the medium chosen each time for reading textual content – in combination with the functions it supports each time – play their role in the reading process; especially in the digital environment where new possibilities (personalisation, interactivity, non-linear narrative, multimedia content, networking, convergence of text, images, audio and video, etc.) are not available in the print environment and change the analogue reading process.

The digital realm opens up new opportunities for readers as well as for printed books (p-Books) and e-Books. People want not only to read and share information, but also to participate more actively using the extensive functionality provided by Web 2.0 technologies (Martin & Tian, 2010). New ways of reading are also characterized by flexible access made possible by improved internet connectivity and the rise of mobile devices. This means that the digital generation can access 24/7 all types of text that often combine words, images and sounds. Consequently, new reading skills are required (Cope & Kalantzis, 2000) which are a requirement, especially for the digital generation who read in a hybrid environment.

In fact, libraries are in the process of digital transition, which is a process much deeper than managing digital information and providing e-books. It is a structural change occurring at the heart of their operations fundamentally reshaping entrenched practices and models. Modern developments facing libraries include, among others: competition from the internet (Miller, 2008); new competitive options for their traditional users (Harrison & Shaw, 2004); shifting needs in an information society (Smith, 2008); the coexistence of physical-digital duality, where physical space complements digital space and vice versa (The Netherlands Institute for Public Libraries, 2014), attracting the new generation that has greater access to cutting-edge technology (Ayala & Guerena, 2011).

Literacy and the Role of Libraries

In the context of developing a new reading paradigm through the provision of media and information literacy to the digital generation, the academic library in the 21st century has a primary objective to meet the information need(s) of members of the community and to help the institution to achieve its objective of promoting teaching, learning and research. To achieve this, the library usually delivers different services to meet the information needs of the user community. In the information-rich environment of the 21st century, library managers need to be both discriminating users and skillful creators of information using media literacy skills (Udo, 2022).

The landscape for scholarly book use is changing. More books are available in electronic format, new forms of scholarship are emerging, the use of mobile devices is growing, and the corpus of digitized texts is expanding. With these changes, the ways in which scholars interact with books, both electronic and print, is also evolving. Storing information in a digital format enables it to be accessed using a wide range of devices unlike many forms of analogue information. Increased accessibility makes digitalization of information particularly important and underlines the need for digital skills to be learnt alongside information skills. Essentially, media and information literacy include analyzing, locating, organizing, evaluating, creating, and using information through digital technology. Media literacy skills refer to the understanding of media and the use of it as a source of information, entertainment, enrichment, growth, empowerment, and communication (Chen et al, 2011).

Additionally, in the context of media and information literacy of students, academic libraries should focus on issues such as (Greenfield, 2009; Hopman, Johns, & Riddley, 2021; Khumaeroh & Mayuni, 2023; Schüller-Zwierlein, Mangen, Kovač & van der Weel, 2022):

• searching, accessing, identifying and understanding the source of information and textual content
• multitasking and negative effects on reading activity, e.g. distraction, surface reading of text, scanning rather than full reading and critical analysis
• text segmentation, recognizing the arrangement and hierarchy of information for better understanding
• correct use of navigational aids in the digital textual environment such as links, videos, images, diagrams, tools for notes in order to more fully understand the verbal part, complementary and not disorienting dimension
• sharing the reading experience among students – personalized feedback, discussion, observations, new reading skills, difficulties, suggestions to reduce reading “noise” especially in the digital environment
• establishment of indicators to measure specific fields related to reading activity, e.g. comprehension, attention, deepening, gathering and interpreting textual data, assessing the validity of sources, surface and in-depth or high-level reading
• development of visual intelligence through screen reading without compromising reading skills such as deep reading, inductive analysis, critical thinking and evaluation, in other words timeless characteristics of “text intelligence”.

Methodology proposed

Considering the theoretical discussion presented in the previous part of our article, the following media and information literacy strategies are proposed, which could be implemented by the academic libraries of Universities and are expected to build new reading skills in the hybrid readers of the 21st century.

The road map of a media and information literacy strategy coming from academic libraries could focus on the following points:

1) Mapping the reading profile of the institution’s students through a structured questionnaire to each department.

The research part of the proposed media and information literacy actions will initially include a questionnaire that will function as a means of communication between the researchers and the respondents. The questionnaire will consist of closed questions, clear and short in order to collect data regarding the demographics and the digital profile while giving information to the librarians/educators about the reading habits and preferences of the specific population. In order to ensure the reliability and validity of the questionnaire once designed it will be administered to be tested in practice on a group of undergraduate and postgraduate students to avoid misunderstandings or omissions and to make it comprehensible and easy to use for the participants.

Outlining the main thematic axes and the content of the questionnaire, among others, it will include the following:

• Demographic characteristics – digital profile – digital skills (e.g. ownership of new digital media, online behaviors, use of social media, etc.)
• Reading habits and preferences: books, newspapers, magazines (the textual media will be examined separately and the questions will be formulated according to the specificity of each media)
• Reading behaviors (deepening into the process of reading par excellence)

2) In the next step, it is proposed to conduct micro-experiments of media and information literacy by the academic library in similar student groups (focus groups), e.g. systematic or casual readers, undergraduate or postgraduate students, students familiar with or not familiar with digital reading media, students of the same year, same department, etc.

In the context of the focus groups, in addition to the semi-structured interviews that will delve into elements resulting from the analysis of the questionnaires of the previous phase, micro-experiments will be conducted on the reading process in print and in the digital environment. These experiments can be carried out in the academic libraries of the Universities.

The research will focus on the possibilities of choosing different text formats and media that support textual information (books, newspapers, magazines) in both print and digital environments. In addition, practices of managing textual information during the reading process of the same text will be examined: processing, decoding, comprehension, classification, evaluation, retention and recall in memory of textual information by students in both analog and digital environments. Consequently, the design of a micro-experiment aims to establish whether there are differences in the way texts given in print are read as well as the reading of the same texts when they are accessed via a screen in a digital environment. Finally, if and how comprehension, processing and recall of information from texts are affected.

Conclusion

In a media-saturated society, the definition of literacy, which traditionally focused on reading and writing printed words, must be expanded to include the full range of media, including internet and other new media in addition to traditional print and audio-visual media (Daley, 2003; Livingstone, 2003). As people today face a bombardment of visual, audial, and multimedia messages in every walk of life from televisions, newspapers and billboards to radios, sales catalogues and the internet, media literacy skills are of vital importance (Inal, 2009). Therefore, librarians can now use media tools intensely in service delivery and the extensive use of these tools requires them to possess media literacy skills. By using media literacy skills, librarians develop an informed and critical understanding of the nature of media – both print and non-print – the techniques used by them and the impact of these techniques (Udo, 2022). Media and information literacy coming from the academic library of the 21st century can be a tool for developing reading strategies by empowering the reading skills of the digital generation. Understanding different reading environments and practicing within them can contribute to building a reading activity with diverse individual, social and cultural contexts.

The present article can provide the theoretical edifice upon which to design a pilot survey of academic libraries to examine students’ reading activity. From this point of view, there are some useful conclusions for the reading activity of a dynamic generation that, as current and future readers, have already shaped and determined the course of the publishing industry of books, newspapers and magazines, as well as more broadly the democratic functioning of societies. Considering that reading empowerment contributes to the development of creativity, critical thinking, information and knowledge, individual and social development while combating fake news, conspiracy theories and disinformation.

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