کتابداری و اطلاعرسانی (Oct 2019)
Appearance and Content Assessment of Printed Books for the Age Groups A and B with Emphasis on Guilford's Creativity Components
Abstract
Objective: The aim is to conduct appearance and content assessment of printed books for the age groups A and B, with emphasis on the components of Guilford creativity. These components consist of fluidity, flexibility, originality, and expansion. However, other criteria for book evaluation (not related to creativity) are considered in this study for evaluating the content and appearance of these books. Methodology: This is a descriptive research conducted by survey method and it is of applied type. The statistical population of the research includes Persian stories for the age groups A and B in the form of printed books and the research sample was selected from the popular books in Iran printed between 2011 and 2016. The data gathering tool is a researcher-made checklist whose validity has been verified. In this research, content analysis method was used to study the formal and content criteria in 55 bestselling printed children's books. Bestselling, as a factor was considered since the books which consisted in this category, were lucky to be accessible for the audience more than others. This research sample may show the creativity component rate in the large portion of the children's books market and identify their characteristics. In this research, bestselling books in each year and each age group (A and B) are determined by threshold. Statistical data about the number of copies of each book publishing were gathered from Khanehe Ketabe. Findings: The results showed that among formal and content features in all components of creativity (fluidity, flexibility, originality and expansion), content features are more followed and applied in the reviewed books compared to formal features. However, for these age groups, visual features can attract readers more than anything else. Among the four components, the expansion component with an average rating of 3.62 was used more than other components in the sampled books. Most of the books (42.8 percent) were published in 5000-10000 copies and their prices were between one thousand to 5 thousand Toomans. The books entitled Let's come to kill people (A), The story of the two lonely turtles (A) and The time of bedtime for the baby (A) were the strongest books and books of the Thief of the trustee (B), The rain falls (B) and The celebration of the song (B) were the weakest books regarding the most important components of creativity. Conclusion: Iranian authors, illustrators, and editors have been more successful in paying attention to the details and extension of the idea in each of the formal and content features than other components of creativity in children's book. It is suggested that those who involved in publishing children's books take creativity courses and apply the checklists provided in the study to produce more creative books.
Keywords
