This thesis reports on a study which developed a profile of the reviewers of
children's books in Australia. It then compared the profile with one which was
developed by Kathleen Craver in 1984 of children's book reviewers in the United
States.
Five research questions were addressed by this study relating to reviewers and their
opinions regarding review aspects, reviewer roles and review practices within the
framework of their personal and professional background. Craver surveyed the
reviewers from School Library journal because as a group, they provided the
greatest potential for statistical significance of all the reviewing journals in the
United States. As no Australian journal enjoys either the number of reviewers or
the circulation of School Library journal, reviewers from eight journals which are
most used by teacher and children's librarians were selected to form the population
for this research. These journals are Fiction Focus, LINES, Magpies, Reading Time,
Reviewpoin t, Review Bulletin, Scan and Tasmanian Resources Review.
The reviewer profile which emerged from this study was very similar to Craver's in
that it was not one which could be entirely defined in terms of group characteristics.
Selected cross tabulations either with the particular journals, demographic details,
or other variables, particularly those relating to reviewer experience failed to
produce predictable behaviourial correlations. However, reviewers were united on
certain issues which can be attributed to their own professional background.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/218713 |
| Date | January 1990 |
| Creators | Milne, Patricia A., n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Library & Information Sciences |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Patricia A. Milne |
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