”I felt there was a big chunk taken out of my life”: COVID-19 and older adults’ library-based magazine leisure reading

ABSTRACT

Reading is a central leisure activity among older adults, serving as a means of entertainment, escape, connection, and/or education. COVID-19 public library closures drastically altered this activity. Based on interviews with 21 older adults across Ontario, Canada, this study explores how library closures in the province affected older adults’ magazine leisure reading practices. Analysis yielded three themes: COVID-19 transforming experiences of library as place, COVID-19 as time of loss, and COVID-19 as catalyst for adaptation. Participants voiced the many ways COVID-19 has shaped (often restricting) their choices related to magazine reading (where, how, and what they read, and where they located their magazines). While libraries remained virtually open during the pandemic, many participants chose not to switch to digital platforms (despite their technical proficiency to do so). As a result, they often stopped reading magazines completely, despite the loss this stoppage represented. At the same time, pandemic restrictions compelled others to use the online library services they had previously avoided. Ultimately, participants’ experiences of magazine reading during the COVID-19 pandemic further our understanding of reading as leisure in later life and also trouble prevailing assumptions that older adults’ resistance to digital media engagement is merely a reflection of age-related incompetence.

KEYWORDS:

• Older adults
• public libraries
• magazines
• reading
• COVID-19

Acknowledgments

1. This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada under Insight Development Grant number 430-2018-00150.

2. The authors are grateful for the time and contributions of all the participants in the study, for the recruitment and transcription assistance of Samantha Pinckney, and for the helpful comments from the anonymous reviewers

3. Some sections of this paper, in earlier form, were presented at the Ontario Libraries Association Super Conference (held online in February 2022).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. For example, the Canadian Leisure & Reading Study: 2021 published by BookNet Canada (2021), a non-profit organisation that serves the book industry, focuses on books, ebooks and audiobooks only, making no mention of magazines.

2. For an example of the varying service levels at one small, rural Ontario public library system over the course of 2021, see their chronological list at https://www.thebluemountainslibrary.ca/service-updates-and-covid-19.cfm?is=10.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada under Insight Development Grant number 430-2018-00150.