Research and Grants Research Overview Currently I am involved in an ethnographic study of reading, which has involved extensive, qualitative interviews with readers selected because they say they read a lot and read by choice. The interviews were conducted with readers for the purpose of understanding how readers themselves experience reading and what readers themselves think is the meaning of reading in their lives. The interviews explore such questions as the following: what factors do readers remember as having fostered or discouraged reading during their childhood? what patterns of change and/or continuity occur in reading from childhood to adulthood? what criteria do readers use to judge the benefits they get from reading? what satisfactions do readers look for in specific popular genres of fiction? what cues do readers use to choose books (and reject books) in libraries and bookstores? how do readers talk about the books that they have found personally helpful? In addition to this work on reading, I have engaged in research on the reference transaction and have written a brief biography of Alice Munro. Grants 1995-1998 -- $31,500 Awarded for "Reading for Pleasure: A Qualitative Study of Adult Readers" Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada Individual Research Grant 1998-2001--$33,000 Awarded for "Becoming a Reader: A Qualitative Study of the Role of thePublic Library in the Development of Children's Reading." Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada Joint grant with Lynne McKechnie, PI. Catherine Ross        © 1998. The University of Western Ontario Last Updated: October 15, 1998. Comments? Email them to ross@julian.uwo.ca