The master's thesis focuses on exploring the collaboration between public libraries and healthcare institutions in promoting a reading culture in Slovenia. The starting point for the analysis was the national initiative National Month of Shared Reading (Nacionalni mesec skupnega branja), which in 2024 aimed to raise awareness about the importance of reading in public spaces. The thesis examines the forms of collaboration between central regional libraries and health centers and explores opportunities to strengthen these partnerships, with particular emphasis on the role of health promotion centers and parenting programs (school for parents) in encouraging reading. Two research methods were used: content analysis and a survey. Content analysis was applied in three cases: an examination of the events of the National Month of Shared Reading, publicly available information on partnerships between public libraries and healthcare institutions, and the content of ten parenting programs. In analyzing the parenting programs, we investigated to what extent healthcare institutions include content on the importance of reading for child development, family reading, and whether they collaborate with local libraries in planning or conducting the sessions. Through a survey of ten central regional libraries and twenty-six health promotion centers, we explored how these institutions promote reading, what forms of collaboration are already in place, and what barriers they perceive in establishing such partnerships. The results indicate that while collaboration is not systematically established, there is a strong interest in deepening such partnerships. However, institutions face challenges, particularly related to organizational, interest-based, and financial constraints.
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