Abstract—Children today are citizens of tomorrow as they are the key players in the development of knowledge societies. As to fulfill the needs of our children it is important to monitor their development especially in this new era of digital and borderless environment. Children will go through different types of experiences and challenges as they grow. Bibliotherapy is a concept that involves the use of books to help children cope with their life. Bibliotherapy is no longer a strange method or practices in library service, especially libraries in hospitals. Bibliotherapy has been widely recognized as an approach that helping librarians to better address emotional, behavioral and social concerns. Hence, the role of a library will be more visible and significant with bibliotherapeutic schemes rather than the traditional perceptions of librarians being the custodians of information/books. The main objective of this paper is to highlight the conceptual research framework of exploring the bibliotherapeutic scheme employed in the Malaysia public libraries and how the initiatives instill children's reading habits. As bibliotherapy is considered very new in Malaysia, this study will explore the insight of the adoption of the concept in public libraries. Adopting a qualitative multiple-case study approach, this research intends to cover public libraries in both East and West Malaysia. Series of semi-structured and focused-group will be conducted to capture the qualitative insights of the bibliotherapy providers and clients. The study will provide better understanding of the bibliotherapy concept and will become a baseline for future research in similar area. 
 

Index Terms—bibliotherapy, public library, children, knowledge society, literacy, reading habits

Cite: Siti Arpah Noordin, Haslinda Husaini, and Shamila Mohamad Shuhidan, "Bibliotherapy in Public Libraries: A Conceptual Framework," International Journal of Learning and Teaching, Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 232-236, June 2017. doi: 10.18178/ijlt.3.3.232-236