Abstract There appears a change in reading trends in the growing digital culture around the globe. The current research intended to identify the influence of this culture on the reading behaviour of young adults. A survey of final year Masters students from public and private sector universities in various knowledge domains (sciences and technology, social sciences, and arts and humanities) was conducted. The findings revealed a number of significant differences in both reading patterns and preferred reading formats among students of three knowledge domains. The findings suggest that all subjects should be treated separately when deciding on collection development and library services. This exploratory study proves that the digital environment creates a significant impact on individuals’ reading behaviour which needs to be considered by academics and library practitioners. It is a baseline study and opens many potential directions for future research.

中文翻译：

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新兴数字范式下青年成年人基于主题的阅读行为差异

摘要随着全球数字文化的发展，阅读趋势也发生了变化。当前的研究旨在确定这种文化对年轻人阅读行为的影响。对公立和私立大学在不同知识领域（科学和技术，社会科学以及艺术和人文科学）的硕士研究生进行了调查。调查结果表明，在三个知识领域的学生中，阅读方式和偏好阅读方式都有许多显着差异。研究结果表明，在决定馆藏开发和图书馆服务时，应分别对待所有主题。这项探索性研究证明，数字环境对个人的阅读行为产生了重大影响，这需要学者和图书馆从业者加以考虑。这是一项基线研究，为将来的研究打开了许多潜在的方向。