PurposeThe purpose of this study was to establish reading practices among retirees and to what extent public libraries in Kenya are a source of information and knowledge to them.Design/methodology/approachThis was a qualitative study whose research questions were; what are retirees' reading practices? why do retirees engage in the reading practices they engage in? and to what extent do retirees use the public library for their reading practices? Purposive and snowballing were used as sampling techniques and interview was used for data collection. Data were analysed thematically.FindingsThe findings were that retirees' reading practices are fragmentary and erratic; retirees mainly engage in reading practices for spiritual reasons and for access of current information; and that retirees do not use the services of the public library for their reading activities.Research limitations/implicationsThe research sample is 16 subjects who might not represent features of the whole population. The findings are, however, an index to what the situation might be.Originality/valueThe findings are the result of actual qualitative research.

中文翻译：

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肯尼亚退休人员的阅读扫盲实践：公共图书馆为何以及如何对他们如此重要

目的本研究的目的是建立退休人员的阅读习惯，以及肯尼亚公共图书馆在多大程度上是他们的信息和知识来源。设计/方法/方法这是一项定性研究，其研究问题是；退休人员的阅读习惯是什么？为什么退休人员从事他们从事的阅读实践？退休人员在多大程度上使用公共图书馆进行阅读练习？有目的性和滚雪球被用作抽样技术，而访谈被用于数据收集。对数据进行了主题分析。发现结果是，退休人员的阅读习惯是零散的和不稳定的；退休人员主要出于精神原因和获取当前信息而进行阅读练习；并且退休人员不使用公共图书馆的服务进行阅读活动。研究局限性/影响研究样本是 16 名可能不代表整个人口特征的受试者。然而，调查结果是可能的情况的一个指标。原创性/价值调查结果是实际定性研究的结果。