Reading of humanities and social sciences books in chemistry, mathematics, and physics majors

Abstract

This study analyzes book borrowing patterns among 4,403 borrowers from the chemistry, mathematics, and physics departments at the library of Nanjing Normal University from 2014 to 2023. Utilizing the Chinese Library Classification System, the researcher calculated and ranked the borrowing volumes of various book categories, aiming to discern correlations among multiple variables. Data was processed in SPSS, employing nonparametric tests and correspondence analysis to examine the relationship between book categories and departmental borrowing patterns. Moreover, the researcher calculated the annual borrowing averages for liberal arts books, visualizing trends through scatter plots in Excel to forecast borrowing behavior for 2024. Utilizing Gephi, network diagrams of borrowing relationships were constructed to evaluate connectivity among readers within each department. Further analysis through SPSS involved refining book classifications and performing factor analysis, while structural equation modeling in AMOSS allowed for the calculation of correlation and covariance coefficients between observed and latent variables. The findings provide insights into the humanities and social sciences books’ borrowing habits of students in these scientific majors, revealing patterns that could inform library resource allocation and academic support.