Book hunting and bibliophilia as a type of serious leisure

The author adopts the Serious Leisure Perspective (Stebbins, 1982) as his theoretical framework to conceptualise the role of book hunters and bibliophiles in creating communities of interest promoting reading and other forms of intellectual activities. The conceptual analysis shows book hunters and book lovers, who are enthusiastically engaged in collecting various types of books, have the six qualities of serious leisure, which are: perseverance and commitment, the potentiality to turn into a career, significant personal effort based on specific knowledge, durable personal and social benefits, unique ethos within a social world and developing new identities associated with the chosen activity. Furthermore, the analysis indicates their passion and dedication to the book, both as a cultural object and a source of information, is a gateway to lifelong learning. They usually focus on specific topics or historical periods and explore resources in their chosen areas. It also creates some possibilities to participate in other intellectual activities such as joining book clubs, contacting publishers, social interactions with other collectors, and attending cultural events (e.g. book exhibitions, authors talks, etc.). Besides, like other serious leisure participants, they can enjoy a broad spectrum of personal and social benefits of serious leisure, such as creating distinctive knowledge and skills, creating a notion of career, social connectedness, personal reward, social reward, and financial return. Finally, they can build a lifestyle around their hobby, enjoy self-actualisation as a sense of accomplishment, and develop strong identification.