With the acceleration of social transformation and the increasing pressures of competition at earlier ages, children's mental health issues have become increasingly prominent. Psychological distress such as anxiety, depression, social disorders, and post-traumatic stress reactions is on the rise among children, creating an urgent need for diversified, accessible, and easily acceptable mental health intervention services [1]. Fairy-tale therapy, also known as fairy-tale psychological healing, is a specialized form of bibliotherapy. It utilizes fairy tales as a medium, employing interactive methods such as storytelling, listening, role-playing, and creative writing to help children understand themselves, express emotions, resolve conflicts, and restore psychological balance within safe, metaphorical contexts [2]. Public libraries, as the primary venues for children's reading promotion, possess unique advantages for conducting fairy-tale therapy, including rich fairy tale collections, professional librarian teams, broad audience reach, and open, inclusive public spaces [3]. However, current practices in this area within public libraries are still in the exploratory stage and face numerous practical challenges. Systematically examining their value advantages, diagnosing practical obstacles, and exploring feasible pathways hold significant theoretical and practical importance for promoting service innovation and deepening the social education functions of public libraries.

1. Value Advantages of Implementing Fairy-Tale Therapy in Public Libraries

The inherent advantages of public libraries—namely their public welfare nature, resource holdings, physical settings, and functional roles—grant them an irreplaceable capacity to effectively address common barriers to the widespread adoption of fairy-tale therapy, such as high entry thresholds, limited reach, and scarce resources. These advantages are evident in four key areas:

(1) Resource Advantages

Public libraries possess extensive collections encompassing fairy tale picture books, classic fairy tales, children's literature, and other related materials, providing ample content support for fairy-tale therapy. Compared to specialized mental health institutions, libraries can leverage their existing collections to select and curate fairy tales tailored to different age groups and psychological needs—such as developmental tales for young children or healing tales for adolescents dealing with anxiety—achieving a «demand-driven supply». Concurrently, libraries can engage in creative repurposing of their collections, utilizing formats like fairy tale readings, performances, and picture book creation to diversify the service delivery methods of fairy-tale therapy, thereby enhancing engagement and participation. Furthermore, the digital资源优势 of public libraries can transcend时空 limitations, transforming fairy tale content into audio, video, and other formats to broaden the service boundaries of fairy-tale therapy.

(2) Setting Advantages

As public welfare spaces, public libraries offer a uniquely open, inclusive, and pressure-free environment, distinct from the constraints of home or the educational pressures of school. This allows them to create a relaxed and safe therapeutic atmosphere. Here, users can freely choose to participate in fairy-tale therapy activities without psychological burden, enabling more active engagement with the fairy tale scenarios for emotional catharsis and cognitive restructuring [4]. Additionally, library spaces like reading areas and activity rooms can be flexibly adapted to accommodate various therapeutic formats such as storytelling, role-playing, and group sharing. For instance, libraries can construct fairy tale scenes or display related props to immerse users in the magic of the stories, enhancing the therapeutic effect. The free access characteristic of public libraries also lowers the participation threshold for fairy-tale therapy, ensuring that users from different socioeconomic backgrounds and regions can benefit from these services.

(3) Functional Advantages

The core functions of public libraries—disseminating culture and serving the public—make the implementation of fairy-tale therapy a significant extension of their role, aligning closely with the need for universal access to public mental health services. Unlike fee-based services offered by specialized psychological institutions, fairy-tale therapy in public libraries adheres to the principle of public welfare, requiring no payment from users. This effectively reaches underserved groups, such as low-income families and rural communities, contributing to the universalization of mental health services. At the same time, public libraries also fulfill a social education function. Through fairy-tale therapy, they can guide children and adolescents towards positive values and foster healthy psychological attributes, achieving a dual effect of «healing and education». Moreover, libraries possess extensive service networks. Leveraging central-branch library systems, they can extend fairy-tale therapy services to communities and villages, expanding their reach.

2. Practical Dilemmas of Implementing Fairy-Tale Therapy in Public Libraries

Despite the significant advantages, the implementation of fairy-tale therapy in public libraries faces numerous practical challenges in actual practice. These are influenced by factors such as specialized resources, service models, content provision, and public awareness, hindering the enhancement of service quality and broader adoption.

(1) Lack of Specialized Resources and Insufficient Professional Service Capability

A shortage of specialized talent is a core dilemma. Effective fairy-tale therapy requires professionals with interdisciplinary knowledge spanning library services, child psychology, and fairy-tale therapy techniques. However, current library staff in China predominantly have backgrounds in library management or cultural dissemination, lacking systematic training in psychological intervention and fairy-tale therapy. This makes it difficult to deliver precise, specialized services [5]. Furthermore, qualified fairy-tale therapists are scarce and mostly concentrated in medical institutions, making it difficult for public libraries to secure long-term guidance from experts. Consequently, fairy-tale therapy activities in many libraries remain superficial, limited to basic storytelling or book sharing, failing to achieve the intended psychotherapeutic outcomes. The lack of dedicated funding for fairy-tale therapy further constrains efforts in professional training, material procurement, and expert consultation, hindering the enhancement of service professionalism.

(2) Singular Service Models, Lacking Interactivity and Targeting

Currently, most public libraries employ relatively simplistic service models for fairy-tale therapy, primarily relying on unidirectional, «offline reading + story explanation» approaches that lack interactivity and immersive experiences. This model struggles to engage users, particularly introverted or psychologically sensitive individuals who may be less inclined to participate actively, thereby diminishing the therapeutic effect. Services also often lack targeting, with many libraries failing to categorize users by age or psychological needs, resulting in a «one-size-fits-all» approach that fails to meet diverse individual requirements. For example, they may not differentiate between the psychological characteristics of young children and adolescents, nor tailor services to address specific issues like anxiety versus low self-esteem. The lack of innovative formats, such as incorporating digital technology or interactive elements, further hinders the ability to meet the needs of contemporary users.

(4) Insufficient Content Provision, Lacking Adaptability and Innovation

Despite extensive collections, high-quality content specifically suitable for fairy-tale therapy remains scarce. Fairy tale resources in many libraries consist predominantly of classic, fixed texts, leading to high homogeneity and a lack of curated content tailored to different psychological issues or age groups, making precise therapeutic intervention difficult. There is also a notable lack of innovation in content, with a heavy reliance on traditional fairy tales without incorporating contemporary relevance or addressing users' current psychological needs, thus failing to evoke emotional resonance. Furthermore, content formats are often limited to text and picture books, lacking multimodal options such as audio, video, or animation. This not only fails to accommodate diverse user preferences but also struggles to capture the attention of younger children.

(5) Low Public Awareness and Insufficient Social Participation

Public awareness of fairy-tale therapy offered by libraries is currently low. Many parents and potential users have limited understanding of its therapeutic value, often equating it with ordinary story-reading activities, resulting in a lack of motivation to participate actively. Concurrently, some public libraries do not adequately promote their fairy-tale therapy services, underutilizing new media platforms like WeChat official accounts or short videos to disseminate information, leading to low visibility and limited participation. Additionally, engagement from social sectors is insufficient. Support from corporations, non-profit organizations, and other entities in terms of funding and resources is lacking, hindering efforts to scale up services and ensure their sustainable, regular operation.

3. Countermeasures for Implementing Fairy-Tale Therapy in Public Libraries

(1) Strengthen Professional Support and Cultivate Interdisciplinary Talent

First, enhance training programs. Collaborate with universities and medical institutions to offer specialized training in fairy-tale therapy, focusing on equipping library staff with knowledge of child psychology, fairy-tale therapy techniques, and activity planning skills to elevate their professional competence. Encourage staff participation in industry exchanges and academic seminars to learn from advanced practices and broaden their perspectives. Second, recruit specialized talent. Utilize talent introduction programs or part-time consultations to engage professional fairy-tale therapists and psychologists for ongoing guidance, forming interdisciplinary service teams. Third, increase dedicated funding. Establish a special fund for fairy-tale therapy to support professional training, expert consultations, material procurement, and related activities, ensuring service professionalism. Additionally, build collaborative education platforms by partnering with universities to cultivate future professionals skilled in both library services and fairy-tale therapy, addressing the talent shortage.

(2) Innovate Service Models to Enhance Interactivity and Targeting

First, diversify service formats. Move beyond traditional unidirectional models by introducing interactive elements such as role-playing, fairy tale creation, and group sharing, encouraging active user participation. For example, organize activities where users act out characters or recreate scenes from fairy tales, facilitating emotional expression and cognitive processing through interaction. Integrate digital technologies like VR/AR to create immersive fairy tale environments, boosting engagement and experiential quality. Second, implement targeted services. Conduct thorough assessments to categorize users based on age and psychological needs, offering customized services for different groups, such as developmental fairy tale activities for young children or tailored intervention programs using healing tales for adolescents dealing with anxiety. Third, develop an integrated online-offline service model. Utilize library digital platforms to distribute fairy tale audio, video, online interactive activities, etc., overcoming时空 constraints and expanding service reach.

(3) Optimize Content Provision to Enhance Adaptability and Innovation

First, curate and organize collections. Systematically identify and select high-quality content suitable for fairy-tale therapy. Classify fairy tale resources by age group and targeted psychological needs to establish a dedicated resource database, enabling «demand-driven supply». Strengthen partnerships with publishers and non-profit organizations to introduce additional high-quality resources and enrich content offerings. Second, promote content innovation. Encourage collaboration between professionals and users to create original fairy tales that incorporate contemporary elements and address current psychological needs, embedding positive values to foster emotional resonance. Diversify content formats by transforming text-based fairy tales into multimodal forms like audio, video, and animation to cater to different user preferences. Third, engage in creative repurposing of collection items.

(4) Strengthen Promotion and Outreach to Enhance Awareness and Social Participation

First, intensify publicity efforts. Leverage new media platforms such as WeChat official accounts, short videos (e.g., Douyin/TikTok), and Weibo to effectively communicate information about the service content, therapeutic benefits, and activity schedules, increasing visibility. Conduct outreach activities in schools, communities, and villages to disseminate knowledge about fairy-tale therapy and help the public correctly understand its therapeutic value. Second, establish service brands. Create recognizable brands for fairy-tale therapy services based on the unique characteristics of each library. Third, encourage social participation by strengthening cooperation with enterprises, public welfare organizations, schools, and medical institutions to secure support in terms of funding and resources. This will foster a multi-stakeholder collaborative service system and promote the large-scale and regular development of fairy tale therapy services.

4. Conclusion

Public libraries, leveraging their unique advantages in resources, settings, functions, and potential for collaboration, serve as vital platforms for delivering fairy-tale therapy. They hold significant value in promoting universal access to mental health services, enhancing the psychological well-being of children and adolescents, and expanding the boundaries of public cultural services. However, current implementation faces practical dilemmas, including a shortage of specialized resources, singular service models, insufficient content provision, and low public awareness, which constrain service quality and broader adoption. Moving forward, public libraries should continuously explore deeper integration of fairy-tale therapy with their existing services, persistently optimize service models, enhance service quality, and fully leverage their public mental health service functions. This will provide robust support for the healthy growth of children and adolescents and foster the synergistic development of public cultural and mental health services.

References:

1. Daskalska, L., Tarima, S., Meurer, J., & Young, S. (2024). Child Anxiety and Depression During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Unmet Mental Health Care Needs. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 56(6), 1696–1708.

2. Danyliuk, I., & Zolnikova, S. (2019). Fairy-tale therapy as a method of psychological influence on an individual. Psychological Journal, 5(6), 161–173.

3. Urzhumova, O. M. (2024). Art-Therapeutic Methods in the Practice of a Modern Public Library. Bibliography and Bibliology, 3, 57–68.

4. Wang Linjun. (2019). Analysis of Fairy Tale Therapy in Russian Libraries. Library Research, 49(02), 71–77.

5. Cai Peiyan, & Yu Hongyan. (2020). A Study on the Practice of Fairy Tale Therapy in Russian Libraries. Library Development, (05), 167–174.