Younger folks are reading books, using libraries after all – The Technology Chronicles

Study: Younger folks are reading books, using libraries after all | The Technology Chronicles | an SFGate.com blog.

I was encouraged by this new study report that came out last week Tuesday (June 25, 2013) giving results on the reading habits of younger Americans (ages 16-29). It seems that in spite of the explosion of digital reading resources, the vast majority of young people and young adults are still reading print books and using the library for print materials. I was not totally surprised by these findings, and I believe they will continue, even with the continued surge of digital materials. My own unofficial observations also shows these results to be true. By far the majority of readers I know and interact with still prefer the print form. And at our Seminary library this is most certainly the case.

You may read all of the report at the link above, or at one of the websites which carried the story below.

The stereotype: Younger Americans no longer visit public libraries and have all but abandoned paper books in favor of digital media.

Reality check: Young Americans are actually more likely than older Americans to have read a printed book in the past year and are more likely than their elders to use a library.

Those are the somewhat surprising findings of a new study released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project.

“Younger Americans’ reading habits and library use are still anchored by the printed page,” report co-author Kathryn Zickuhr said in a statement.

“Some of this stems from the demands of school or work, yet some likely lies in their current personal preferences. And this group’s priorities and expectations for libraries likewise reflect a mix of traditional and technological services.”

There’s no surprise that nearly all of the people surveyed ages 16 to 29 were online and were more likely than older patrons to use a library’s computers and other technology.

However, 75 percent of those younger Americans have read a printed book in the past year, compared to 64 percent of older adults. And 85 percent of 16 and 17 year olds have read at least one printed book in the past year.

Read More Books!

Thanks to “YC” for the wonderful, surprise gift for speaking at their recent meeting! I will treasure this shirt for many years 🙂 And as you will see, the audio of my “talk” is also now available. I hope you will take the time to listen so that you too might be encouraged to “read more and read better”. -cjt

Young Calvinists

As a thank you gift to Mr. Terpstra for speaking for us at Talking Points we got him a T-Shirt that, as you can see, says “Read More Books”. Since his slogan for his blog is “read more and read better” we thought this shirt would be perfect for him. 

Last week Mr. Terpstra posted some kind comments as well as an outline for his speech on his blog. You can find that here. Also, we are putting the audio up for those who could not make it and for those out of state and country. (click here for audio). Apologies once again for the audio this time as it is a little rough.

 

One last thing not related to Talking Points. We would like to welcome Abby DeVries to our staff of writers! Also details for the Bike Hike on July 20 should be up in…

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