The Santa Fe New Mexican’s headline reads ”Ravenous readers: a dying breed” in the Wednesday, August 22, 2007 edition. According to an Associated Press poll just released, one in four adults did not read any books in the past year. Based on Santa Fe Public Library statistics, our 74,624 registered library card holders checked out a total of 457,463 items. Yes, that includes adult, teens and children, but it averages 6.1 items per person in a year.
I have to admit that some of us add greatly to that total of books read per person; I have over 6 items checked out as I write this and will most likely hit 7 to 14 in the next week or two. That is not even a blip on the scale for a real biblioholic. Let me share with you that Carrie F. has read 1505 books since 2001. No, not little, tiny books; just books that caught her fancy. She is 30 and tries to read a minimum of 160 books a year and has a special goal of 200 books this year. When I want a really good read, I seek her out AND her list of what she has read and is looking for. But then, any librarian can do the same for you—they read and they read voraciously. And they love to share what they have read.
Who didn’t read a book this year? According to the AP poll, nearly a third of men and a quarter of women fit that category. Maybe men do not count it as “reading” when they come to the Library to find a guide on how to repair a car or build a deck. In a recent poll at airports that I conducted (out of sheer boredom), I found that men were reading. They were reading James Patterson and Dean Koontz—and the average age of the airport readers I sampled was 50.
How do you get teens and younger adults to read?? This is the Library’s biggest challenge. So back into the trenches to find ways to encourage reading—buy the most enticing books, purchase relevant books, make it easy to get a library card, host great authors and show people how books can enhance their lives. Librarians know what their job is and we accept the challenge.
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