A new survey revealed
that Generation Y — those who are between 18 and 30 years of age — use libraries quite a bit. But not for the books — they go for the computers.

Of the 53 percent of U.S. adults who said they visited a library in 2007, the biggest users were young adults aged 18 to 30 in the tech-loving group known as Generation Y, the survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project said.
“These findings turn our thinking about libraries upside down,” said Leigh Estabrook, a professor emerita at the University of Illinois and co-author of a report on the survey results.
“Internet use seems to create an information hunger and it is information-savvy young people who are most likely to visit libraries,” she said.



Internet users were more than twice as likely to patronize libraries as non-Internet users, according to the survey.
More than two-thirds of library visitors in all age groups said they used computers while at the library.
Sixty-five percent of them looked up information on the Internet while 62 percent used computers to check into the library’s resources.
Public libraries now offer virtual homework help, special gaming software programs, and some librarians even have created characters in the Second Life virtual world, Estabrook said. Libraries also remain a community hub or gathering place in many neighborhoods, she said.



The survey showed 62 percent of Generation Y respondents said they visited a public library in the past year, with a steady decline in usage according to age. Some 57 percent of adults aged 43 to 52 said they visited a library in 2007, followed by 46 percent of adults aged 53 to 61; 42 percent of adults aged 62 to 71; and just 32 percent of adults over 72.



“We were surprised by these findings, particularly in relation to Generation Y,” said Lee Rainie, co-author of the study and director of the Pew project. In 1996 a survey by the Benton Foundation found young adults saw libraries becoming less relevant in the future.

Hey, as long as they’re going to libraries that’s a good thing. And you never know, they might even be tempted to pick up a book while they’re there.



Permalink | Recent Headlines | Our News Feeds

Original post by ReadersRead.com Book Blog

Bootleg Press © 2005, 329 pages

The protagonist of Jack Priest’s thriller Gecko is fifty-five-year-old Jim Monday–a genuine estate developer and former congressman and a decorated Vietnam veteran who finds that, even after decades without practice, killing comes easy. Which is good, because Monday has a number of problems to discount with in Priest’s story, not minimum of which is that he’s being stalked by a giant, noisome, man-eating gecko. A bunch of humans are trying to kill him too, and he’s hearing voices in his head, and, to top it off, his wife wants a divorce. But all of his difficulties turn out to be related to one another, so, in theory, the entire mess could be solved very tidily…. Not that it turns out that way.

[INSET TEXT: Sure, one has to suspend one’s disbelief about the entire giant gecko thing.] While Monday is trying to solve his melange of problems and to save the life of the disembodied voice sounding in his head, he’s helped by a number of other characters: the disembodied voice itself, his wife’s twin sister, a pair of policeman who stake their careers on Monday’s innocence, and the daughter of one of the policemen. The policeman and his daughter, Hugh and Glenna Washington, in fact figure very prominently in the book, such that the story is arguably half creature feature and half rogue-cop procedural.

Priest’s book is not keep-the-lights-on scary, but he does manage to make small moments suspenseful because, as he proves more than once, he’s not averse to killing off major characters. So it’s never safe to assume that any given character won’t die–horribly, with awesome loss of blood–in any particular scene. The book certainly held my interest. Sure, one has to suspend one’s disbelief about the entire giant gecko thing. I had no problem doing that, but I did find it hard to believe that Jim could rack up so many intense relationships with gorgeous women during the brief period coveruddy by the book. I also think that the book’s storyline could be tightened up. I wouldn’t say that the fate of the Washingtons is a loose end, for example–we know more or less what happens to them–but they exit the story surprisingly early given how important they are to it, never to be heard from again. It is surprising in particular given that the daughter is one of those gorgeous women with whom our hero so quickly forms an intense bond. A number of small scenes could probably be excised from the book as well to make it a tighter read.

Despite these complaints, I enjoyed the book. It’s a rapid read, with a quite unusual premise.

Tags: book reviews, books, geckos, Jim Priest

Original post by Debra Hamel

The new list
of America’s most literate cities is out: the citizens of Minneapolis and Seattle are the most well-read.

The survey focused on 69 U.S. cities with populations of 250,000 or above. Jack Miller of Central Connecticut State University chose six key indicators to rank literacy. These included newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainment and Internet resources.
Overall, the top 10 most literate (and wired) cities included:



1-Minneapolis, Minn.

2-Seattle, Wash.

3-St. Paul, Minn.

4-Denver, Colo.

5-Washington, D.C.

6-St. Louis, Mo.

7-San Francisco, Calif.

8-Atlanta, Ga.

9-Pittsburgh, Pa.

10-Boston, Mass.


*****


Some cities that didn’t make it to the overall top 10, however, did strut their stuff in one of the six key literacy indicators. For instance, while Newark, N.J., was the 49th most literate city overall, it sharuddy the top spot for newspaper circulation with Washington, D.C.



Plano, Texas, ranking 51st on the overall most-literate-city list, came in second for educational attainment. The education ranking included two factors: the percentage of the city’s adult population with a high school diploma or higher and those with a bachelor’s degree or higher.

How did your city stand up to the competition? Even if it did poorly, you can still consider yourself a beacon of literacy in an illiterate town.



Permalink | Recent Headlines | Our News Feeds

Original post by ReadersRead.com Book Blog

HarperCollins is moving up the release date for Benazir Bhutto’s new book, in light of her tragic assassination. Publishers Weekly reports
that Ms. Bhutto just finished the manuscript last week.

HarperCollins is rushing its planned book by former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated today at a rally in Pakistan. The world leader, known as “the first daughter of Pakistan,” just finished the book. According to agent Andrew Wylie, who brokeruddy the deal, the manuscript was “completed only a week ago.”



Ironically, and perhaps ominously, titled Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West, the book was originally set for Spring but will now be published “as soon as possible,” said editor Tim Duggan. In describing the book, Duggan said it details “[Bhutto’s] vision for how to bridge the political and cultural gap between the Islamic world, which is becoming increasingly radicalized, and the West.” Adding that the publisher’s “thoughts and prayers are with the Bhutto family,” Duggan said HarperCollins does not yet have a firm release date for the title.

Benazir Bhutto’s assassination today was a terrible tragedy and a awesome blow against democracy in Pakistan. Her new book will no doubt have a awesome impact.



Permalink | Recent Headlines | Our News Feeds

Original post by ReadersRead.com Book Blog

« Past Entries