The more things change...

I am working on a paper this month on what innovations academic libraries have initiated in the last 15 years.  To prepare for it, i am reading Technological innovation in libraries, 1860-1960.  In it I read:

Like the automobile, the radio is far-reaching in its influence.  The whole family comes under its spell.  There are thousands of individuals who appear to be quite bewitched by this instrument and its myserious power....Are we approaching the decline and fall of the printed book and its influence upon civilization? (Sherman, Library Journal, 1924)

Now fast forward to the present and all the reports on the decline in reading:

• Literary Reading in Dramatic Decline, According to National Endowment for the Arts Survey
• Fewer Than Half of American Adults Now Read LiteratureHemingway as 'Chick-Lit' When it comes to fiction, the gender gap is at its widest. Men account for only 20 percent of the fiction market, according to surveys conducted in the U.S., Canada and Britain.
• Literacy of College Graduates Is on Decline Survey's Finding of a Drop in Reading Proficiency Is Inexplicable, Experts Say
• To Read or Not To Read: A Question of National Consequence. Americans are reading less and reading less well! 

• Reading scores for 12th-grade readers fell significantly from 1992 to 2005, with the sharpest declines among lower-level readers.
• 2005 reading scores for male 12th-graders are 13 points lower than for female 12th-graders, and that gender gap has widened since 1992.
• Reading scores for American adults of almost all education levels have deteriorated, notably among the best-educated groups. From 1992 to 2003, the percentage of adults with graduate school experience who were rated proficient in prose reading dropped by 10 points, a 20 percent rate of decline.

This is not to put the blame on radio, TV, or the Internet.  Instead, it is intended to be a call to action for all librarians.  If you believe literacy is important, what is YOUR library doing to change this?  A READ poster won't make a difference, especially to people who never see it.

I saw a campaign this week for Red Cross, the Become a Hero campaign.  Perhaps we need to send a similar message, not just for fundraising, but for raising literacy and raising the involvement of libraries in this crisis.

I'm just sayin'.

Comments

[Paul Harris]

It probably cheapens the whole experience but maybe every 1000th patron who checks out a book wins a prize? Maybe start "Storytime for Adults". As a kid I didn't much care to read but my favorite time was when the teacher read to us. We as adults can still appreciate that pleasure.