Whay does reading mean to you?

A recent BBC article suggested that half of all men in the UK aged 16-24 haven’t read a single book in the past 12 months……and others argue that you don’t have to read books to be intelligent and knowledgeable because we now get our information in other ways….

BUT

Last year people in the UK bought an estimated 338 million books, thats 13% higher by both volume and value than five years ago! And that the bedroom was the preferred location for reading by 45% of general readers….

AND

the greatest growth in value for 2006 in the UK came from the academic/professional (+7.1%) and non-fiction/reference (+4.7%) while in America the greatest growth came from the religious category (+5.6% on 2005) and the adult trade (+3.9%) - what can we make of that?

HOWEVER

A recent survey by the American IMLS/PEW Foundation also found that Internet users were more likely than nonusers to go to the library and the report concludes that Internet use isn’t making libraries less relevant

REMEMBER

Becuase the way we produce and gather information has changed and many more people are logging in to get their daily information fix, it’s more important than ever to develop both general literacy and computer literacy skills  ………                                       

Your library & IT Workshop are here to help you achieve both