Mining Pew-Fourth Reading:

Libraries, Children and Families: new research and policy recommendations on role of libraries in early reading

Rainie, L. July 9, 2013, Libraries, Children and Families: new research and policy recommendations on role of libraries in early reading. Pew Internet Research. Presentation retrieved on July 30, 2014, from http://www.pewinternet.org/

This presentation aims to shine light to the role of libraries in early reading. It discusses some important keynotes about the reasons libraries are important in the community. 

Some of the reasons I found to be most interesting are listed below followed by my comments on the topic.

“94% of parents say libraries are important for their children and 79% describe libraries as very important.”

This percentage shows that most parents do see the important role a library can play in the community.

Considering that in my own community, our library is a small, worn down building in need of renovations, brings to mind that perhaps many parents’ voices are not being considered in the community. Perhaps parents are not speaking up or have settled for at least having some form of a library they can use.

In a previous course that involved cataloguing and conducting a scavenger hunt on certain books under Dewey Decimal Classification, I went to my public library and many of the books there were out dated by more than ten years. It was difficult for me to do my assignment and I had to visit another library in a neighboring city. The point I am trying to make is that if parents feel that libraries are important and educators certainly feel that way as well, then we should help support more library development projects in our community.

“79 % of parent library visitors say librarians are very helpful.”

I have read articles about how librarians are being considered dispensable in the library because of the advanced technology that allows easier access to resources for people. Some may even feel that a library is not needed much anymore now that most information can be found online. The above statement which is based on statistics found in recent year 2012, shows that parents understand that a librarian is the expert in the library and is very much needed.

“31% said they know not much or nothing at all of what their libraries offer. “

Twenty three percent of these people were parents. This means librarians and educators can do more to inform the community about their resources and how to access them. Many times parents do not know of the new resources available because they were accustomed to the traditional use of the library that involved mainly the circulation of books. We can expect these percentages to decrease as we continue forward in making our community a technological society.

18 slides (presentation)

To view this presentation go to the following web address:

http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/07/09/libraries-children-and-families-new-research-and-policy-recommendations-on-role-of-libraries-in-early-reading/