Where Do Kids Find the Books They Read for Pleasure? Libraries, Amazon
From Digital Book World:
Despite their waning influence among children when it comes to book recommendations, libraries are still the No. 1 place kids acquire the books they read for pleasure, according to a new report from Bowker Market Research.
At the same time, libraries are no longer the top place where kids discover new books. Recommendations from friends and family was the No. 1 in this latest iteration of Understanding the Children’s Book Consumer in the Digital Age, the report presented at the Publishers Launch Children’s Publishing Goes Digital in New York*.
The top six places kids up to thirteen-years-old get the books they read for pleasure:
1. Public Library
2. Amazon.com
3. Wal-Mart or Sam’s Club
4. Barnes & Noble
5. School Library
6. Scholastic Book Clubs
Link to the rest at Digital Book World
, Amazon will pay Passive Guy a small affiliate commission on any of your purchases.
Publishers would be wise to pay attention to this, and stop messing over libaries.
“messing over libaries.”
Mira,
School library seems to be pretty low down there. I’m not American school trained, so I don’t know how you do things here.
When I was at school, I got most of my books from the school library. I was too young to go to the public library on my own and getting my parents to take me was a laugh. (It never happened, not once.) I was the only member of my family to have a library card when I was 18.
Why so low down? Are your school libraries are full of, “educational,” (read dry,) material? Books you should read, la di da:)
brendan
Couldn’t agree more. I’m British and fell in love with reading at school when I was six or seven. The books the teachers read were pretty dull and dry but we were taken to the library once a week and could choose whatever we liked. The headmaster was a very old-fashioned boys-own sort and the school library was full of Biggles, Tarzan and boys adventure stories, which I went through avidly, reading a book a week and realising books didn’t have to be dull, educational or dry but could be wildly entertaining and fun.
Another problem with US School libraries is limited access. When I was young my mother would take me to the public library once a week and once I was in middle school I would walk there at least three times a week. I frequently spent hours there and came home with bags full of books. It was not unusual for me to have 20 library books out at a time, more during vacations. The summer vacation before fifth grade I averaged 5 Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys books per day before I ran out of available books in the series. On the other hand we were given access to the school library once per week, were allowed 15 minutes to find and check out a book and were only allowed to have one book checked out at a time. Needless to say School Library would have been low on my list too.
I suspect that’s a big issue with the kid and her library, yeah. They have no time in their school day to go browse the library! (Though the individual classrooms do have mini-libraries, at least.) Heck, they have no time for recess, and the time between classes is shaved to a minimum. Not to mention the short lunch period! *sigh*
But she has access to the iBookstore easily, so that’s what she’ll browse on her phone.
Brendan – Yes, we do the same here – there are usually small libraries in schools that kids frequent, but we also have community libraries that have programs for kids. Like ou, some of my fondest memories are of both types – I loved libraries as a kid.
My comment about Publishers was regarding e-books, not print – I assume that Publishers are keeping e-books out of all libraries, including school libraries.
But they are losing the opportunity to gain lifetime readership for their list of authors.
Brendan, the problem with school libraries is that the quality varies depending on where you live. The selection is frequently dated and often censored. I didn’t use my school library much simply because I wasn’t interested in reading what they had in stock. Fortunately, the town library was a mile from my house, which also had a computer (a state of the art Atari 800, if I remember right).
It depends hugely on the school and the library.
My own high school library, I now know (it took me years to realize) was staffed by a couple of out and out maniacs who thought that high-school students should be exposed to books they might actually want to read, as opposed to books they should read. We had that latter kind too, but there was science fiction and fantasy and mystery and horror and I have no idea how they got away with ANY of it.
My High School was heavy on military history (thank you, JROTC!) and sci-fi, along with classics and good non-fiction science stuff. I read E.E. “Doc” Smith in the late 1980s at that library and no one batted an eye. I suspect that the place is quite different now.
My kids seem to be constantly in their school library, and it’s huge, both literally (vast room) and numbers of books (about 6 times larger than my own childhood school library). I gather the students have a library session only once a week, but are encouraged to stop by any time they need more reading material. They have a good deal! Plus my husband takes them to the regional library 2 or 3 times a month. Only caveat: their backpacks tend to keep acquiring reading material without disgorging any! (They forget to take the books back when finished. High-quality problem!)
My kids’ elementary school doesn’t have a library. They have some books in the classroom, but that’s hardly the same thing. (It’s a charter school.) The town’s public library, part a county-wide system, is closed every week from Saturday at 4pm until Tuesday morning. (Budget cuts.)
Ah, California. Sometimes I do miss Illinois. And to say that in mid-January is really saying something.
Decades ago, when I attended elementary school there was a small library — maybe 10,000 volumes, IIRC — & I remember constantly catching grief from my teachers because I wanted to read books in the sections for the “older kids”. However, lack of money have resulted in drastic cuts to school programs, so the elementary school my daughter will attend this fall (when she starts kindergarten) may not even have a library.
On the other hand, the neighborhood branch of the local public library — which is open 6 days & at least 2 evenings a weeks — is a 15-20 minute walk from my front door: 3 blocks to the elementary school, turn left & walk another 2-3 blocks. That was one of the reasons we chose this house to buy.
When I was a kid, it operated something like this for me:
- Military library
- School library (I was a library aide in middle school, so I got free books when the bookfair came around.)
- Scholastic or other book fliers
- Bookstores
- second-hand stores (not second hand bookstores)
- Off-post library
- PX
- Other, not-book store
I grew up in a series of smaller towns, so the school library was not ever very large. There was almost no class time dedicated to it, and that time was very regulated and short. Not exactly a good way to casually browse and discover books.