Teens Reading Habits Changing

Nearly 16 percent never visit school, public libraries
By Brian Kenney and Lauren Barack -- School Library Journal, 1/1/2006

Nearly 16 percent of teens don’t visit their public or school libraries, according to a recent joint study by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) and SmartGirl.org, a Web site that surveys teens. And many young adults don’t expect to visit public libraries in the next five years because they’ll likely be using search engines at home or elsewhere, says “Perception of Libraries and Information Resources,” the latest report by OCLC that examines the public’s attitude toward libraries and resources.

What message do these two reports send? The results may show that teens prefer accessing the library remotely from the Internet, rather than in person, says Beth Yoke, YALSA’s executive director. But they may also mean that libraries need to focus more attention on teenagers because they tend to visit libraries that have dedicated teen centers or teen librarians".........

This is a great article; we need to focus on talking teens on their language. Everyday there are more cyber citizens that need our help. It seems that with the invention of the internet, the habits of students are shifting and according to all those surveys, they preferred the Search Engines and Instant Messaging. On the other hand, we also want to make the library inviting so they may want to come to visit, instead of Texting. We as librarians need to dedicate more time to have activities for teens and make an area of the library a place where they feel comfortable and they can come and explore the library in person. The SDCL has a great teen page. The library is making an effort to be on the cyber lines to reach the teens, and broadcast the teen activities. We need to be proactive, and remember that if they like the library when they are young they will keep on coming back.
Oceanside Library is doing a good too. They have different activities for the teens such as Band Hero, Teen Movies “Twilight and new Moon”; Teen crochet, Teen Candle craft, Science Seekers, and Anime and Manga Club. They are doing an awesome work at bringing the teens in so they have different activities and they can choose what they want.
Teen reading habits may change, but if they like the books and the fun they have at the library they will keep on coming back.

(follow the link and you can read the complete article)