Study: Young Adults Heavy Library Users

STUDY: YOUNG ADULTS HEAVY LIBRARY USERS
[SOURCE: Associated Press 12/30/07, AUTHOR: Anick Jesdanun]
According to a joint study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, young adults are the heaviest users of public libraries despite the ease with which they can access a wealth of information over the Internet from the comforts of their homes. That's especially true for those who had questions related to health conditions, job training, government benefits and other problems. Twenty-one percent of Americans with such questions aged 18-30 have turned to public libraries, compared with about 12 percent among the general adult population with those problems to solve. Education-related tasks -- making decisions about schooling, paying for it and getting job training -- are the most common problems drawing people to libraries. A 1996 report from the Benton Foundation, a nonprofit group that studies the digital age, had warned that Americans ages 18-24 "are the least enthusiastic boosters of maintaining and building library buildings. They are also the least enthusiastic of any age group about the importance of libraries in a digital future." That generation now uses libraries to solve problems at half the rate as the current 18-30 set, the new study found. In the decade since the Benton report, Internet access has grown from about 44 percent of public libraries to more than 99 percent. Many libraries have rearranged spaces or moved into new quarters to accommodate the expansion in computers. In many places, individual study carrels gave way to long tables where patrons can interact.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-internet-libraries,1,1603271.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

* Generation Y biggest user of libraries: survey
http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN2849864420071230

* Information Searches That Solve Problems
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/231/report_display.asp

* Buildings, Books, and Bytes: Libraries and Communities in the Digital Age
(1996 Benton report mentioned above)
http://www.benton.org/publibrary/kellogg/buildings.html