Libraries
continue to transform to meet society’s changing needs, and most of the
respondents in an independent national survey said that libraries are important
to the community. But school libraries continue to feel the combined
pressures of recession-driven financial tightening and federal neglect,
according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics, and school
libraries in some districts and some states still face elimination or
de-professionalization of their programs. These and other library trends of the
past year are detailed in the American Library Association’s 2014 State of
America’s Libraries report.
Key findings include:
- Most of those surveyed agreed that public libraries are
important because they promote literacy and a love of reading. The same number
agreed because libraries provide tech resources and access to materials, and a
majority view libraries as leaders in technology.
- While the overall number of visitors to a physical
library or bookmobile dropped five percentage points from 2012 to 2013, there
was an equally significant increase in the number of users of library websites.
Particular increases were noted among African Americans, Hispanics, those age
16 to 29, and those with some college education
- More than three fourths of the survey’s respondents want
libraries to play an active role in public life. Seventy-seven percent want
libraries to coordinate more closely with local schools in providing resources
to children, and the same proportion want free early literacy programs for
children. People look to libraries to help fix struggling schools and to help
children learn to navigate new technologies and become critical thinkers.
American Library Association (2014). 2014 State of
America’s libraries: A report from the American Library Association. Chicago,
IL: American Library Association.
http://www.ala.org/news/sites/ala.org.news/files/content/2014-State-of-Americas-Libraries-Report.pdf
