Week 2 Reading: Teenagers Talking About Reading & Libraries

TEENAGERS TALKING ABOUT READING AND LIBRARIES. By: Clare Snowball
Australian Academic & Research Libraries, Jun2008, Vol. 39 Issue 2, p106-118, 13p

Subjects: LIBRARIES & teenagers; BOOKS & reading; PEER pressure in adolescence; LITERACY; INFORMATION needs; FOCUS groups

I quite enjoyed this article. This article explored teens reading and library use and concluded that teens may be reluctant to read and use the library, but they often acquire desired information and take part in literacy activities (pg.106). The Internet continues to be used by numerous teens for school projects and assignments. However, popular type of reading material for teens include magazines, comics, and graphic novels (pg.106). This got me thinking "what did I enjoy reading when I was a teen?" and I remembered it was magazines. When I did go to the library as a teen (which was not often at all), I would take out magazines from the library. For example: Girls Life, BOP, & Tiger Beat. Then this got me thinking, "why did I like magazines rather then books?" Maybe myself and teens today like magazines because they promote new and up coming fads. Magazines are always filled with "new" information and trends, which may be why there is a high interest in teen use. Teens are going through that stage of finding out who they are and they want numerous ideas and styles so they can create their own; possibly making magazines be so popular with today's youth. I was one of those teens that thought reading was boring. Despite adult influence (my mom always read) as a determining factor for teens to like to read (pg.107), I was still uninterested. It is our job as librarians to remember teens are a diverse group and they don't all like graphic novels or magazines. As librarians (especially public librarians), we must find, provide and promote materials that are interesting to the teen population, as well as encourage teens to use the library and borrow materials. We must also create a non-threatening environment for teens to embrace reading. This may be challenging. However, don't we want that challenge as a librarian? It is time to realize that teens are a large percent of our population (approximately 30%) and they as well need to be provided with library materials.