Libraries Losing Teens

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.

When it comes to information seeking, teens and college students finds search engines a “lifestyle fit,” says the OCLC survey, with more than 50 percent describing search engines as a perfect information source. Libraries come in at about 17 percent.

Moreover, as an information resource, 78 percent of teens rate search engines as somewhat or very favorable, while only 67 percent rate physical libraries as somewhat or very favorable. Only 48 percent of those surveyed perceive librarians as adding value to the search process, but this climbs to 75 percent among the college crowd.

“[Librarians] need to provide the services their users need when and where they need them,” says Cathy De Rosa, OCLC’s vice president of marketing and library services and a principal contributor to the report.

The OCLC report, a follow-up to the 2003 OCLC “Environmental Scan” survey, which identified trends having an impact on libraries, surveyed 3,348 participants aged 14 and older, focusing on 14- to 17-year-olds and college students from 18 to 24.

“Teen Reading Habits” surveyed 962 teens nationwide from October to November 2005 as part of YALSA’s Teen Read Week and is meant to provide media specialists and educators more tools to help spark positive reading habits among teenagers.