“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” - Lau Tzu.

One in four adults read no books at all in the past year, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll released Tuesday. Of those who did read, women and older people were most avid, and religious works and popular fiction were the top choices.

The survey reveals a nation whose book readers, on the whole, can hardly be called ravenous. The typical person claimed to have read four books in the last year — half read more and half read fewer. Excluding those who hadn’t read any, the usual number read was seven.

It seems as though this poll only counted actual paper books and not audio or online books.  So, I wonder how that would then change the numbers.  Even so, I still find these poll results disconcerting.  The typical person read four books last year?  I think I average at least four books a MONTH.  It’s easy to blame technology for the lack of reading, but I think the Internet has actually helped me to read more print materials.  I have better access to reviews and releases which in turn makes me then seek out those books to read.  I’m torn, though.  I find “chick lit” books repulsive, but many people read them.  Is it better to have people reading, even if it’s drivel?  An Oprah pick sells millions.  But, are people reading it because they want to, or because Oprah told them to?  At the risk of sounding hypocritical, I think blogs have changed the writers market and thus as a result, books have suffered.  Technology has enabled writers to self-publish in ways much easier than in the past.  Readers find blogs and RSS feeds easier to read than carrying a book.  Publishing companies still have to churn out works, so does this mean that the quality and variety has dwindled?  That the typical reader, as interviewed by this poll, only reads four books a year because that’s all they can find that interests them?  I’m not sure what the answer is here, but I have some opinions — obviously.  I personally love the smell and touch of a new paperback book.  Go ahead, smell a new book.  Feel the crisp pages just aching to be read.  Let’s put a bell curve in this poll…read books!

So, on this Thanksgiving Eve 2007, let us all give thanks for our libraries.  Pass the cranberry sauce…just don’t get any on that book you borrowed!

I concur.  As much as Barnes & Noble and Borders try, they don’t have the same look and feel as an independent bookstore.  If you’re not on a college campus, it can be hard to find a place to chat about books (particularly ones NOT on Oprah’s preferred list) and to just share thoughts about literature.  Certainly, the Internet has made literature more accessible, but at what price to integrity? 

With the gift-giving holidays upon us, think about a small bookstore instead of a big chain.  Pay it forward by encouraging the recipient of your gift to explore a different look and feel to the world of books.  Learn to love reading again and all the aesthetic intangibles associated with it. 

Webster’s Bookstore Cafe in State College, PA … I miss you!!!

• Covina library could be closed by next summer from the Whittier Daily News in Whittier, CA
• 6 Libraries Burglarized Recently from WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids, MI
• New Law: More Libraries, More Books from the Jakarta Post in Indonesia
• School libraries in crisis over lack of funds from the Guardian Limited in the UK

Although these headlines may not be particularly salacious, I think it’s important for library professionals to be aware of what’s going on in the library world around them.  Google News Alerts brings this information to me, because I’m otherwise too lazy to seek out this information myself.  I prefer the “comprehensive” feature, which will pull info from blogs and other sources than just Google News. 

I understand this post seems like a shameless plug for the omnipotent Google, I am merely demonstrating how a tool like this can benefit those of us with a foot in the library world.  I’m sure Yahoo! and other search engines have fine alerts as well.  Please feel free to tell me about other products which you think keeps you on top of the big stories from our professional world.  It’s a great big world and librarians are the keepers of books in it!

P.S.  GO PHILLIES!

In other news…THE PHILLIES WON THE NL EAST!!  (That’s baseball for the professional sports neophytes out there.)  Read all about it on Yahoo! News or from Sports Illustrated. 

I saw this blog posting and wanted to share.  “Does Self-Checkout Make Libraries Less Friendly?”  I’m kind of torn.  Perhaps these are a necessary evil.  While I agree that they do make libraries seem less friendly, some people (myself included) don’t always want that personal touch and just want to get in and out of the library quickly.  One of the comments to this original post made the connection to the self-check out at the supermarket, and that it was along the lines of having a personal choice.  What agitates me the most about self check-out, either in a supermarket or library, are those people who cannot use the equipment and then tie up the line for the rest of us.  Sounds a little cocky, I know.  We need more common sense in this world.  If you eye up a contraption and don’t feel confident that you can use it properly, then swing on over to the human at check-out to help you.  While I’m ranting, same goes for E-Z Pass on the highways.  If you see an “E-Z Pass Only” sign and you don’t know what “E-Z Pass” is….then don’t get in that lane! 

Ahem.  Anyway, back to books.  Self-checkout in libraries.  Necessarily evil is my official response.  I do get impatient when the 6 year old in front of my has 30 books to check out to my one at my local public library.  I would embrace a self-checkout machine at those moments.  The machines just can’t replace the humans entirely…like the plot of many sci-fi books and films.  We librarians might wind up like this….