A Mining Pew Report
From Distant Admirers To Library Lovers- and Beyond.
A Typology of Public Library Engagement in America
The next Pew Report I read is about the different types of people of who visit the Library and how they use the library services available to them. The public library continues to add new technologies and services, with the goal of providing patrons resources in whatever form they prefer. Many libraries have also expanded into community centers, serving as unique gathering places in the city. Today, they offer many events and services, and are experimenting with providing the next generation of “expensive and scarce” resources, from 3-D printers to recording studios. I love my local library. The Barbara Bush Branch Library offers all types of computer classes to the residents, ebook checkout, and mobile apps. They offer new titles with author alerts on your mobile.
Work by the Pew Research Center has shown that print books are still central to Americans’ library use, just as they remain central in Americans’ overall reading habits. In fact, though more Americans than ever are reading e-books (28% of adults ages 18 and older, as of January 2014), few have abandoned print entirely; just 4% of readers read e-books exclusively. Still, many Americans say they would be interested in exploring a range of technological services at public libraries, from personalized reading recommendations and online “Ask a Librarian” services to media kiosks and mobile apps. This report accurately describes my local library. Harris county and the Houston Public library both have the “Ask the Librarian” feature, ebook collections, mobile apps, and digital databases.
Since I am going to be a school library, this report of how the public libraries’ changing role in Americans’ lives and communities is something I need to be aware of. The focus of this report is the creation of a new typology of Americans’ engagement with public libraries, which sheds light on broader issues around the relationship between technology, libraries, and information resources in the United States. What I found interesting was how this report put most Americans into different categories. Respondents were sorted into groups based on a cluster analysis of factors such as the importance of public libraries in their lives; how they use libraries; and how they view the role.
The four main groups were High Engagements, Medium Engagements, Low Engagements, and the Non-Engagements. Each group is then sub-divided into two categories.
The first group is the group I believe I fit in. The High Engagement group has library lovers and information omnivores. My children and I are Information ominvores.
The library lovers (10% of the American population) frequent personal use of public libraries, along with high levels of household library use. This group includes many parents, students, and job seekers; members tend to be younger, with higher levels of education. This group’s members are disproportionately younger than the general population. (66% read a book daily). Though they are heavy library users and generally prefer to borrow books instead of purchasing them, More than other groups, they like to learn new things and enjoy tracking down information. They are also active socially and engaged with community events, and rate their communities highly. They are also heavy internet users, and are particularly engaged with mobile: 72% go online via mobile devices. Once I am retired, I may fit into this category. But I consider myself to an information omnivore.
The Information omnivores (20% of the American population) have the highest rates of technology use, as well as the highest levels of education, employment, and household income. 90% go online every day, and 81% use social media. Almost half (46%) have a tablet computer, the highest proportion of any group, and 68% own a smart phone. They have high levels of personal and household library use, but their visits to library are less frequent than Library Lovers. They rank just below Library Lovers in their consumption of books—they read an average of 17 books in the previous 12 months—and are more likely to buy their books than borrow them. I wholeheartedly agree, I do prefer to buy my books and visit Barnes and Nobles often. Half-Priced Books gets our business as well. My youngest daughter will ask for books for her birthday and my oldest daughter has quite a collection of romance novels.
The next category is the Medium Engagement group. They have a solid center group and a print traditionalist group. This group reminds me of my children.
The solid center group (30% of the American population) rank high among the groups in appreciating their communities: 84% would describe their communities as “good” or “excellent.” In their attendance of various community activities, those in the Solid Center are not quite as involved as the high engagement groups, but they are fairly active: They read books at the same frequency as the U.S. populations. They are one of the least likely groups to use library websites: only 5% used a library website in the past year, and only 26% have ever used one.
The print traditionalist group has access to technology at roughly the same rates as the general population, but they use technology less than other higher engagement groups. 80% say libraries are important because they promote literacy; 75% say libraries play an important role because they give everyone a chance to succeed; and 73% say libraries improve the quality of life in the community.
The next group is the Low Engagement group. They represent 18% of the American population. Their three subgroups is the Not for Me, the Young and Restless, and Rooted and Roadblocked. This is the group in which I would put my husband. He would be in the Not for Me subgroup.
The Not for Me group is 4% of the American population. Few in this group are heavy book readers: 31% read did not read any books last year, and as a group they read a median of 3 books in that time. They also have somewhat lower levels of internet adoption and use, and are more likely than other groups to report having difficulty getting information about such things as politics and current events, community activities, health information, and career opportunities.
The Young and Restless group is relatively small; this group contains a higher proportion of young people than most other groups, most of them relatively new to their communities. They are a relatively large share of students, or are looking for jobs. It is a much more racially diverse group than most of the others. This is a group heavily involved with technology, especially mobile devices: 82% access the internet with a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet and 68% own smartphones. Fully 86% of the internet users among them use social networking sites and 27% use Twitter, higher rates than most other groups. When it comes to reading, they are fairly typical: Young and Restless members read an average of 11 books in the past 12 months.
The last subgroup in the Low Engagement group is the Rooted and Roadblocked. They are the oldest group in the typology, with a large share of retirees and a small share of parents with minor children.
The Rooted and Roadblocked are longtime residents of their communities, but less engaged with certain community activities—about half (52%) don’t regularly take part in any of the community activities we asked about. They have lower proportions of internet users (74%), home broadband adopters (58%), smartphone owners (40%), and social media users. They were also less likely to feel comfortable with technology-related tasks we asked about, and some 28% did not read a book in the past 12 months.
The last group the Pew reports on is the Non-Engagement group. This is where I reluctantly put my parents. Because their parents didn’t allow them to go to school in rural Louisiana in the 1930’s, they aren’t literate. If they could read they would be in a higher group, but because they can’t read, they would have to fit in the Distant Admirers group. They have never personally used a public library. Two of my siblings would fit in the other subgroup. They rarely if ever have visited and benefited from the library. The two subgroups are the Distant Admirers and the Off the Grid.
The Distant Admirers (10% of the American population) contains the highest proportion of rural, Southern, or white respondents. It is similar to Solid Center in many measures, except that its members tend to live farther away from libraries. They also have positive views about libraries’ roles in communities. Their technology profile is notably below the national benchmark, and few are heavy book readers. They are much less likely than most other groups to read the news regularly, to feel they can find information on key subjects, and to say they like to learn new things.
The Off the Grid (4% of the American population) are disconnected in many ways—not only from libraries, but also from their neighbors and communities, from technology, and from information sources. Many do not regularly read books or stay current with the news, and their technology profile is the lowest among the groups. Only 56% use the internet, and just 33% have smartphones. Half read no books in the previous 12 months, and just a quarter (25%) say they read books daily
This 131-page report was the result of a poll of 6,224 people ages 16 and older living in the United States. It was very enlightening. As I was reading it, I was putting my family and myself into the various groups. Although I believe some of the groups can overlap some, but for the most part, it was on target. I believe all Americans, especially children and teens, would benefit greatly if they were to take advantages of the services their local libraries provide. Libraries have come so far in technology and had it been available when I was a teen, I would have increase my visits from monthly to weekly. I am proud of my and my children’s typology engagement in the High Engagement group. And I hope to bring my campus into that High engagement by highlighting the fun and interesting activities our local library has to offer.
Rainie, L., Purcell, K., Zickuhr, K., (2014 March 13), From Distant Admirers To Library Lovers- and Beyond, Pew Internet Research Project
http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/03/13/library-engagement-typology/
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