Reading statistics (with sources)

Here are some interesting numbers from Harvey Mackay's business column, "Outswimming the Sharks" from last Thursday's Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Source of the statistics was not given, but I've e-mailed a request for it to Mr. Mckay and will add it if/when he replies. [A research assistant to Mr. Mackay returned my email with a couple hours. I'm adding this information at the end of this entry.]

• 51% of Americans never read a book over 400 pages after completing formal education.
• 73% of all books in libraries are never checked out.
•  The average American watches 32 hours of TV every week.
• The average American reads only eight hours (books, newspapers, magazine, Yellow Pages, etc.) each week.
• The average American annually spends 10 times more on what he puts on his head than what [he] puts into his head.

Mckay's observations: (Exclamation points his.)

• If you read one book per month for 12 straight months, you will be in the top 25 percentile of the world's intellectuals!
• If you read five books on one subject, you are one of the world's leading authorities on that subject!
• If you read 15 minutes a day, every day, for one year, you can complete 20 books!
  

I wonder if Mr.Mackay is familiar with DailyLit, books by e-mail? Here is a quote from the site's FAQ:

How long does it take to read a book?
That depends on three factors. First, on how many parts are in the book (shown when you browse for books). Second, on how frequently you choose to receive emails. Third, on how often you read more than one part (by using the "send me the next part immediately" feature). So here is a typical example. I am currently reading Dracula, which has 187 parts and I am receiving parts on weekdays, i.e. 5 days/week. So at most it will take me 187/5 = 37 weeks. But when I am on the train or waiting, I often read more than one part, so I usually wind up reading about 10 parts/week. This means I will finish Dracula in about 19 weeks or 5 months. If that seems long to you, try something shorter!

When did reading become the equivalent of getting enough exercise or eating one's veggies - something that is good to do, but so unappealing that one needs a plan, a new year's resolution, or a trick to actually do it?

My greatest fear in making every child functionally literate is that we will make him/her aliterate as well - having the ability to read but choosing not to. It's why I so appreciate the work the LWW does as an elementary librarian - building not just reading skills, but positive attitudes as well.

On 1/8/07 1:21 PM, "Greg Bailey" <gbailey@mackay.com> wrote:
Harvey received this material from a friend who is a librarian.  Here is the research that I found in Harvey’s column work papers.

The National Endowment for the Arts conducted a survey in 2002 that found that 56.6% of Americans had read a book in 2002, though there was no information as to how large the book was.  This study does show declines in reading, across the board at all age levels.  I would recommend reading the executive summary as their might be some statistics you can use. (http://www.nea.gov/pub/ReadingAtRisk.pdf)  

A 2004 study showed that literary reading is in dramatic decline, with fewer than half of American adults now reading literature.  The most important factor in literacy reading rates is education, the report shows. Only 14 percent of adults with a grade school education read literature in 2002. By contrast, more than five times as many respondents with a graduate school education - 74 percent - read literary works.
<http://www.nea.gov/news/news04/ReadingAtRisk.html>  

We did find a study from the Library Research Center at the University of Illinois. This study has compiled public library circulation figures for over 50 years. These figures give an index to the total number of items loaned by public libraries in the USA. For example, in 1982, 1.07 billion items were borrowed. Since then the figure has increased steadily every year. In 1992, borrowed items grew to 1.5 billion, and in 2000,1.7 billion items circulated. This marks a 60 percent increase over 18 years.

Only 3% of all people in the United States have a library card.
According to a survey conducted by the American Library Association and KRC Research and Consulting (March 2002) 62% respondents owned a library card. 66% of all respondents reported using the public library at least once in the last year in person, by phone, or by computer.
 (http://www.ala.org/ala/alalibrary/libraryfactsheet/alalibraryfactsheet6.htm)

According to State Library Data 2002-02, U.S. Public Libraries have 148,000,000 card holders. (http://www5.oclc.org/downloads/community/librariesstackup.pdf)

Only 4% of all Americans purchased a book last year.
According to the Simmons Choices 3 Survey of Media and Markets database, 60.1% of the population has purchased a book in the last 12 months (2003 data).

The average American watches 24 hours of TV every week.
The average person watches 1659 hours of TV (broadcast & cable) per year. (2005 data, Veronis Suhler Stevenson Communications Industry Forecast, 2006.) Divided by 52, equals 31.90 hours per week.   

The average American only reads 17 minutes per week.
The average person spends 428 hours per year using print media (books, magazines, newspapers, yellow pages) (2005 data, Veronis Suhler Stevenson Communications Industry Forecast, 2006.)  Divided by 52 equals 8.23 hours per week.
The 2005 American Time Use Survey, done by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, says that men spend .29 hours per day reading, while women spend .39 hours per day. This averages to .34 hours per day, or about 20 minutes a day, or about two hours 20 minutes per week. (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/atus.pdf)

OK. So now I am really confused. Does this mean if you look hard enough, you can find the data to come to any conclusion? 

Comments

[susan funk]

"Lies, damn lies and statistics!" I'm with you on cultivating positive attitudes. It is not a wonder that reading is on par with being on a diet when the reading that standardized testing procedures focuses on is skill in word calling and not finding meaning. If we can make schools places where students cultivate their ability to wonder and are encouraged to think for themselves, we can get them hooked into reading and the wonder of books. Forget the numbers, the tests and statistics - reading, like school is about the cultivation of connections, connections between ideas and people, people and people.

[Rob Darrow]

I got the same response from Mr. Bailey when I emailed him the same question after a similar posting on my blog on Dec. 29 (the MacKay article appeared in my newspaper on that date) - http://robdarrow.wordpress.com/2006/12/29/73-of-books-in-libraries-never-checked-out/ . I emailed Mr. Bailey back asking for further clarification of the source of the stats, but have not yet received a response.

I think we should continue e-mailing Mr. Bailey until we find the source of the 73% library books never checked out info or whatever the correct number is...or isn't.

[Susan Sedro]

Hmmmm.... so if I read my way through the entire Series of Unfortunate Events books in 2007, I'll be in the top 25% of intellectuals? Wow! And I thought I had to analyze, synthesize, evaluate, etc to be an intellectual (c;

[Doug Johnson]

Ms Funk,

Your reply was both eloquent and on target. Thank you.

Mr. Darrow,

Thanks for pointing out this posting to me, and in so doing, discovering your blog as well. I've seen your name but never got to the California Dreamin' blog for some reason. Looking forward to reading your comments.

So you got the Mackay article in December? Well, the coasts are always ahead of the Midwest on things.

The 73% didn't bother me except that it was so vague. 73% never checked out ever? Never checked out in any one year? In a public library? School library? Academic library? I remember something called the 80/20 rule from library school - that 20% of all materials account for 80% of the use. If you figure in non-circulating items like reference materials, the 73% number might be pretty accurate.

I'll pursue this with the Mackay group too.

Ms Sedro,

I believe reading the entire series of Unfortunate Events will qualify you as a Snicket scholar if nothing else.

All the best,

Doug

[Rob Darrow]

Yeah, the "73% of library books never checked out" made me wonder if this is true with school libraries. So, I'm going to do a check of our libraries in Clovis to see how many books really are never checked out.