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From yesterday's New York Times: Harry Potter, James Patterson and Oprah Winfrey’s book club aside, Americans — particularly young Americans — appear to be reading less for fun, and as that happens, their reading test scores are declining. At the same time, performance in other academic disciplines like math and science is dipping for students whose access to books is limited, and employers are rating workers deficient in basic writing skills.

That is the message of a new report being released today by the National Endowment for the Arts, based on an analysis of data from about two dozen studies from the federal Education and Labor Departments and the Census Bureau as well as other academic, foundation and business surveys. After its 2004 report, “Reading at Risk,” which found that fewer than half of Americans over 18 read novels, short stories, plays or poetry, the endowment sought to collect more comprehensive data to build a picture of the role of all reading, including nonfiction.

Read the whole NYT article HERE

Link to the NEA "To Read or Not To Read: A Question of National Consequence" report (.pdf file) HERE

Want to read more for fun but don't want to spend money on that new best-seller or that giant biography of your favorite band? Remember that the Library has more than research books, computers and videos! Use your Columbia College Chicago ID to check out (or request for delivery) books from over 70 libraries across Illinois. If we don't have the book you're looking for, we can get it for you.

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