NEW YORK — Young adults are the heaviest users of public libraries despite the ease with which they can access a wealth of information over the Internet from the comforts of their homes, according to a new study.
That’s especially true for those who had questions related to health conditions, job training, government benefits and other problems. Twenty- one percent of Americans ages 18 to 30 with such questions have turned to public libraries, compared with about 12 percent among the general adult population with those problems to solve.
Education-related tasks — making decisions about schooling, paying for it and getting job training — are the most common problems drawing people to libraries, according to a joint study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
And people are going to libraries not only for the computers there but also for library reference books, newspapers and magazines.
“The age of books isn’t yet over,” said Lee Rainie, Pew’s director.
The study found that library usage drops gradually as people age, with a sharp decline just as Americans turn 50.
“It was truly surprising in this survey to find the youngest adults are the heaviest library users,” Rainie said. “The notion has taken hold in our culture that these wired-up, heavily gadgeted young folks are swimming in a sea of information and don’t need to go to places where information is.”
Leigh Estabrook, a retired professor of information science and sociology at the University of Illinois, said young adults used to finding information online are likely to crave even more and realize they need to turn to libraries to get it.
Rainie added that young adults are the ones likely to have visited libraries as teens and seen their transformation into information hubs, with computers and databases alongside stacks of printed books.
Many libraries have rearranged spaces or moved into new quarters to accommodate the expansion in computers.
The study also found library usage lower among those without Internet access or only dial-up access, especially when their income also is lower, even though for them, the library might be their only source of high-speed Internet terminals.
But when they have a problem to solve, they turn to libraries as heavily.
“We know everyone has problems and needs for information, and libraries still need to reach out and make sure people know” about the resources available, Roy said.
The telephone survey of 2,796 adults, including 1,702 Internet users, was conducted June 27 to Sept. 4 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
