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NEA Report Shows Americans Reading Less Literature

A report released July 8 by the National Endowment for the Arts indicates that fewer than half of the adult American population reads novels, short stories, plays, or poetry in their leisure time. Reading at Risk, based on a survey of 17,000 adults age 18 and over conducted by the Census Bureau, shows that the percentage of adults who read literature has dropped dramatically over the past 20 years, from 56.9% in 1982 to 46.7% in 2002.

NEA chairman Dana Gioia called the findings shocking. “We have a lot of functionally literate people who are no longer engaged readers,” he said in an interview with the Associated Press. “This isn’t a case of ‘Johnny Can’t Read,’ but ‘Johnny Won’t Read.’”

Minneapolis Public Library Director Kit Hadley also found the report disturbing. “It demonstrates the need for increased, not fewer, programs and services in public libraries,” she said. “In a time of slimmed budgets, the future of public libraries is an important civic conversation that needs to take place.”

The report also noted that:

  • The percentage of adults reading any kind of book (including nonfiction) has declined by only 7% in the past decade, compared with 14% for literature.
  • Only slightly more than one-third of adult males now read literature.
  • Reading among women has declined at a slower rate in the past 20 years (7.9%) compared to men (11.5%).
  • Literary reading has declined among all age groups, education levels, and ethnic groups.
  • Since 1982, younger adults (age 18 to 34) have declined from the group most likely to read literature to the group least likely (with the exception of the group age 65 and above).

Reading at Risk concludes that “at the current rate of loss, literary reading as a leisure activity will virtually disappear in half a century” and calls for libraries and other cultural institutions to inspire a “nationwide renaissance” that will bring the “transformative power of literature into the lives of all citizens.”

Posted July 9, 2004.

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