Millennials are reading more than older generations, but not at the library.
Even at Library West — where the undergraduate student checkout limit is 150 books at one time — students are accessing stories on their smartphones and other devices instead.
Eighty-eight percent of Americans younger than 30 said they’ve read a book in the last year, according to a Pew Research Center study — 9 percentage points more than the 79 percent of those older than 30 who did.
UF telecommunication senior Matthew Long said he thinks millennials spend their time on social media but still understand the importance of literature.
“Why go to the library when we can access the information on our smartphones?” Long, 21, said.
Sylvia Ashwell, a librarian at the Alachua County Library District, said even though people older than 30 are using the library more, they typically check out movies rather than books.
“I like that fact that younger people are reading more,” Ashwell said.
Library West supervisor Dina Lopez said the more a student has access to technology, the more he or she is able to read.
“The generation that’s a little bit older may not be as technologically savvy,” Lopez said.
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 9/22/2014 under the headline "Millennials read more books than older generations"]
