Reading Habits and Library Use Among Young Adults

Abstract

This study investigates the reading and library habits among teenagers in Oslo, Norway using qualitative interviews and a survey. Interviews with four girls demonstrate individual variation in their literary tastes and in the roles of reading they take on. The survey gives an overview of teenagers' library use and their literature preferences, and detects that girls and boys differ in preferences of reading media. Differences in literary tastes are also shown as gender-based. The survey indicates different patterns in reading frequency and reading materials in the sense that students from the schools with the closest connection to the public library read more, as well as in a broader range of reading materials than students from schools with no such connection.

A joker in the class: Teenage readers' attitudes and preferences to reading on different devices

“…Teenagers are, moreover, young enough to be familiar with digital technologies from an early age, and they have shown to be the age group exhibiting the most diverse pattern of digital media use (Vaage, 2014). Large-scale national surveys show that, around the age of 15, Norwegian teenagers show an increased use of digital devices where they listen to music, play games and exchange content with their friends, and a slight decrease in reading books (Norwegian Media Authority, 2014) Additionally, and particularly relevant here, on average, 15-year-olds can be expected to have developed personal reading habits and a personal taste in leisure reading (Appleyard, 1991;Tveit, 2012). Often said to be going through a period of identity crisis, teenagers can be assumed, in general, to gain and display increasing self-awareness (Erikson, 1968).…”

Teaching fiction in the age of measurability: Teachers’ perspectives on the hows and whats in Swedish L1 classrooms

“…Numerous studies (e.g. Johnsson-Smaragdi & Jönsson, 2006; National Endowment for the Arts, 2007;Tveit, 2012) suggest a distinct and consistent decline over time, and the trend appears to be global. By examining teachers' intentions and approaches in literary education, we want to better understand the relation between classroom practice and the negative development of reading habits, also illustrated by Bradshaw, Nichols, and National Endowment for the Arts' (2004) survey of literary reading in America.…”

Effect of Effective Reading on Students’ Academic Performance in Tertiary Institution: A Case Study of Computer Science Department Federal Polytechnic, Ekowe Bayelsa State, Nigeria

“…Adults with more education employ more sophisticated models of reading in considering how good and poor readers differ. Tveit (2012) investigated the study of reading and library habits among teenagers in Oslo, Norway using qualitative interviews with four girls demonstrating individual variations in their library tastes and in the roles of reading they take on. The survey gives an overview of teenagers' library use and their literature preferences, and detects that girls and boys differ in preferences of reading media.…”