WEEK 15 PROMPT RESPONSE (Reading Past and Future)

As I child I loved books and read them as indiscriminately as I do today. The books I read came from the library, almost exclusively. New books were usually Christmas gifts, bookstores were a fun place to browse and find books to then go check out from the library, unless it was the used bookstore with paperbacks for a dollar or two. This is pretty much the same for me today, I could not name the last time I bought a new book. 

As a teenager I had somehow absorbed old notions about the “better” type of books- a hierarchy of literature with some books (and the people who read them) at the top and a lot of genre literature at the bottom deemed formulaic and practically stupid. I wanted to read the classics! I wanted to be smart! I found a lot that I enjoyed in much of the so-called classic literature that I gravitated toward then, but the sense that reading should somehow be for personal betterment, at the expense of enjoyment, has, thankfully, left me. I don’t see books on a hierarchy anymore. It’s a pleasure to read all types of literature, and to hear about the books that people love, even if I don’t love them too.

Reading characterizes humanity in essential ways. It extends through all of history, it defines human history, before records were kept we call it pre-history. People will undoubtedly read in the future, it will remain an important component of humanity. 

It seems to me like there is a lot more for the average person to read in the course of a modern day; texts, emails, and internet news all require a functional literacy. 

I admit this is different from sustained reading and taking pleasure in literature. But there have always, and will always, be people dedicated to sustained reading. It’s like it flows in the blood. I don’t see any reason why the numbers of people who love to read books should decrease, nor do I think they have already. 

Let’s remember that the population increases exponentially, so although 60% of the population read a book in 1992 and 56% read a book in 2002 perhaps a smaller percentage of the population was reading, but in fact a greater number of individual people were reading. Between 2012 and 2016 Pew Research calculates an average 73% of American read a book in the past year. In 2016 the U.S. population was about 323 million people; that means something like 235,790,000 individuals in America alone read a book that year. That is a number so large I cannot even realistically fathom it. I think we can safely say that it is a significant number (calculated after the widespread use and 24-hour availability of the internet) not likely to decline to a low enough point to make reading any less important, or less beloved, in the future. Add to this my belief that literacy levels will continue to improve and I expect these numbers will only increase in the future. 

I have said it before, but I think the ongoing conglomeration of the big publishers and the pressure of their model to make increasingly insane profit margins, is unsustainable, as well as undesirable. As Ursula LeGuin wrote, “In those departments [Sales and Accounting], beloved by the CEOs, a “good book” means a high gross and a “good writer” is one whose next book can be guaranteed to sell better than the last one” (p. 35). This state of affairs is not good for writers or readers and its not the future of publishing.

America has a wonderful history of small, independent, and underground publishing on which to re-build. The ease of self-publishing, and the ability of social media channels to find and promote the best of these works, will continue to change the publishing landscape. Self-published, small and independent presses will be where we look for the best in literature and for diversity in genre fiction. At least in this last it already is, and I think it’s important for librarians to understand now that four humongoid publishers providing all or most of our collections is not where it’s at. 

Books are the library’s brand despite years of being on the forefront of introducing technology and making it available to the public. Maybe this brand identity has proved so resilient (despite efforts to the contrary) because it is so unique and so beloved. 

 

 

References:

LeGuin, U.K. (2008). Staying awake: Notes on the alleged decline of reading. Harper's Magazine, 316(1893).