39% of U.S. adults are caregivers Bathing and dressing someone who needs help, driving to doctor appointments, sorting through paperwork, making sure this pill is taken with breakfast and that pill at bedtime—these hands-on, caregiving activities define the word “offline.” Yet, these days, caregivers are health information specialists. They have the safety, comfort, and even […]
What is important for libraries to offer We asked survey respondents about a variety of services that public libraries often provide to the public, and asked them how important, if at all, they think it is for public libraries to provide each to the community. All but one of the services are considered to be […]
Overview In broad strokes, younger Americans’ library habits are very similar to those of older adults. They also value many of the same things in public libraries, and have generally similar views on what services and resources libraries should offer to their communities. However, our research also finds some notable differences, especially related to technology […]
Calling others for purchasing advice Women are more likely than men to have recently used their cell phone to call someone for advice or recommendations about a purchase they were considering making. Young adults, smartphone owners, and cell owners with at least some college experience are all relatively likely to have taken part in this […]
Parents think libraries are important for themselves and for their community and they visit their local public library more than other adults. How important libraries are to individuals and their communities In our survey, we asked people about their general library patronage — if they had experiences with libraries in childhood, how often they visit […]
Majorities of AP and NWP teachers in the study see digital tools having several distinct, beneficial impacts on student writing, including providing a broader audience for student work, encouraging creativity and personal expression in a multitude of formats, and offering more opportunities for collaboration, interaction and feedback. Many teachers say that taken together, these three […]
Our new report takes a close look not only at how Americans are using public libraries, but also what sort of services and programming they think libraries should offer — and what they say they would use in the future. For this last point, we asked about a range of potential offerings. Here are illustrations of some of these more innovative services, to see what they look like on the ground — as well as some “fun and funky” services that we’ve seen pop up at libraries across the county.
