As internet use grows– whether through a traditional computer, tablet, gaming device or cell phone – new techniques are being developed to conduct social research and measure people’s behavior and opinion while they are online. The Pew Research Center has been exploring these new techniques for measuring public opinion and critically evaluating how they compare […]
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.
Community Profiles Before examining in depth the local news consumption patterns in different types of communities, it is critical to describe the key demographic differences across their populations. Analysis shows that residents of different size communities differ on a variety of demographic, attitudinal, and behavioral measures included in the survey, many of which may be […]
Television continues to be the public’s top daily news source. In the current survey, 55% say they watched the news or a news program on television yesterday. That is little changed from recent news consumption surveys. In the 1990s, however, far more Americans said they watched television news yesterday. The percentages saying they listened to […]
As part of our exploration of the new ecosystem of books, we asked respondents in our December 2011 survey about the way they discover books and then obtain them. We found that personal recommendations dominate book recommendations. At the same time, logarithms on websites, bookstore staffers, and librarians are in the picture, too. In our […]
Reading Habits Survey Prepared by Princeton Survey Research Associates International for the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project December 2011 Summary The Reading Habits Survey, conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, obtained telephone interviews with a nationally representative sample of 2,986 people ages 16 and older living in […]
Fully 76% of libraries lend e-books to patrons, according to the ALA.[55. numoffset=”55″ “Libraries Connect Communities: Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study 2011-2012,” the American Library Association and the Information Policy & Access Center (University of Maryland), June 19, 2012. http://www.ala.org/research/plftas/2011_2012] Yet, most citizens, even those who are library patrons, are unsure of whether […]
12% of e-book readers have borrowed an e-book from a library. Those who use libraries are pretty heavy readers, but most are not aware they can borrow e-books.
