Young Adult Use of Ebooks

Gray, R. & Howard, V. (2017, May 11). Young adults use of ebooks: An analysis of public library services and resources. Public Library Quarterly 36(3). Retreived from https://doi-org.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/10.1080/01616846.2017.1316149

In their survey of teen / young adult librarians across North America, Robyn Gray and Vivian Howard found that most librarians believe there is little to no interest in ebooks among the teen patrons they service at their libraries. However, these authors believe that the programming and promotion of ebooks is being done all wrong. Instead of focusing on advertising the titles and procedures for using the ebooks, libraries should be informing teenagers of the benefits of reading an ebook. Many teenagers are self-conscious about the types of books they read, or their reading level. By reading ebooks they can have more privacy, since their peers are not able to see the books they are reading. There are many advantages, and many disadvantages, to reading ebooks discussed in the books. However, one advantage that I can think of is the ability for students to immediately search for the definition of a word they do not understand, assisting in their vocabulary development and reading comprehension. There are many reasons that teenagers should have the option of ebooks in their accessible library collections.