Resources

The most recent report covering reading patterns and trends in the US for the past twenty years. The most recent survey of data is from 2002 and the report can be obtained from the NEA site as a download or by ordering for free through their site.

Some nuggets from the report which had broadly negative trends to report:

From the Chairman, Dana Gioia, of the National Endowment for the Arts, "Reading is not a timeless, universal capability. Advanced literacy is a specific intellectual skill and social habit that depends on a great many educational, cultural, and economic factors. As more Americans lose this capability, our nation becomes less informed, active, and independent minded. These are not qualities that a free, innovative, or productive society can afford to lose."

Executive summary: "Literature reading is fading as a meaningful activity, especially among younger people. If one believes that active and engaged readers lead richer intellectual lives than non-readers and that a well-read citizenry is essential to a vibrant democracy, the decline of literary reading calls for serious action."

Chapter 2: "literary readers are nearly three times as likely to attend a performing arts event, almost four times as likely to visit an art museum, over two-and-a-half times as likely to do volunteer or charity work, over one-and-a-half times as likely to attend sporting events, and over one-and-a-half times as likely to participate in sports activities. In fact, people who read large numbers of books tend to have hte highest levels of participation in other activities, especially arts activities."

Chapter 4: "Between 1985 and 2000, annual consumer spending on television, radios, and sound equipment increased by 68%, from $371 per household in 1985 to $622 in 2000. In comparison, annual spending on reading increased by only 4%, from $141 per household in 1985 to $146 in 2000."