Reading for Children and Teenagers

In our public libraries, certain well‐defined reading trends have been evident in younger people. Children are enthusiastic readers and there is little difficulty in recruiting them if the public library is conveniently sited. Towards the end of school life, use of the public library declines, and it is said that a smaller percentage of teenagers are library readers, than of any other age group. Whether this is true or not, the subject of young people's reading is of topical interest, and it is not surprising that conference speakers have turned their attention to it. The following represents an amalgam of facts and opinions presented by three such speakers at recent conferences: Mr. S. Rowe, Honorary Secretary of the National Association of Youth Leaders and Organisers, addressed the Library Association on. “Libraries and Youth”; Mr. H. K. Gordon Bearman, County Librarian of West Sussex, gave a paper to the London and Home Counties Branch of the Library Association, incorporating the results of “An Enquiry into the Use of Books and Libraries by Young People”; and Mr. Norman Tomlinson, Borough Librarian of Gillingham, addressed the Northern Branch of the Library Association on “Book Selection and the Utilisation of Stock”.