Earlier this week, the Pew Internet and American Life Project, in collaboration with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, released "Information Searches That Solve Problems," a report whose main revelation would appear to be that people will sooner look up information on the Internet than ask experts or family members for advice, but which also has some interesting statistics about library usage. First let's note that 62% of those surveyed between the ages of 18 and 30 say they've been to a library in the last year, along with 59% of the 31-42 bracket, and 57% of the 43-52 crowd. Then there's this:

"Those who visited libraries in the last year tend to be younger adults, with higher incomes, who have graduated college. There are no signficant differences in library usage by race or ethnicity... 59% of those with incomes of more than $40,000 a year say they have visited a public library; by contrast 48% of those with incomes of less than $40,000 a year say they have gone to the library. Some 61% of those who use the internet have gone to libraries in the last year, compared with only 28% of those who do not use the internet."

We all know that public libraries offer a lot more than books for pleasure reading; in fact, a later chapter in the report goes into detail about the ways people of all ages use libraries in a problem-solving manner to find information about higher education, starting one's own business, and other major life situations. (And 68% of those patrons are using computers when they're there.) But pleasure reading remains, or ought to remain, a core part of the public library mission, so how can the publishing industry benefit from the situation as reflected in this report, and foster its growth?