How Gen Z and millennials in the US have an unlikely love affair with their local libraries

A phone fixation may seem at odds with an attraction to books. But the latter may offer a much-needed reprieve from the former.

In our recent study of American Gen Z and millennials, we discovered that 92 per cent of them check social media daily; 25 per cent of them check multiple times per hour. Yet in that same nationally representative study, we also found that Gen Z and millennials are still visiting libraries at a healthy clip, with 54 per cent of Gen Zers and millennials trekking to their local library in 2022.

Our findings reinforce 2017 data from the Pew Research Center, which showed that 53 per cent of millennials had gone to their local library over the previous 12 months. By comparison, that same study found that 45 per cent of Gen Xers and 43 per cent of baby boomers visited public libraries.

So why might Gen Z and millennials – sometimes characterised as attention-addled homebodies – still see value in trips to the public library?

Beyond reading

We found that Gen Zers and millennials prefer books in print over e-books and audiobooks, even though their other favourite reading formats are decidedly digital, such as video game chats and web novels. American Gen Zers and millennials...

Read more