Meet Chris Larson, Freshman Democratic Legislator from Wisconsin's 7th Senate District

31st in a series. (1st on the Senate side.)

LINK

 

Public libraries in the 7th Senate District, all of which is located within Milwaukee County:  Cudahy, Milwaukee (Bay View and East branches), Oak Creek, St. Francis, South Milwaukee.

Pew Research: "The Better-Off Online"

Activities based on income levels

Link  to November 24 Pew Research report.

Excerpt:    People in higher-income households are different from other Americans in their tech ownership and use.

Analysis of several recent surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Projects finds key differences between those who live in households making $75,000 or more relative to those in lower-income households.

[snip]

In many cases, the most noticeable difference in online engagement between various income groups relates to their intensity of use. On any given day, internet users in the higher-income bracket are more likely than those in lower-income brackets to be carrying out various online activities. Compared with internet users in other income cohorts, higher-income internet users go online more often compared with other groups: For instance, 55% are on the internet or are using email several times a day from home. Moreover, on any given day the more well-to-do internet users, are more likely get online news, conduct online research for a product or service, and go online to search for maps or directions.

Picture Books Still Thrive at Public Libraries

Link to Scripps Howard News Service article in the November 26 Seattle Times, "Let's not turn the page on picture books for children".

Excerpt:     But the article looked only at publishers and bookstores, leaving out the place where many parents and children connect with picture books — the local public library. At the Takoma Park, Md., Library, where I work as a children's/teen librarian, picture books still account for one of our biggest circulation categories. Instead of paying up to $18 each for a picture book, parents are instead checking them out for free from the library.

Yet Bosman did, unfortunately, get it right when it comes to the issue of parents urging their kids to read chapter books at earlier ages. As the children's librarian, I increasingly encounter parents who want their 3- and 4-year-olds to read chapter-book series like "The Magic Tree House" instead of picture books, even those picture books that have won the prestigious Caldecott Medal, given annually by the American Library Association for the best-illustrated children's book.

Is this necessarily a bad thing? No, but it's not necessarily the best thing for kids and reading, either. As a public librarian, I firmly believe that it's up to parents to determine what their children read. Yet parents themselves often need and welcome guidance as to the best reading choices.

The author, Karen MacPherson, is the children's/teen librarian at the Takoma Park, Md., Library.

Related articles:
'Momania' blogger on picture books.  (10/9/2010)
Picture books increasingly bypassed for chapter books.  (10/8/2010)