Are We a Nation of Readers or a Nation of E-Readers?

Are we becoming a nation of readers or a nation of e-readers, and is there a difference? Just as Amazon.com does not symbolize a demise of the book inasmuch as the bookstore, e-readers do not threaten the book inasmuch as the bookshelf. Websites like Shelfari.com and others afford readers the ability to create virtual bookshelves. Thereby, the reader’s need to display the books they have read is satisfied, these books could be print or e-books, no distinction is made. E-readers with e-ink technology look like real books. Some actually turn the page like a book. Therefore, the digital world attempts to replicate the real world for readers. Book sales have been falling for years.

The Reading Problem

Less people are reading books regularly. In a large study by the National Endowment of the Arts in 2007, they concluded that the percentage of people reading for pleasure has dropped for all age groups since 1992. Young people have shown the greatest decline with nearly half of 18-24 year olds reading no books for pleasure (NEA, 2007). This decline has huge impacts on society. Proficient readers have greater career opportunities, earn more money, achieve academically, enhance cultural and civic life, and volunteer more. Poor readers read less for pleasure if at all. They are over represented in prisons, more likely to be out of work, drop out of school or do not complete high school (NEA, 2007). As the Internet soared from 1997-2003, the time spent on reading literature declined. The NEA report showed that the even when reading does occur it is often done while multitasking with other media. This results in less focused engagement with text. Further, American families are spending less n books than at any time in past two decades. The number of books in a home is a significant predictor of academic achievement (NEA, 2007).
It is with this backdrop that we look at the role of e-readers and e-reading. Are people really reading less? Since the prevalence of the Internet, reading behaviours have changed. Emails, websites, Blogs, social media have brought a new kind of reading. While long form reading of books has decreased, there has been an explosion of online reading. However, long form reading has previously not taken hold in the digital world. Some said that reading of books on a screen would never supplant print books.
Kindle’s e-reader has brought long form reading to the digital format in a way that is changing the way we read. Last year Amazon, maker of the Kindle, announced it sold more e-books than print books for the first time (Miller, 2011). This January 2011 they announced that e-book sales have eclipsed soft cover books. E-book sales in the United States grew 183% in the first half of this year compared to last year (Fowler, 2010). It seems clear that we are becoming a nation of e-readers. Is there a difference between readers and e-readers? Is not the reading process the same? Can a piece of technology really change the way we read?

History of the book

The greatest technological advancement to reading was the Gutenberg Press. In 1440, Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press allowing thousands of pages of type created per day. This was a game changer. Before this, books were individually copied by hand on parchment. This was expensive and time consuming. The cost and rarity of these books meant that only the privileged had access to books. The Church being the main maker and user of books had control of what was available.
The printing press brought books and reading to the masses. Just like today with e-readers, demand for books exploded in the Fifteenth century. The advent of the printing press is credited in large part to bringing an end to the Dark Ages and ushering in the Renaissance in Europe. The Scientific Revolution may not have occurred without the printing press to publish scientific journals where scientists could easily communicate their discoveries (Eisenstein, 1978). Once books became available to more people they started to question the Church bringing about the Reformation and changes to society eventually democratizing Europe.
In ‘First Steps Towards a History of Reading’ (Darnton, 1986), it refers to the changing reading habits on both sides of the Atlantic. From the Middle Ages until after 1750 most households still had few books – a Bible, an Almanac, and a prayer book. These books were read intensively as families read them over and again often together aloud. By 1800, many people were reading individually and extensively buying all kinds of reading material (Darnton, 1986). This change caused a shallower type of reading that has persisted to this day.
In 1935, as the Depression took its toll on book sales, the paperback novel was introduced by Penguin books. They took good quality books in a paperback and sold it at a cheap price. Book sales soared and other publishers adopted the paperback book as well (Trubek, 2010).
Today we face a similar situation with tough economic times and an ailing publishing industry. A new technology has arisen, e-readers, and is changing how, what and when we read. Researchers see digital texts as highly editable and moveable and globally accessible. Web links and hypertext give readers multiple choices. Digital reading therefore is multilinear and discontinuous (Hillesund, 2010). Others see digital text dominated by shallow forms of reading characterized by scanning and skimming (Mangen, 2008). On screen reading tends to spend more time on browsing, scanning, keyword spotting, one-time reading, non –linear reading and less time on in-depth reading, concentrated reading (Liu, 2005). This type of reading results in decreased sustained attention.
While these behaviours are typical of digital reading online, the e-reader presents a different mode of digital text reading. With the development of the dedicated e-reader, digital text is used for long form reading. There is less opportunity for scanning and skimming behaviours. However, most e-readers allow for chapter sampling. This may be a form of shallow reading as readers can try out a chapter without the commitment of reading further that a print book entails. Readers can jump around to samples of books the way we surf channels on the TV. Clearly e-reading affords a different style of reading. It is changing reading behaviours.
How are e-readers used in schools?

E-Readers in education

Books have been part of schools as long as there have been schools. In high schools today students are reading less print books. E-readers are making their way into the schools with mixed results. In an extensive study on the influence of new digital technologies on reading habits it was predicted that teaching and learning would move toward digital modes. At this early stage in the development of e-reading, it was suggested that electronic books would be used to replace textbooks, reference manuals, and professional publications (Davidson et al., 1997). Gillingham (1996) stated, “When special reading resources (e.g. definitions of low-frequency words) are added to the text, comprehension can increase.” Modern e-readers have built in dictionaries, highlighting, and annotating features. In a report on the North Carolina University Libraries’ first experimentation with electronic devices, they found that users liked the ability to read in dark spaces and increasing font sizes on the e-readers. They also liked the ability to look up words in the built in dictionary (Gibbs, 2000). According to Kilgour (1998), e-readers need better legibility than print books, display of at least 500 words, comparable size to average novel, ability to use device with one hand, cost less than a novel, and access to database from anywhere. Thirteen years later most of these recommendations have come to fruition.
School libraries are a focus point for the introduction of e-readers. According to the School Library Journal’s 2011 survey, a majority of elementary school librarians said “they will (18 percent) or may (46 percent) purchase ebooks in the next two years (Guernsey, 2011). In ‘Aiming at a Moving Target’, a study was done testing e-book readers in an urban academic library. The librarians at John Jay College decided to test e-book readers to see if they would be advantageous fro use by the college community. Using two models of the Sony e-reader it was found that younger people are very comfortable with the devices however the librarians decided the e-readers had not reached a point where they were worth the investment (Kiriakova et al., 2010). For now, they concluded to find ways to use e-books through available devices like laptops, PDAs and other mobile devices.
School District 62 in British Columbia implemented e-Readers in two high school classrooms. They used the Sony e-reader as well. The devices allowed literacy supports such as text enlargements and audio but the annotation feature was frustrating for students and most abandoned it for paper and pen. While the e-readers were seen as robust with potential for literacy support, this early version of the Sony e-reader was inadequate from a teaching perspective (Patterson, 2010).
A comparison of e-books to print books with 22 third grade students reported that format was not as important to these students as setting, characters and theme. The third graders did indicate a preference for e-books. They also indicated a preference for the features associated with e-books- definitions and pronunciations, automatic page turning, and read-aloud narration (Jones and Brown, 2011).
Younger readers are discovering e-readers. The readers are becoming less expensive, more plentiful and have gone mass market. Many schools are encouraging these students to bring e-readers to school for leisure reading time. Because older out of copyright books can be downloaded free, younger children have been exploring the classics (Bosman, 2011). These young readers are digital natives (Prensky, 2001) so they are comfortable with digital text. They expect content to engage them and to engage content (Sideways, 2011). E-readers can give students the ability to interact with the book far greater than with traditional print books.
Plymouth Regional High School book club took on a pilot project with e-readers. They purchased 20 Kindles in 2009 for their school book club. Students were told they could upload any book titles they wanted to the Kindle. After a month using the Kindles, the students reported reading more than ever before. Cecilia said, “I read so much more since I had the Kindle (Harland et al., 2010).” Some comments from the group lamented the loss of page turning and page numbers, and they did not like the robotic text to speech voice. The students did not think Kindle would replace books. Angela summed it up, “I can’t imagine a world when I don’t smell a new book (Harland et al., 2010).”
A small research study involved three families using three different e-reading devices: DS-lite; Kindle; iPod touch. While this study is small, it has revealed some significant indications about the potential impact of e-books on young children’s reading habits (Maynard, 2010). The Kindle was by far the most popular device due to it being a dedicated e-reader and thus having features of a printed book well presented. In addition, one of the children, described as a reluctant reader, read more with the Kindle often giving up television for reading. While this is just one child, it does indicate that this technology might be beneficial for reluctant readers (Maynard, 2010).

Evidence for E-readers

E-readers have exploded on the marketplace. With prices falling and interest growing sales have climbed significantly. In a study of 1,200 e-reader owners 40%said they read more than they did with print books, 58% read the same amount and 2% read less (Fowler, 2010). Forrester Research estimates 11 million Americans own at least one digital reading gadget and e-book sales increased by 183% in the first half of this year. Early adopters of e-readers are not replacing print books but adding to them with e-books. So far, the e-books are adding on to print book sales. Amazon, the largest online book seller, reports its customers buy 3.3 times as many books after buying a Kindle. The portability of these devices makes it easier to read at times when a book is not an option. This is increasing the amount people are reading (Fowler, 2010). E-readers appear to be narrowing the gender gap in reading. Men are consuming more e-books than women, 53% to 48% respectively. Libraries are buying more e-books for their collection and most e-readers now allow for checking out e-books from the library. The American Library Association reports 66% of libraries offer e-books up from 38% in 2005.
E-readers have brought a range of features not possible in print. The reading experience is enhanced by built in dictionaries, highlighting, bookmarking annotations, changing font sizes, text to speech, synching to other devices, free sample chapters, all operated easily with just one hand.
In the Harris Interactive survey, 15% of Americans over 18 are using an e-reader device. That is double last year’s poll. Another 15% of those who do not have an e-reader say they will be getting one in the next year. Harris reports that contrary to popular opinion the influx of e-readers may actually save print books. Those with e-readers read more not just e-books but also print books. One third of Americans have not bought any books in the last year compared to only 6% of e-reader users (Harris Interactive, 2011).

Concerns about e-readers

Many concerns about e-readers result from the way that people use them to read. Neuroscientist, Stanislas Dehaene, has studied the anatomy of reading. She has shown two pathways in the brain for making sense of words. These pathways are the ventral route and the dorsal stream. The ventral route is direct and accounts for most reading. We see a group of letters, convert them into a word and grasp their meaning. The dorsal stream is activated when we are forced to pay attention to a sentence because of an obscure word or awkward phrase (Lehrer, 2010). Anytime that automaticity is challenged, it activates our dorsal stream. The concern is that with e-readers being designed to make reading easier – large fonts, dictionary, and text to speech.
On screen reading behaviours like browsing and keyword spotting has been shown to contribute to a decrease of in-depth and concentrated reading (Liu, 2005). Most readers still prefer paper copies for in-depth reading requiring annotating and highlighting. While modern e-readers have the capacity to do these operations, some find them as yet less than adequate. As a result, paper is unlikely to disappear in the digital age (Liu, 2005).
Nicholas Carr, in an online debate in the New York Times, said “The book focuses our attention, encouraging the kind of immersion in a story or an argument that promotes deep comprehension… [But when we use a] PC, Smartphone, Kindle or iPad, our attention is scattered by all the distractions and interruptions that pour through our digital networks (Wetschler, 2011).” He claims the result is cursory reading, weak comprehension and shallow reading.
Another concern among schools with e-readers is cost. With shrinking library budgets, the cost of e-readers can be prohibitive. Further, e-books tend to be limited to the e-reader it is on. Unlike books in libraries then, they cannot be shared with other e-readers. This makes the cost of an e-book, which may be initially less than a print book, more costly. In addition, libraries buying e-readers are tied to that technology or company. If next year that e-reader is no longer supported you have lost your investment.

Conclusion

Clearly there are advantages and disadvantages to e-readers just as there are for print books. The new e-readers on the market are creating a lot of excitement. Sales of e-readers like Kindle and e-books from Amazon.com and other web outlets are skyrocketing. This is a good thing for reading and for books. Many e-reader owners are also increasing their purchase of print books. Reading and books have changed by technology in the past and will continue to change with the technology of the future. Each development brings a larger base of readers as books become more affordable and more accessible. So are we a nation of readers or e-readers, and is there a difference? While e-reading is soaring, it still occupies a small portion of the book market. Clearly there has been a change going on in what we read, where we read it, and how we read. The study from the NEA shows a concerning decline in reading books for pleasure. This is concerning. However, we are still reading. The advent of the Internet has provided opportunities for new kinds of reading – email, blogs, Facebook, websites. This is reading that did not exist 20 years ago. As online reading has flourished it has taken the place of other forms of reading like books.
A positive impact of digital reading is the development of digital reading devices. Dedicated e-readers as well as tablets and smartphones are bringing people back to the reading of books. People are reading these e-books in places and at times previously not used for books. The evidence shows those with e-readers are reading more those without e-readers. Therefore, the good news is that reading books is returning. Whether in hardcover, paperback, or digital text, people are immersing themselves in literature. We are a nation of readers and e-readers. As long as we read good, quality literature, it does not matter the format. Let us celebrate books and e-books, reading and e-reading and bring these tools to our schools to develop the next generation of readers.

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