Over 1/3 (37%) read more than ten books last year. 

http://www.lisnews.org/node/29745

Of those who did read books, most read fiction strictly for pleasure. And the #1 selling book genre is “Romance,” which was read by 64.6 million Americans in 2005. (2)

From http://www.blogdesignblog.com/blog-design/

“According to a 1996 Journal of Educational Psychology study, 74 percent of children who are poor readers in the third grade remain poor readers in the ninth grade.”

“One study says 61 percent of children who come from low-income families have no books at home.”

“Forty percent of students can’t read at their grade level.”

“One statistic prison planners use to determine the number of prison cells a community will need is to find the number of 8-year-olds who are reading below grade level.”

Excluding the nonreaders, the average American reader read seven books last year.

Who are the twenty-seven percent who did not read a book last year? About 1/4 of women and 1/3 of men are nonreaders. Nonreaders have less education, are older, are from rural areas, are minorities, and are less religious.

The most avid readers are women, are over 50, and are college educated.

Most widely read were the Bible and other religious works, mysteries, biographies, histories, and popular fiction.

(This information was obtained from an article in the Washington Post, dated August 21, 2007.)

A national study conducted last summer by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency that supports the nation’s libraries,  showed that 53% of Americans visited the library at least once last year.

Internet users were more than twice as likely to use libraries as non-Internet users.

More than two-thirds in all age groups reported that they used computers while in the library.

Library use by age group:

62% Gen Y Ages 18-30

57% Ages 43-52

46% Ages 53-61

42% Ages 62-71

32% Ages over 72

(This information was cited in an article dated December 31, 2007 in Computerworld.)