Prince George, B.C. – The notion that younger members of today’s society have totally dismissed the practice of picking up and reading a book in favour of glaring incessantly at their electronic mobile devices has been debunked by statistics released by the Prince George Public Library.

The stats, which come from the library’s new Children and Teen Services Report, show that children and teens borrowed 225,253 books from the library’s two branches in 2016.  That means Prince George kids were reading approximately 617 library books each day.

The report indicates that library staff focussed on offering a wide-range of high-quality programs for children and teens in 2016 resulting in a 71% increase in participation in teen programs over the previous year. In total, the library’s branches hosted over 1000 hours of free programming for children and teens, including programs such as Homework Help, Minecraft Mondays, Baby Time, and Family Storytime.

Library staff also continued to take library programs out into the community, including 32 story times at StrongStart locations throughout Prince George, and 72 story times at local preschools and daycares.

Chief Librarian Janet Marren says “those children who are read to, sung to and talked to from a young age develop bigger vocabularies, become better readers, and are more likely to succeed in school.  We’re proud to offer programs, collections and services that support parents and caregivers in creating a strong foundation for life-long learning.”

Over 8,000 of the library’s 51,046 active library cardholders are under the age of 18.

The Children and Teen Services Report is available on the library’s website at www.pgpl.ca.