The Travesty of Book Deserts

The travesty of book deserts

Why are there places in America where it’s almost impossible to buy or borrow a book?

Mother Nature Network: 8.04.2015 by Starre Vartan

It’s a fact that will strike fear into the heart of any avid reader: There are places in the United States — one of the wealthiest nations on the planet — that have no real access to books, even for students. They're called book deserts.

Concentrated in inner cities but sometimes afflicting rural areas as well, these are communities with no bookstores, few or not-often-open public libraries, and a dearth of school libraries.

It's a sad truth that many public schools no longer have libraries. According to one teacher in Los Angeles, 83 percent of L.A. middle schools don’t have a librarian and aren’t allowed to keep the library open with volunteers. (The schools only have 98 librarians for 1,309 schools!) Most charter schools don’t have libraries due to funding.

Obviously, that's not the only part of the country that has issues connecting people to places with books. The Unite for Literacy's Book Desert maps project uses data about book availability to illustrate where the need for books or electronic access to books is greatest. READ MORE !