We Need Public Libraries via The Dickinsonian

We Need Public Libraries

The Dickinsonian: 4.25.2019 by Maia Baker ’19, Opinion Columnist

Reading is one of the basic requirements of existence in most parts of the world. We read emails; road signs; billboards; books; medicine instructions; menus. But none of this information is accessible with only a low level of literacy. And if this kind of daily reading is difficult, forget about most jobs. Filling out paperwork, reading instructions and producing written material constitute the basic tasks of all kinds of job. For those with low literacy, these tasks can be all but impossible.

In 2003, up to 23% of American adults had limited or no reading skills. 1 in 7 adults operate at the “lowest level” of literacy, meaning that while they can glean basic information from some printed material, they may not be able to read the side effects or instructions on prescribed medicine, follow written directions to a location, or read something like this article (National Center for Literacy Statistics). These adults face immeasurable structural barriers to improving their lives. In a cruel but predictable twist, adults with no basic literacy at all face health care expenses that can be six times higher than for other adults. One study found that Medicaid participants with the lowest literacy spent, on average, $13,000 annually on medical costs, where the average participant only spent $3,000. Higher literacy often correlates with earlier treatment of diseases; the lower the literacy level among adults, the higher the proportion of heart disease or diabetes.

Women with low literacy often endure the most vulnerability to poverty and are more likely than men to read at low levels, to live in poverty, and to suffer from poor health. Women make up 70% of adults without any basic literacy, constitute almost 2/3 of the minimum wage workforce, and, if they dropped out of high school, earn only 70% the income of men with equivalent education, an inflated wage gap compared to the average gendered earnings disparity. Frighteningly, higher infant mortality is directly linked to less education (and thus lower literacy). Women, already a disadvantaged population, disproportionately suffer from the direct effects of low literacy.

Enter possibly the best method of promoting adult literacy: the public library. READ MORE >>