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‘Print provides a welcome oasis’ for young adults, American University professor says
Amid concerns about a decline in student literacy, some universities are holding on tight to book culture with professors and student groups emphasizing the value of pleasure reading and hard copies.
“According to the American Library Association, Gen Z is buying even more print books than Millennials are,” linguistics expert and American University Professor Naomi Baron told The College Fix in a recent interview.
While in actuality “voluntary reading rates – among children, adolescents, and adults – are continuing to drop,” Baron told The Fix that “it’s also true that the potential pleasures of reading print (at least for most people) help drive more reading.”
Literacy rates have been on a significant decline since 1992, according to a Harvard Gazette report from September. However, there is evidence of Gen Z, the current generation of college students, rediscovering reading in the digital age.
One example comes from Wichita State University where English professors recently began a campus radio segment to promote pleasure reading by giving book recommendations, The Sunflower reports.
Reading clubs that celebrate the power of a good recommendation and personal connections also are popping up on college campuses.
One is a student-created book club that began about two years ago the University of Oregon. Titled “Bookstagram: Behind the Scenes,” the club chooses either a specific book or a genre theme each month and then hosts weekly events for members to discuss what they are reading, The Daily Emerald reports.
Students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst are also using themes to select their reading. “Hot Girls Read,” which a group of freshmen students created about two years ago, gives members the choice between three related books that fit the theme of the activity for the club meeting, according to a Massachusetts Daily Collegian article.
Meanwhile, the University of Miami recently reported a resurgence in reading for pleasure on campus.
Its University Women’s Commission Book Club has been attracting a growing number of students and faculty to its events — with a “sense of belonging” being one of the major draws, club president Magaly Medina-Perez stated in a December news release.
“A book club gives you the opportunity to engage with people and feel comfortable,” Medina-Perez said in the release. “It builds confidence, because you’re knowledgeable about something you read and can talk about.”
Baron, a professor emerita at American University, told The Fix that her research has found that most students prefer print books. Currently, she is researching artificial intelligence, writing, and reading.
“In the studies I have done on what secondary school and university students like most (and least) about reading in print versus on a screen, I hear time and again that print makes it easier to concentrate and to become absorbed in a story,” she said.
“Students also praise the smell of print books and the pleasure of holding physical books in their hands. Many call print reading ‘real reading,’” Baron said.
As for why students are sticking with paper books during an age of digitalization, she told The Fix: “It’s hard to prove causation, but it’s definitely true that many readers are frazzled from all the time they spend on digital technologies. Print provides a welcome oasis, much like social media or smartphone detoxes.”
Paper books continue to dominate sales, with around 75 percent being physical copies, according to the Association of American Publishers.
“When it comes to what we call ‘Trade’ books — the sort of books you’ll find in commercial bookstores, including novels, short stories, etc. – physical books continue to dominate, accounting for nearly 75% of the market,” spokesperson Kathryn Rexrode told The College Fix in a Jan. 22 interview.
Looking at data from last year, “revenues attributable to Physical Books have increased by 40.0% over the 10-year period from 2016 to 2025),” she said.
Comparatively, over the past 10 years, revenues for “Digital Audio format” books have increased by more than 300 percent, while eBook sales have dropped nearly 10 percent, according to the association.
Rexrode also noted that “when it comes to college course materials, digital formats – in particular via a model known as Affordable Access – are increasingly popular.”
However, some professors are shifting back to physical books in their classrooms.
At Yale University, a report last week by the student newspaper highlighted that many English professors on campus are “requiring printed copies of readings” for their classes.
“Over the years I’ve found that when students read on paper they’re more likely to read carefully, and less likely in a pinch to read on their phones or rely on chatbot summaries,” Professor Kim Shirkhani told the Yale Daily News. “This improves the quality of class time by orders of magnitude.”
The Yale professors and others spoke of the value of paper books in contrast to the disconnect from an increasingly digitalized world.
Whatever the reason, Baron said, “In the end, I’m less concerned whether young people read in print or digitally than that they read at all.”
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