South Carolina library tries to attract teenage readers

Strong reading skills are just as important among middle and high school students as they are among pupils at the elementary level. In fact, the findings of ACT's 2012 National Curriculum Survey revealed that many educators in higher education settings do not feel their students are ready for the work they are doing. Overall, only 26 percent of these individuals believed that students were "well" or "very well prepared" for college-level work.

These survey results show how important the Common Core State Standards and efforts to improve teenagers' academic skills are. In South Carolina, officials at the North Myrtle Beach Library have taken steps to attract more teenagers this summer, The Sun News reported. In addition to lots of books, young visitors to the library will be greeted by bright colors and find bean bag chairs in the teen reading room.

"It's a struggle to get teens in the summer - this is the toughest age group to reach - and if they get away from the library, they don't always come back, or they come back once they have kids," Sandra Causey, this location's youth services librarian, told the news source. "We wanted to do something to make them comfortable, so it's somewhere they want to hang out."

The more appealing the library is, the greater number of teenage students may flock to it in the months ahead. Every book they read could keep their reading skills sharp until the next school year begins.