About how you use your Public Library. Specifically, we want no technology has changed how you engage with your library. Give us a call. Democrats can call 202 5853880. Republicans can call 202 5853881. Independents can call 202 5853882. You can also catch up with us on all of your favorite social media pages. A very good saturday morning to you. We have three weeks until National Library week in the United States. Last week, the Pew Research Center issued a new report on americans and their engagement with libraries. It found that more than two thirds of americans are actively engaged with their Public Libraries. Heres the wrapup of that report from the allied l. A. Times. Public libraries are thriving things to a core group of devotees who have qualities we dont usually associate with look people. They are generally more sociable and active. The report surveyed more than 6000 people over 16. It paints a similar portrait of American Library lovers. More than two thirds of americans are actively engaged the Public Libraries. Most frequent and devoted Library Users, about 30 of the population, tend to be younger more educated and technologically savvy. The report notes that Public Library users consists of people who have embraced new technologies. The most highly engaged users are also Big Technology users. We want to know how you engage with your library and how Technology May have changed how you go ahead with that engagement and how you interact with your library system. A few of the surprising data samples from that report a common narrative is that americans are turning away from libraries because of newer technology. The data shows that the most highly engaged Library Users are also Big Technology users. There are people who have never visited a library who still value librarys roles in their community. They were noted as distant admirers but have positive opinions about how valuable libraries are in the community. Many distant admirers say that someone else in the household does use the library and therefore may use libraries indirectly. We want to hear from you and how you engage with your library. The poll ranked people in different categories how they use their library and how they view the role of libraries in their communities. Library lovers make up about 10 of the west population. Members of this group report frequent personal use of Public Libraries, along with high levels of household the library use that includes many parents students and job seekers. Members tend to be younger with higher levels of education. Nine percent of the west population ranks as print traditionalists. This group contains the highest proportion of rural, southern or white respondents. Its members live farther away from libraries. We will continue taking you through the different categories in that report. But we would love to know i use your self. Which category you think you would fall into in that report. Give us a call or engage in the conversation on our facebook page. That conversation already happening on facebook this morning. Heres a few of the comments. We have no choice. Most libraries have closed or are only open for a few days few hours a week. Technology has changed the way i know very few people who use Public Libraries since the internet to cold. Its a shame because children who read become adults that think. We want to hear what you think. That conversation also happens on our twitter page. You can follow the twitter conversation using cspanwj. We will get to that over the course of the segment on the washington journal. We will start with ryan from michigan on our line for independents. Good morning to you. Caller good morning. I use my Public Library five out of seven days a week. The reason why i use it so much is that im a very Small Business owner of a professional wrestling federation. I use the Public Library as my office. We are starting a business and we dont have a lot of money. You cant pay rent. You can use the computers for free and the copying machine. Every single thing that i need to run my business is literally at the Public Library. Host how crowded is the Sterling HeightsPublic Library echo are you fighting for space in there . Caller monday through wednesday there is a steady traffic of people. A lot of college kids and High School Kids are up there doing their homework. Doing research to improve themselves. Whatever i can get some idea. I can have interviews and business meetings. I can make flyers and stuff like that. Host how would you respond to why would i go to a library if i can get all the information i want in less than a second on google . Caller lets say you want to fax someone or make copies. Its a great place to meet other people. When i do interviews come if i want to hire a wrestler, i have the meet me at the Public Library. I dont want to invite this guy into my house. It such a great place to work. It is by far the best library ive ever been to. Host praising his local library. We want to hear what you think about your local library and how technology has changed how you make use of the library. Those numbers again democrats 202 5853880. Republicans 202 5853881. Independents 202 5853882. As our phone lines are open, a bit more from the Pew Research Center report. Print books are still central to Americans Library use. The more americans than ever are reading books. Few have abandoned print entirely. Just four percent of readers read ebooks exclusively. Many americans say they would be interested in exploring a range of Technological Services at Public Libraries, from personalized reading recommendations and online ask a Librarian Services to media kiosks and mobile apps. We would love to hear how you think your library could be upgraded. If you think there is new technology that would be helpful to you at your library. According to the federal institute of museum and Library Services 100 23,000 libraries across the country in the United States. 123,000 libraries across the country in the states. Phone lines are open. We will go to harold on our line for republicans. He is in wisconsin. How is technology changed how you engage with your library . Caller im so much to involved in the eye library. We have a Carnegie Library in our town. It has been run beautifully for years. We have computers in there and a full staff and magazines and newspapers people cant get. It is very wellrun and very well used and we are very proud of it. Host what do you know about funding for your local library . Is it up to what you would like it to be . Caller people donated their wills for library. We had an addition put on in 2001. Two donors totaling 500,000. We have a library that is fantastic. Im so proud im on the board. Host you think people still care about their libraries . Caller i imagine people use a computer a lot. Not everybody is so fortunate. That is why our library is so popular. I discovered libraries in the big city when i was 18 years old. I found the library and i made a fortune just reading the books. I read the letter every week when i came in the library and they got all my news and information on their. From then on i went into real estate and i took their advice and followed the path of growth that never knew about before. All through the library. Host bill king writes on our twitter page. Since the advent of the digital reader with books under 10, i seldom visit the library but i still wanted to be there. He might fall into that distant admirer category. Different categories of Library Users and library engagement. Among the low engagement categories, seven percent of the u. S. Population as the young and restless. A relatively young group. Few of its members have lived in a neighborhood for very long. Their most striking feature is that only 15 of them know where the nearest Public Library is located. They are far less likely than most other groups to say Public Libraries are important to their community. Four percent of the u. S. Population according to the Pew Research Center. We will ask a librarian about that. Jackson, mississippi on our line for independents. Caller good morning. Host were talking about these low engagement users at the library. The people that say that libraries are not important to the community. Do you find that is growing . Caller its hard to say. I dont look at the statistics anymore because im retired. I was doing interlibrary loan, working with a lot of scholars and special researchers and students. Its hard to gauge. I dont use much electronic i have an electronic reader but i only use it for religious books. These traditional sources. Host what about this question from our twitter page. Libraries are largely pointless and have transformed into the public living room or business center. Public funding . Why . Caller its like medical services. Maybe 10 of people are using them at any time. But they are important because it is useful. It is useful to have it there. People are using it for Small Business. Its wonderful. Host thanks for the call. Last tweet talk about public funding for libraries. We can run you through some of the numbers. This according to the American Library association, having put out a recent chart that included the president s recent 2015 Budget Proposal among the main funding services. There is institute of museum and Library Services. Funded at 227 million. Thats down just slightly. In 2014, there is the Library Service and technology act. One of the key Funding Sources for libraries, funded at 181 million. The president looking to bring that down to 178 million. The library of congress funded in 2014 at 500 and 578 million. This cycle, 593 million of federal funds. James is the librarian of congress. When before congress this month to talk about the librarys bug dget. In his proposal to federal funders, he said the library work force has been reduced by 1400 people in recent years. Between 20102014, the librarys budget dropped from 643 million down to that 580 million level. That story from roll call newspaper. That is the federal funding numbers for different library programs. We want to know how technology has changed your use of Public Libraries. We will go to karen in michigan on our line for independents. Good morning. Caller good morning. The technology has changed the way i use the library a lot because now i have a little you ireader. Im very low technology. I dont know how to use the stuff. Its a great go to source for people who have no money. A lot of people dont have Internet Access at their house. Children go there and they have all kinds of services. I believe the library of congress, which i have been to they should scale down. With all of these smaller libraries, we should help them because people actually use those. Some of the bigger ones that just collect antique stuff, i personally think its a waste. Host so the funding should get more to the Community Libraries . Caller yes. Because they use them. People go to their Little Library and take their children to learn every week. Every time i go, theres a lot people there. They have classes for people who dont know how to use their computers. They have the books that you can download on your tablet. My doctor goes to college and i take her there all the time. She goes there to do research. Its always so helpful. Host thanks for the call this morning. On our facebook page, technology sure has i can get a hold of any information that i want. The conversation continuing on our facebook and twitter page. We have that special line for librarians. 202 58538823. We will be discussing the subject for the next 20 minutes or so. Lets go to paul in florida on our line for republicans. Caller the changing technology has meant a lot to me. Hes the local library to get language tapes to learn pharsi. My father gets books on cds, which he listens to since he can no longer read it all. For a long time i was sour on Public Libraries. In the 1990s i went and found that my efforts to access a website was blocked but there was no blockage put on the policy centers advertisements to help us stop the ira. When i questioned that librarian, i was told, that is the way the filters come from the people who set up the system. They did a survey and half of the libraries i went to had the same filters. The political bias of set me. Host was it a local government or State Government . We did you trace itwhere did you trace it to . Caller the people who offered it. They excluded the ira and certain sites like that. I can give you the technology company. Theyre quite big in silicon valley. Host you mentioned your father uses some of the services for the blind. We are talking about funding for libraries in fiscal 2014. The library of congress funded services for the blind, funded at 47 million. Host you are showing that on the screen. I realized i should bring that up. Libraries you ball that societies evolve. Books were rare in homes and libraries were a necessity for a culture. Now anybody can find a book. Anybody wants to go online except for the very poor can certainly do that. That is why every time i go to a Public Library, im amazed with these changes in culture and technology. How people are there using them. The Public Library is always a near capacity. I know there are people who have computers and books at home. There is something going on there. Host thanks for the call. We will keep taking calls and looking at our twitter and facebook pages. Mark williams right in communities need to invest or they will disappear. What is not to like about a library . Free books, online books movies music less programs for kids. We will go on for the next 20 minutes or so on this subject. We want to read a few of the other headlines from around the country. Our phone lines remain open for folks to call in about Public Libraries. You are viewing how technology has changed. We want to take you to the detroit news. A story that broke last night from the detroit news. Gay marriage ban struck down. Some could went today. A judge has overturned michigans ban on gay marriage and samesex adoption. Aligning with the growing number of states where are the vision has been overturned. The attorney general filed a challenge with the court of appeals in cincinnati. Michigan joins states of kentucky and ohio, which also have gay marriage cases pending before the sixth circuit court. The constitutional amendment known as the michigan marriage act was unconstitutional because of the 90 days and lesbians equal protection under the law. Voters passed the amendment because they wanted to keep marriage only between a man and a woman. That is the detroit news. A story that will certainly continue on. A few stories on the foreignpolicy front, going to russia, ukraine and crimea. Here is the front page of the New York Times today. Russia shifting. U. S. Worries. Thousands of troops on the border of southeastern ukraine involved in training exercises. Deepening fears that russian aggression will not end and crimea. It is not clear what the signals obviously, given their past practices and the gaps between what they said and what they have done, we are watching it with skepticism. That story in the New York Times. One of the several stories about relations with russia. Heres the lead story in todays Washington Post. Nuclear accord on her by crisis. President obama announced sanctions against russia on monday. A group of russian officials arrived in San Francisco for a surprise inspection of the west or tj can nuclear arsenal. The inspections are part of the process agreed to under the 2010 weapons reduction treatedy. Russia and the United States have cooperated on efforts to keep Nuclear Materials out of terrorist hands and they are joining negotiations limiting Irans Nuclear program. If you want to read more on that story, is the lead story in todays Washington Post. Were talking about libraries this morning. Weve been hearing from callers about how they use libraries and how technology has changed that. We have a special line for librarians this morning. That is 202 58538823. We will go to our independent line. Charles is waiting in ohio. Thanks for calling. Caller thank you for taking my call. I believe that the libraries are a great thing. The internet is a great thing also. Libraries are our backup. Imagine that the internet went down for some reason. How would you read that book . Host how often do you go to the library . How often do you walk in the door . Caller not very often anymore but i read a lot. I like having hard copies of books. Occasional