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To me a culture of reading means reading is expected and engrained in the environment. It is enjoyed and encouraged, because it is valued for its benefits. Librarians should encourage life long learning and reading because it causes people to be better informed and smarter. It also keeps people literate, which helps them better be able to understand the world and news around them.

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To me, a culture of reading is a community of people that read often, both for enjoyment and for educational, functional, or work-related reasons. School librarians have an important role in fostering a culture of reading in their own communities. The more students are exposed to different types of texts and different ways to interact with them, the more they see the value in it. I think of my dad and how he encouraged my sister and I read, despite his personal lack of enjoyment when it comes to reading. I believe that at least part of this comes from the belief that he is not a "good reader" or the type of person who reads. In a culture of reading, all people are readers in their own way. Many families have negative associations with reading or school, which makes reframing these skills important for students and their families.

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A culture of reading to me is the idea that reading is an encouraged activity and is enjoyed and happens regularly. For example, you can instill a culture of reading with your children where they see reading as a fun activity, and not something they are forced to do every day for 30 minutes. You can read books before bed, or when you are waiting for your food at a restaurant. I think that school librarians should encourage everyone to become lifelong learners and readers because having this culture of reading among everyone leads to more educated and knowledgeable people.

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When I hear the term "culture of reading" I think about the community that reading brings to people. Writing and sharing stories is one of the ways that we connect to one another as people with complex thoughts and feelings that need t be shared. Culture of reading for me is all about how I share reading with my people and they share reading with me. The ways in which we talk to one another about books and how those thoughts and opinions further encourage discourse and reading. Librarians should encourage everyone to become life long learners because we become better as a whole to be more knowledgeable, more empathetic, and better at communicating.

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In my opinion, a culture of reading is the practice of promoting literacy in daily life. This fosters an environment where you're constantly learning both information and grammar/language. If we were able to create a culture that valued reading more than it currently does, not only will literacy rates rise, but the learning environment itself would be changed thanks to a higher consumption rate of information/knowledge.

I think reading should be promoted to both families and educators in order to foster independent learning, continuation of knowledge (both informational, grammatical, structural, and more). Reading as families can also foster a greater connection- many parents struggle to connect with their child on some level so by reading together and enjoying books, this can lead to common topics, themes, and even conversations about the same book. Even if reading is difficult for a student, reading a book with someone and following it up with the movie is a great way to promote conversation and debates about literary themes, arcs, character development, use of imagery, and more.

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My "culture of reading" concept is one in which reading is prioritized and promoted for health and happiness. I'd like reading to be considered a mental hygiene practice. We read for information, yes, but we also read for pleasure, for escape, for imagination, and for self improvement. Alongside the recommendation to brush your teeth twice a day for two minutes, ideally we would recommend at least 10 minutes a day of any type of reading. I'm not particularly caught up on the genre, just some topic of relevance or interest to each person, for 10 minutes a day. The great thing about this is that reading materials are so accessible! You could listen to an audiobook on your commute, read the newspaper before school, or check out an article on People.com. Any reading that gets someone to stop, focus on a story, and perhaps encounter some new vocabulary or perspective.

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To me, a culture of reading means that reading influences the way you live your life and the environment you create. It can shape your conversations and how you understand the people and world around you. Books can be used as tools as well as entertainment. I think librarians should encourage others to be lifelong learners and readers because information is infinite and ever-changing.

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A culture of reading is an environment that encourages and prioritizes reading and the information that can be gathered from it. What that really breaks down to is individuals are making reading a priority and dedicating time to it rather than simply stating that it is important. In a school, this may mean having assigned reading time or participating in Drop Everything And Read days. The prioritization and importance of reading in a culture can also allow individuals to learn about themselves, others, and history. It can also sharpen analytical skills and increase empathy.

When librarians encourage all members of their communities to become lifelong learners and readers it creates an environment that is continuously evolving. It also creates a culture where learners are more interested in reading because reading and learning become behaviors that they want to model. Additionally, if all members of a community take an interest in reading and learning then they all have another shared trait to unify them as a community.

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I think that culture of reading should be opened up not only to our students but, also, to their families. Reading together brings families closer together. Being able to read a story to a younger sibling or to their parents will encourage students to read more and want to share their books with their families. It helps students and family members build closer relationships and is a great way to build knowledge.

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When I think of culture of reading, I think of the value and purpose placed on reading within a group of people or setting. The reason for reading is usually established by those taking the lead in a school such as the teachers. Are students being asked to read in because there is an Accelerated Reader system or to ace a test? This goes back to the extrinsic and intrinsic motivations discussed by Donham and Sims (2020). If there's a good culture of reading then the readers have an intrinsic motivation to learn and read.

School librarians should take the lead in promoting reading to families because learners look up their family members. We would want all adults to model reading for curiosity, thus showing with their actions that reading is important.

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A culture of reading is a culture that values and celebrates literacy, oral history, and storytelling by teaching and practicing reading from birth until passing. I think that this is a community process; from families to schools to towns and cities and so on. A culture of reading goes beyond learning how to read and embodies literacy as a socially-connected process. School librarians encourage learners, their families, and other educators to be lifelong learners in order to build a culture of reading. The adults in families and other educators have all been, or are currently, learners at a school library. The hope is that a love and appreciation for reading will continue beyond the school walls and the young students can connect with their adults about being lifelong learners and readers.

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A culture of reading means people coming together to obtain knowledge by discovering and reading a variety of materials. A culture of reading means motivating and encouraging each other to learn. School librarians should encourage lifelong readers because you want them to be able to create their own opinions and become their own person by learning various beliefs and understanding how to compare and contrast each other's thoughts. It's about building connections, building knowledge, and creating a cohesive community of learners.

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I think that a culture of reading is all about the idea that reading should be celebrated and enjoyable, not just as a skill, but something that truly matters and brings joy. It’s the notion that books connect and bring people together, inspiring a love of learning.

School librarians play a key role in building this by inspiring not just students, but also teachers and families to love reading. When everyone gets involved, reading becomes a habit that sticks- from the time that parents read bedtime stories to their children until they are old enough to pick out and read books on their own. Kids imitate what they see, and if they watch the trusted adults in their life model good habits of regular reading, they are more likely to develop the same habits themselves.

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School librarians have a unique opportunity to influence a culture of reading in their students' lives by not only encouraging children and youth to read, but also by encouraging their family members and other teachers to become readers. Children are influenced by those around them. If their parents, grandparents, siblings and teachers all encourage reading and model their own love for reading, these habits will be instilled in the students. School librarians touch many lives, and they are in a position to make a significant difference in the lives of their students by creating a webbed culture of reading by inspiring a desire for lifelong reading in a variety of people in a student's life.

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When I think of a culture of reading, I think of one definition of culture. Culture in the medical field is providing an environment where things (usually bacteria, if present) can grow. So to me, a culture of reading is creating an environment where readers can grow and thrive. It is also providing an environment where reading is the norm, and somewhat expected but can be done for any reason that the reader needs. This could be for pleasure, information, academia, how to do something, etc. School librarians should encourage educators and families to be lifelong readers so that the culture of reading is more supported. Students will be more likely to want to read if they see the adults in their life doing it too.

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Similar to the way that music is a culture, reading is a culture in itself because it connects different groups of people and brings them together. Reading can be for enjoyment, education or to share messages about thoughts, beliefs and perspectives on life. The culture of reading changes over time, but reading is something that is instilled and shared throughout generations. It is for this reason that reading should be encouraged to everyone involved in the lives of students (educators and families); By fostering an appreciation for reading in others, it will be shared with the younger generations of readers, and will be carried with them throughout their lives.

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I see a culture of reading as a culture where reading is expected and praised. At the elementary age, I would say that there is a strong culture of reading, as many young students love reading and do it regularly, but we often see the number of enthusiastic readers dwindle as students grow up. As librarians, we need to put in the work to cultivate a reading culture that continues throughout a students life.

This continuous love of reading becomes much easier when a child has many role models in their life that show them that being a reader does not have an age limit. Children look up to their role models and model their behavior based on what they see and experience around them, so if they are surrounded by parents, teachers, or other adult role models who express a genuine love of reading and learning, the child is more likely to develop this love of reading and learning too.