The key question: is that dropping due to the costs of a subscription or the shift to other interests? “We don’t know what the most important reason for young people is to cancel their subscription,” says a spokesperson for the Zuid-Kennemerland Library. “It is of course not surprising that they just leave that subscription to the library at the age of eighteen, if they suddenly have to pay a lot themselves.”
That fewer young adults drop out when the subscription becomes free, prove figures from other parts of the country. Bibliothekenner Mark Deckers calculated this spring that more than 1 in 3 municipalities has a form of free membership for young adults. Spijkenisse, the municipality that started first, saw the total number of memberships increase spectacularly.
Fight against low literacy and bliss
The Haarlem city council already spoke for such a free subscription last year. An important argument was the fight against low literacy and bliss.
“We were also behind this plan, but it was not that one-two-three arranged,” explains the spokesperson for the Zuid-Kennemerland Library. “Our working area covers several municipalities, each with different financial arrangements for libraries. We have now succeeded in realizing this free subscription in our entire working area.”
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