By Kelly Sullivan

Burdened by classes, homework and the responsibilities college entails, some students find it difficult to have spare time to read.

Sophomore English major Will Clark said he does not find it surprising that one in four people did not read a book last year. He was responding to the results of an Associated Press – Ipsos Poll on American’s reading habits.

“Our culture is flooded with television and various other media sources,” Clark said. “Reading has been put on the back burner.”

According to the survey, which quizzed about 1,000 people about their reading habits via telephone interviews last month, women and elderly people tend to read more than males and younger people. The average number of books read in a year was seven, while the Bible and other religious texts were read most.

“In earlier years of education, girls are pushed to read and write, while boys tend to excel in science and math,” said Jen Usher, a middler psychology major. “When they become older, women would then be more apt to read.”

The survey also revealed that people holding college degrees are more likely to read recreationally than those who don’t.

“People with college degrees are more academic,” said Leticia Agyei, a junior biology major, who wasn’t surprised by the findings. “They might want to be more informed about the world.”

The survey also broke readers down by political, racial and financial backgrounds. Democrats read more than Republicans and whites more than blacks and Hispanics, it said. People from low-income, rural and less religious backgrounds were found to be less likely to read.

Dan Sznenczy, a sophomore finance major, doesn’t think enough people from different backgrounds were surveyed to draw conclusions.

“There are too many variables, and some people just don’t tell the truth,” he said.

David Hurwitz, a sophomore business major, said he thinks at least 10,000 people should have been surveyed.

“It wasn’t large enough,” he said. “You have to think ‘how many people are actually minorities, or liberal?'”

Donna Kennedy, head librarian for campus access services, was surprised by the survey’s claims – particularly that 25 percent of adults didn’t read a book in the past year. She said that although most books checked out are research books, the library is always busy. Fall quarter is usually the busiest, she said.

“There may be some students who don’t use the library here often,” Kennedy said. “But even fewer who don’t use it all.”

Snell Library holds 987,000 books and periodicals and has an entire aisle devoted to new novels.

For Northeastern students, reading is not as much of a chore as the activity is ranked third under “interests” on the university’s Facebook network. Top-rated books include J.D. Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye”, George Orwell’s “1984”, and Dan Brown’s “The DaVinci Code.”

“I read because I like to read about other people’s ideas, especially philosophy, literature, poetry and things that deal with the humanities,” said sophomore economics major Royce Redelsperger.

He said he read about 10 books last year, including four that were required for school or as school work.

“I can only speak on my own behalf, but reading a book is like anything else in life; if you need it you should take advantage. I enjoy it,” he said.