DALLAS — Some public school librarians say students are picking up more books than they have in years. It comes as the first school year with a statewide cellphone ban wraps up.
At Dallas Independent School District’s Irma Rangel Library, there’s a student checking out more than a dozen books for the next two weeks.
Librarian Christene Estrada is there and happy to help.
“The sixth graders, I always say, they’re my best customers,” said Estrada. “They love to read, so they’re coming in all the time.”
But it hasn’t always been like this.
“Last year, I didn’t see many sixth graders coming into the library,” said Estrada. “This year more students are coming into the library, specifically sixth graders. They love manga. They love fantasy; they love mystery.”
This year, the state put a ban on phones in public schools.
As phones went down, book checkouts went up.
“I saw students who would come in, and they would not gravitate towards a book if they had their phone,” said Estrada.
At the Irma Rangel Library, checkouts are now up 42%. Across the district, checkouts are up 21%.
“I used to read a lot because it was on my phone so instead of checking out books, I would just be coming in here and reading on my phone,” said Ariana Acevedo, a student at Irma Rangel.
“It’s a lot different reading online and reading a physical book is a lot different, especially because I would read mostly webtoons or manga like most other kids, but this got me into more traditional books,” said Acevedo.
Elizabeth Igwe-icho is the school’s top reader this year, checking out 206 books.
“The good thing about like physical books is you can actually feel it and like actually read it,” said Igwe-icho. “It transports you to a different world in your mind that you never thought that you could’ve seen so that’s what I really love about reading.”