Ready for the OhOhs Making Libraries Relevant for Generation Y

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Ready for the Oh-Ohs? Making Libraries Relevant
for Generation Y

• Beth Avery
• Western State College
• bavery_at_western.edu

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Who are Millennials?

• Born between 1980 - 2000
• Largest population group since boomers (81 versus
  87 million)
• Also called Internet, Echo, Nintendo, Y
  Generation, Generation Next, Digital Generation,
  Millennials, Y2Kids, Gamer Generation (John C.
  Beck), Generation C (Trendwatching.com)

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Who are Millennials?

• Confident, impatient, inclusive, achievement
  oriented, civic-minded, optimistic, easily bored,
  volunteer-minded, motivated, competitive,
  resilient, social, special, achievers
• Take computers multimedia for granted.
• Multitaskers
• Collaborators, team oriented

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Technology Use

• 70 use IM
• 81 use e-mail
• 63 text message
• 56 prefer Internet to telephone
• 94 use Internet for school research
• 78 believe the Internet helps with school work
• Sources Oblinger, 2003 Pew Trust, 2002

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Millennials tend not to . . .

• Use the library as much as the internet
• Be drawn to text-heavy web environments
• Consult manuals or lengthy help documents
• Recognize a value in libraries within the digital
  future (presence presence presence!)

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A Paradigm Shift for Libraries

• There is an apparent disconnect between the
  culture of library organizations and that of Net
  Gen students. - Lippincott, 2005
• Only 20 learn by reading
• But 90 of librarians are text-based learners!
  -Stephen Abram, ALA2005

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Expectations

• Instant gratification
• Easy access, short cuts, feedback
• Service customised to their needs
• What I want, when I want it, how I want it, where
  I want it
• Participation within broad community
• Based on common experiences, values

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Learning Styles

• Technology based
• Visually oriented
• Desire for customised information
• Low threshold of boredom
• Active involvement in learning

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What do they want?

• Wireless Internet access
• Remote access to all library materials
• More comfortable environment
• More staff who are helpful and show you where
  stuff is
• Better marketing
• More choices in materials.
• Source Brookover

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What do they want?

• Want library to identify and anticipate their
  needs before they know they need it
• Give instant, easy access to useful knowledge
• Use technology to create a sense of community

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What do they want?

• Learn just in time, not just in case.
• Learn when and where they want

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New Tools

• Search interfaces that map across collections and
  types and that are simple
• Visually oriented interfaces and web pages
• Embedded and integrated services within devices
  and environments of choice (mobile, cms, IM
  video chat, trusting collaborative
  environments, rss)

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New Tools

• Collaborative and participatory architectures
  that remove the gatekeeper (blogs, wikis)
• Interactive online tutorials for help and
  instruction

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Visually Oriented Interfaces

• Millennials have grown up in GUI environments
• Growing pains for libraries in moving from print
  to web environments
• Many of our web pages are very text-heavy
• Google
• Simplistic yet responsive immediate results and
  gratification

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Google 1998
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Google 2005
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Yahoo! 1997
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Yahoo! 2005
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Search Interfaces, contd . . .

• Federated searching
• WebFeat
• Serials Solutions
• MuseSearch
• Zportal
• Multisearch
• SearchSolver

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Services

• Any where, any time -- 24X7 Service
• Self-Service
• Enriched end user experience
• Collaborative
• Point of need Embedded Services
• Tutorials
• Electronic reference
• Electronic books

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Embedded Services

• Put services in front of the user
• IM
• Mobile devices
• RSS feeds
• Aggregators
• Hot links from online courses/syllabi
• CMS Content Management Systems
• Portals personalization
• Amazon model

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Participatory Architectures

• The new sources of trusted information mass
  collaboration model -Joan Frye Williams
• Wikipedia
• Blogs, Wikis, vlogs
• Ramifications for vendors and information
  providers

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Teaching Information Seeking Skills

• Tendency to over-estimate ability to find,
  critically evaluate and use suitable information
  sources
• Search strategy skills
• Critical thinking
• Responsible use
• Will use what is demonstrated

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Information Seeking Abilities

• Willing to wade through several screens to find
  what they want.
• Tendency to compromise on quality in favour of
  ease of access, low cost
• ability to discriminate?
• devalues the research process

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Learning Needs

• Short attention span
• Tendency towards short term immediate need over
  longer term investment of time and effort in
  learning
• what about lifelong learning?

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Teaching Information Literacy

• Emphasize outcomes not techniques remember they
  want what they want
• Provide a range of learning options learning
  styles are important
• Make learning experiential learn from doing not
  reading
• Integrate into other teaching where possible
• Group work they way weve taught them to learn
• Build in feedback just like video games
• Involve your Gen X Y staff and students in
  planning and delivery

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References

• Abram, Stephen Judy Luther. (2004). Born with
  the Chip. Library Journal May 1. Retrieved from
  http//www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA411572.htm
  l
• Braybrook, Penny (2004) Library services, Gen X
  Gen Y. Victorian Association of TAFE Libraries
  (VATL) Conference. http//www.vatl.org.au/VATL/
  homepageVAT/ VATL_Conference/Documents/VATL_Penny_
  Braybrook.ppt
• Brookover, Sophie, et.al. (2004). Pop Goes the
  Library Millenials Libraries.
  http//www.nexgenlibrarian.net/popculture/2004/12/
  millennials-libraries.html.
• Holliday, Wendy and Qin Li. (2004). Understanding
  the millennials updating our knowledge about
  students. Reference Services Review 32(4).

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References

• Lippincott, Joan K. (2005). Net Generation
  Students Libraries. Educause Review
  March/April. Retrieved from www.educause.edu/ir/li
  brary/pdf/erm0523.pdf
• Manuel, Kate. (2002) Teaching information
  literacy to Generation Y. Journal of Library
  Administration, vol. 36(1/2) pp. 195-217
• Oblinger, Diana and James L. Oblinger, eds.
  (2005) Educating the Net Generation. Educause.
  Available electronically at http//www.educause/ed
  ucatingthenetgen
• Vokey, Sherri (2005) Providing Digital Library
  Services to Millenials. University of Toronto,
  FIS Inforum, Power Point Presentation, 22 July.
  http//scholar.uwinnipeg.ca/testing/vokey/fis_mill
  ennials.ppt

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• THANK YOU!