Social Networking: The Confluence of Content, Collaboration and Community

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Social Networking The Confluence of Content,
Collaboration and Community

• Presented by
• Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Ph.D.
• Senior Research Scientist, OCLC
• Jasmine de Gaia
• Director, Social Networking Initiatives, OCLC
• Marie L. Radford, Ph.D.
• Associate Professor, Rutgers, The State
  University of New Jersey

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Libraries

• Provide systems and services to meet the
  information needs of differing groups
• Largest groups
• Baby boomers
• Cohort 1
• Cohort 2
• Millennials
• Screenagers

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Who Are They?Baby Boomers

• Actual boom in births occurred between 1946 -
  1964
• 1950s - Time of prosperity
• 1960s 1970s - Time of social upheaval
• Comprise largest part of workforce (45)

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Who Are They?Baby Boomers

• Cohort 2
• Born 1955 - 1964
• Less optimistic
• Distrust of government
• General cynicism

• Cohort 1
• Born 1946 - 1954
• Experimental
• Individualists
• Free spirited
• Social cause oriented

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Information PerspectivesBaby Boomers

• Value authoritative information
• Involved in information seeking
• Value library as place
• Use technology as tool
• Personalized service

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Who Are They?

• Millennials / NextGens / EchoBoomers / Gen Y
• Born between 1979 1994
• 75 80 Million
• Generational divide
• 13-28 year olds
• By 2010 will outnumber Baby Boomers

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Screenagers

• Youngest members of Millennial Generation
• Term coined in 1996 by Rushkoff
• Used here for 12-18 year olds
• Affinity for electronic communication

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Information PerspectivesMillennials

• Information is information
• Media formats dont matter
• Visual learners
• Process immediately
• Different research skills

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Information-seekers Preferences

• IMLS-funded projects
• How individuals find information to meet their
  needs
• Why information seekers do not choose to use
  library services first for their information
  needs
• How libraries can develop services and systems to
  meet the needs of information seekers

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• Sense-Making the Information Confluence
• The Whys and Hows of College and University User
  Satisficing of Information Needs

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Baby BoomersConvenient Authoritative

• Yeah, well, actually I was going to be different
  and not say Google. I do use Google, but I
  also use two different library homepages and I
  will go into the research databases do a search
  there and then I will end up limiting myself
  to the articles that are available online.
• Google is user friendly library catalog is
  not.
• before I came to the library to use the MLA
  database, I did a Google search and it turns out
  that there is a professor at Berkeley who keeps a
  really, really nice and fully updated page with
  bibliographic references.
• I'm suspicious of people who are publishing
  on-line because usually the peer review is much
  less rigorous.
• I'm not trust(ing) everything that's on the
  Internet

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Baby BoomersDid not use the library

• If I have a student mention a book and I'm not
  familiar with that book, Amazon.com gives me a
  brief synopsis, reader reviews of the book, so
  it's a good, interesting first source to go to
  for that kind of information.
• before I came to the library to use the MLA
  database, I did a Google search and it turns out
  that there is a professor at Berkeley who keeps a
  really, really nice and fully updated page with
  bibliographic references.

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MillennialsConvenient Quick

• Also I just go ask my dad, and he'll tell me how
  to put in a fence, you know? So why sort through
  all this material when he'll just tell me
• you need to know which database with
  abstracting, indexing Google, I don't have to
  know, I go to one spot.
• first thing I do, is, I go to Google I don't
  go into the library system unless I have to
  because there's like 15 logins, you have to get
  into the research databases. Then it takes you
  out of that to the local consortium
• I had the Google tool bar, tool bar on my
  browser. I dont even have to go to a search
  engine anymore. I mean it is literally one tab
  down

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MillennialsDid not use the library

• The library is a good source if you have several
  months.
• Hard to find things in library catalog.
• Tried physical library but had to revert to
  online library resources.
• Yeah, I don't step in the library anymore
  better to read a 25-page article from JSTOR than
  250-page book.
• Sometimes content can be sacrificed for format.

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• Seeking Synchronicity
• Evaluating Virtual Reference Services from User,
  Non-User, Librarian Perspectives

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VRS Transcript Analysis

• Population of 500,000 QuestionPoint VRS sessions
• In-depth analysis of n850, random sample
• Sessions coded as Millennial (secondary school or
  collegiate)
• n296
• Sessions coded as adult for comparison,
• n76
• Analysis of relational facilitators and barriers
  reveal different communication patterns

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Facilitators DifferencesMillennials (n296)
vs. Adults (n76)

• Lower averages (per transcript)
• Thanks 59 (175) vs. 75 (57)
• Self Disclosure 42 (125) vs. 63 (48)
• Closing Ritual 38 (111) vs. 50 (38)
• Lower averages (per occurrence)
• Seeking reassurance 56 (166) vs. 68 (52)
• Polite expressions 30 (90) vs. 33 (25)
• (n372 transcripts)

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Facilitators DifferencesMillennials (n296)
vs. Adults (n76)

• Higher averages (per occurrence)
• Agree to suggestion 64 (188) vs. 47 (36)
• Lower case 43 (126) vs. 16 (12)
• Greeting Ritual 24 (70) vs. 16 (12)
• Admit lack knowledge 20 (58) vs. 7 (5)
• Interjections 20 (58) vs. 7 (5)
• Slang 9 (27) vs. 3 (2)
• (n372 transcripts)

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Barriers DifferencesMillennials (n296) vs.
Adults (n76)

• Higher averages (per transcript) for
• Abrupt Endings 37 (109) vs. 28 (21)
• Impatience 4 (13) vs. 1 (1)
• Rude or Insulting 3 (9) vs. 0
• (n372 transcripts)

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What We Learned

• Libraries are trusted sources of information
• Search engines are trusted about the same
• People care about the quantity and quality of
  information they find
• They like convenience and speed
• They do not view paid information as more
  accurate than free information
• The image of libraries is
• BOOKS
• Patrons do not think of the library as an
  important source of electronic information!

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Multiple Demands on the Library
Traditional Library Environment Baby Boomer Preferences Millennial Preferences
Requires patience Want it now Want it now
Largely text based Largely text based Visual, audio, multi-media
Learn from the expert Learn from the expert Figure it out for myself
Logical, linear learning Logical, linear learning Multi-tasking
Metasearch Full text Full text
Complexity Simplicity Simplicity
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What Now?

• Three Opportunity Areas
• Content
• Access
• Services

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1. Content

• What can libraries do?
• Tailor content
• Shape collections
• More choices
• Make discovery easy

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1. Content

• What libraries are doing today
• WorldCat.org
• Discovery
• 24x7 access
• Online content
• Incorporating more relevant content
• Enabling user contributed content

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2. Access

• What can libraries do?
• Expand search tools
• Expose library content through both
• Library interfaces
• Non-library interfaces
• Provide access anytime, anywhere

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2. Access

• What libraries are doing today
• Broadcast federated search
• WorldCat Local
• Partnerships
• Web services
• Mobile interfaces

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3. Services

• What can libraries do?
• Integrate physical spaces with virtual services
• Provide a comfortable environment
• Support collaboration
• Update infrastructure
• Provide media literacy skills
• Redesign the role of the
• librarian

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3. Services

• What libraries are doing today
• Virtual reference
• Social networking tools
• Profiles
• User contributed content
• Tags
• Reviews
• Lists
• RSS feeds / alerts
• Recommendations
• Community tools
• Collaboration

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Conclusion

• Expectations not isolated
• Lead the way
• By understanding them, we can serve everyone
  better

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Additional Resources

• Boomer Nation The Largest and Richest Generation
  Ever and how it Changed America, S. Gillon. New
  York Free Press, 2004.
• Generations The History of Americas Future,
  1584-2069, N. Strauss W. Howe. New York
  Morrow, 1991.
• Generations at Work, S. Luck. http//dps.dgs.virgi
  nia.gov/Forum2006/Presentations/S20120PPSluck20G
  enerations.ppt
• Growing Up Digital, D. Tapscott.
  www.growingupdigital.com
• Millennial Behaviors and Demographics. Sweeney,R.
  http//library1.njit.edu/staff-folders/sweeney/Mil
  lennials/Article-Millennial-Behaviors.doc
• Millennial Net Values Disconnects between
  Libraries and the Information Age Mindset, R.
  Mcdonald C. Thomas. http//dscholarship.lib.fsu.
  edu/general/4/
• Millennials Rising The Next Generation, W. Howe
  N. Strauss. New York Random House, 2000.
• Net Generation Students and Libraries, J.
  Lippincott. In Educating the Net Generation,
  Educause 2005.
• Screenagers and Live Chat Reference Living Up
  to the Promise, M.L. Radford L.S. Connaway.
  (February, 2007). Scan, 26(6), 31-39.

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Questions and Comments

• Lynn Silipigni Connaway
• Jasmine de Gaia
• Marie L. Radford