A Discussion on Disconnects Between Library Culture and Millennial Generation User Values
Phil Moss – session chair
Robert McDonald – University of California, San Diego/Indiana University
Chuck Thomas – Florida Center for Library Automation/IMLS
Tyler Walters - Georgia Tech
- This is an interactive session, use clickers to see how we are like/unlike typical millennials
- Do you have facebook/myspace account? 70% of us,
- Do you use IM? 40% every day 40% every week
- SMS? 50% every day, 30% never
- How do you prefer to communicate with colleagues? email at 89%
- Kindly asked if he needed to cover Millennials, then said we could skip that section since we all knew most of that content.
- Research indicated they are no more gifted or able to find good information over other generations, even online
- Used short video interviews to find out millenial expectations. Tried to find people with their own laptops to ask questions of students with some level of technical expertise.
- Showed answers for a few questions: do you have an ___ account, IM, cell phone, sms?
- Q: Most did say they used these things, but there were some who didn’t.
- As someone who went to college at the height of AOL and ICQ messaging, I was really surprised at how few of the students use online instant messaging compared to cell phone text messaging (which most seemed to do daily)
- After reading a lot about this generation, I was surprised that so many said that they liked using email.
- Seemed like the second most frequent answer for group work, after email, was telephone. This surprised me because I know from reading Millennial research that I tend to have a lot in common with that demographic, but I really prefer the phone the least.
- Speakers said that some online communication waits until the group members know each other better.
- Interviews confirmed: heavy users of internet for entertainment (gaming, media, media creation), most have multiple devices, very comfortable with internet for shopping and classwork
- Q: Asked if the students felt that they are good at finding information online, and if they thought their classmates were good at finding information. All said they were good, and also thought their classmates were good at finding information online (but less confident)
- Q: When asked where to find scholarly or trustworthy sources for classes, Google was the only response that they got. One person said Jstor. No other databases or repositories mentioned.
- Q: Asked about Second Life with the expectation the students wouldn’t be using it as much as librarians. Most hadn’t even heard of it.
- Library disconnects: facilities, resources (library, institution), policy, technology
- Q: One thing library has that I can’t get elsewhere is: digital media (make movies/audio), “and I guess library help,” “not really anything I can think of,” “peace and quiet,” typewriter, older printed resources, magazines & resources, online library resources, online chat with librarians, free DVDs, with digital media being the big winner in this group.
- Learning spaces: collaboration needs of students (virtually and in-person), simultaneous need for technology and library resources, overlapping campus roles (with IT, advising, tutoring, writing center), “flattening library world” (mixed library / computer user support / student services environment)
- Showed the Georgia Tech commons that I saw in Atlanta earlier this week.
- Study area, multimedia support, presentation rehearsal studio (campus portal has room reservation for this room)
- West was done with less student input than East
- Learning spaces are never done: continual feedback and adjustment
- Campus partnerships grow: software training, multimedia projects, capture campus events, ed tech program development
- Q: The main thing I use in the library is: computers, course reserves, stacks if can’t find online articles, internet, quiet areas, digital videos (computers and internet won)
- Asked how wireless paths converge: 802.11x and cell
- Some cell phones use 802.11x coverage, which decreases what the network can cover
- Talked about iPhone: suggested we might need to have apps to be in the market
- Microsoft livemesh, mobileme, google moving into voip.
- How can libraries fit into handheld/cloud storage scenario?
- How can campus be prepared for 5 wireless devices per person?
- Do we need more email, IM, or more access to SMS? Unified messaging?
Very interesting session!
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