Blogging from Computers in Libraries 2007 in DC.
Session: Millenials in the Library - Marshall Breeding
http://staffweb.library.vanderbilt.edu/breeding
Millennial Characteristics
Innate ability for tech
frenetic multitasking
Don't overgeneralize differences - GenX, Baby Boomers, Millennials, etc. New librarians entering the profession are part of the Millennial Generation.
From Forrester - "The Millennials are Coming"
arrogant, skeptical, impatient, also creative, organized, independent.
contrasts between generations. The usual lists.
Visually oriented - look at the pics, then decide if there's anything worth reading. Our text-hevy pages might not be useful.
Stuff from LA Times on how they study. (Mis-spellings on PPT are kinda annoying...)
"To satisfy millennial gen users does not conflict w/needs of library users from previous generations, in fact they may be what we should have been doing all along! More immediacy of access, high quality service, more interactive. "
Doing nothing is not an option. Millennials will move on to non-library provided info sources and services if we don't keep up.
Mill Genn comforatable with working w/content in multimedia forms. Prefer graphics over text, etc. They love to remix - how can libraries provide opportunities for this?
He's suggesting e-journals and e-books. But everyone hates e-books, including Mill Gens! Podcasts of lectures (good idea), video libraries of stock footage (for remixing and projects). I like that latter idea - if they're going to mash, let's give them good resources to mash and remix!
Heightened expectations from many users, very tech savvy, etc.
But I keep thinking of the huge range of users we get at public libraries - 30yr olds who won't touch a keyboard! We can't just leave them behind, but at the same time, they're already being left behind by the world - we need to help them get back on track with the world, since they still have a lot of life to live in the 2.0 world.
Good points about the multiple types of searching we require them to do (books in one place, periodicals in another, digital content in another). They expect a single, seamless interface.
He shows
Finding Time Magazine video. Excellent example of difficulties we place in front of patrons to find information they need.
Need to provide library search tools that are more like what you'd find on an Amazon or YouTube (tagged, ranked, intuitive).
Metasearch = "fundamentally bankrupt"?
Not giving good, deep relevancy to users.
Next to me are my buddy Michael, blogging to his
TravelinLibrarian blog and David Free, blogging to his
David's Random Stuff blog. I feel so geeky. In a community of geeks...
Now Marshall is going after Elsevier and their ilk and the cooperation issue. "Not enough to do metadata. The world is way beyond metadata these days. If Amazon can 'search within the book'" what else is possible?
Social, more collaborative approach is great, 2.0 initiatives good for these sorts of users, but need to get to the 'meat of the matter' in terms of service provision and cooperation. "The more that we can work with info the way the rest of the world works with information, the more relevant we will be."
"front end" of what we do today - rethink. OPAC that comes with our ILS systems is just not cutting it.
Elements:
decoupled interface
mass export of catalog data
alternative search engine
alternative interface.
In development: Ex Libris Primo, Encore from Innovative Interfaces
Library-developed solutions:
eXtensible Catalog, URochester - River Campus Libs, Mellon foundation help
"Digital resources can't be an afterthought."
Can't continue to force users to different interfaces for different content. Need consolidated search environments "that give equal footing to digital and print resources".
Millennials and others are used to relevancy ranking - "good stuff" at the top.
Idea of complex boolean search created at front end by user is antiquated.
Rapid response, visual info (book jackets), let users drill down through results to narrow field, ratings and rankings.
He's right - Mill Gens rate and rank everything! The most mundane things.
Stats on where they begin search - 89% at search engine (Google), 2% at library website. We need to change our sites to change this stat.
"Library community lags years behind other IT industries in adoption of SOA and Web services."
Increase interralationships w/global info sources - Google, yahoo, oclc worldcat.org, etc.
global arena excels at discovery, local arena focuses on content delivery - global tools point to locally owned content. Need to connect these.
The old Google vs. libraries chestnut. He doesn't agree.
