“Sometimes content can be sacrificed for format” How People Get Their Information

1. “Sometimes content can be sacrificed for format”How People Get Their Information Presented by: Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Ph.D. Senior Research Scientist

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

3. 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%)

4. Cohort #1 Born 1946 - 1954 Experimental Individualists Free spirited Social cause oriented Cohort #2 Born 1955 - 1964 Less optimistic Distrust of government General cynicism Who Are They?Baby Boomers

5. Information PerspectivesBaby Boomers • Value authoritative information • Involved in information seeking • Value library as place • Use technology as tool • Personalized service

6. Who Are They?Millennials • Millennials / NextGens / EchoBoomers / Gen Y • Born between 1979 & 1994 • 75 – 80 Million • Generational divide • 13-28 year olds • By 2010 will outnumber Baby Boomers

7. Who are they?Screenagers • Youngest members of “Millennial Generation” • Term coined in 1996 by Rushkoff • Used here for 12-18 year olds • Affinity for electronic • communication

8. Information PerspectivesMillennials • Information is information • Media formats don’t matter • Visual learners • Process immediately • Different research skills

9. 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

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

11. Baby Boomers:Convenient & 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…”

12. Baby Boomers:Did 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.”

13. Millennials:Convenient & 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 don’t even have to go to a search engine anymore. I mean it is literally one tab down…”

14. Millennials:Did 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.”

15. Seeking Synchronicity: Evaluating Virtual Reference Services from User, Non-User, & Librarian Perspectives

16. Non-User (Screenagers):Stereotypes and Independence • “Because, I mean, once they do their famous point, it’s just like… you don’t want to go near them again.” • “I wouldn’t really trust my librarian. I trust Google.” • “Plus I think the IMing kind of gives it a cold feeling to it… when you can actually sit and talk to someone face-to-face you kind of can see if they care or not…”

17. Non-User (Screenagers):Security, Accuracy, and Speed • “I don’t usually like to talk to like people I don’t know on the Internet.” • “I’m not going to go get tutored on the Internet by somebody… who might be some psycho serial killer out there when I could get personal help from my home and people in my community.” • “A librarian’s trying to do like 15 of those conversations at once they’re going to mix up replies…” • “I don’t really want to take the time actually to type out, like explaining what I’m doing, what I need it for, what type of sources I need.”

18. Non-User (Millennials):Preference for Face-to-Face • “Just generally, I would talk to somebody in person.” • “I prefer to interact with a librarian that I know.” • “I would just go, um, to the library website…” • “I go to Google Scholar as well and Inquestia.com which I belong to.”

19. Non-User (Millennials): Privacy and Technology Concerns • “And there could be a chance that [the librarian might say] ‘This guy’s teaching these classes and he doesn’t know this?!’” • “I was worried that in some way, you know, if the Department would get a report about what questions [I was asking], you know what I mean…” • “Would the connection be good enough to facilitate real-time chat?”

20. VRS Users (Millennials):Convenience and Independence • “I’d rather go two feet to my computer than a couple of miles to the library.” • “I always want to do everything myself – I don’t want help.”

21. VRS Users (Millennials): Collaboration • “It’s helpful to have another person looking for you so you get twice as much information – which is quicker.” • “…they know how to do it and know where to look and you don’t necessarily know.”

22. VRS Users (Millennials): Personalized Service • “I was on the site at 2 or 3 in the morning and it felt personalized.” • “Instead of having to write everything down… you have the transcript of the conversation and all the links from the conversation in a permanent email.”

23. Users (Boomers & Millennials): Ability to Multi-Task • Moderator: “Okay, so there’s some consensus on that that it allows you to multitask?” • Multiple Participants: “Yes.”

24. VRS Users (Millennials):Distrust • “To me it wasn’t that much more than any other search engine.” • “I’m not sure how much attention the person… was paying attention to the actual question or the key words in the actual question.” • “…they were just Googling stuff as far as I could see.” • “I feel like I get better results when I’m, like with the person.”

25. Users Highly value Librarian’s attitude & personal qualities Some value interpersonal aspects more than receipt of information Librarians More likely to value content, transfer of information Also value relationship qualities (but to a lesser degree) Two Views

26. Interpersonal Communication Analysis: Results • Relational Facilitators • Interpersonal aspects of the chat conversation that have apositiveimpact on the librarian-client interaction and thatenhancecommunication. • Relational Barriers • Interpersonal aspects of the chat conversation that have anegativeimpact on the librarian-client interaction and thatimpedecommunication.

27. Facilitators – DifferencesMillennials (n=296) vs. Adults (n=76) • 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) • (n=372 transcripts)

28. Facilitators – DifferencesMillennials (n=296) vs. Adults (n=76) • 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) • (n=372 transcripts)

29. Barriers – DifferencesMillennials (n=296) vs. Adults (n=76) • 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 • (n=372 transcripts)

30. Multiple Demands on the Library

31. What Now? • Three Opportunity Areas: • Content Access Services

32. 1. Content • What can information providers do? • Tailor content • Shape collections • More choices • Make discovery easy

33. 1. Content • What information providers are doing today: • Network level services • Discovery • 24x7 access • Online content • Incorporating more relevant content • Enabling user contributed content

34. 2. Access • What can information providers do? • Expand search tools • Expose library content through both: • Library interfaces • Non-library interfaces • Provide access – anytime, anywhere

35. 2. Access • What information providers are doing today: • Broadcast & federated search • WorldCat Local • Partnerships • Web services • Mobile interfaces

36. 3. Services • What can information providers 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

37. 3. Services • What information providers are doing today: • Virtual reference • Social networking tools • Profiles • User contributed content • Tags • Reviews • Lists • RSS feeds / alerts • Recommendations • Community tools • Collaboration

38. 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

39. What We Learned • The image of libraries is… • BOOKS • Patrons do not think of the library as an important source of electronic information!

40. What can we do? • Create a library experience which matches the experience of the web • Easy search functionality • Integrated library search for all sources • Social networking software • Recommender service • Click-through to online sources • Point of need reference services • Instant messaging reference services • Customizable library portals