Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Younger Americans and Public Libraries report

Younger Americans and Public Libraries is a Pew Research Internet Project report that "pulls together several years of research into the role of libraries in the lives of Americans and their communities with a special focus on Millennials". It looks at things like attitudes to, and use of, public libraries and books, use of internet and social media, participation/ consumption of other media and activities (i.e. it does not just look at libraries in isolation). Three age ranges are identified and described: ages 16-17; 18-24; and 25-29. They also note, however, that age is not the only factor e.g. "people who have extensive economic, social, technological, and cultural resources are also more likely to use and value libraries as part of those networks."
Just to pull out one paragraph from the summary "Respondents of all age groups generally agree that the internet makes it much easier to find information today than in the past, and most Americans feel that it’s easy to separate the good information from bad online. However, Americans under age 30 are actually a little more likely than older adults to say that there is a lot of useful, important information that is not available on the internet. They are also somewhat more likely to agree that people without internet access are at a real disadvantage because of all the information they might be missing." Summary and full report at http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/09/10/younger-americans-and-public-libraries/
Photo by Sheila Webber: Vase of wild oregano, July 2014

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