Generation Y biggest user of libraries

[Mojorabbit]

This surprised me.

Generation Y biggest user of libraries: survey 2 hours, 4 minutes ago



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than half of Americans visited a library in the past year with many of them drawn in by the computers rather than the books, according to a survey released on Sunday.

Of the 53 percent of U.S. adults who said they visited a library in 2007, the biggest users were young adults aged 18 to 30 in the tech-loving group known as Generation Y, the survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project said.

"These findings turn our thinking about libraries upside down," said Leigh Estabrook, a professor emerita at the University of Illinois and co-author of a report on the survey results.

"Internet use seems to create an information hunger and it is information-savvy young people who are most likely to visit libraries," she said.

Internet users were more than twice as likely to patronize libraries as non-Internet users, according to the survey.

More than two-thirds of library visitors in all age groups said they used computers while at the library.

Sixty-five percent of them looked up information on the Internet while 62 percent used computers to check into the library's resources.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071230/wr_nm/internet_libraries_dc_1;_ylt=Aknz5ICzSWcTLT_iMy5cnQwE1vAI

[ThomWV]

1. Excellent! nt

[LeftyMom]

2. Yeah, but we're mostly college age.

And even if the natural inclination is to look stuff up on the internet first, most instructors require some print sources for papers.

It would make more sense to compare library use data with that of other generations when they were the same age, or to compare only student or non-student populations for each age group, because without controlling for student status you're probably only seeing that students use the library more often than non-students, which is kind of obvious.

[Igel]

3. How many of the Gen Y folk drawn in used other resources actually

in or part of the library's holdings? What %?

I mean, in Poland and the Czech Republic there are libraries. And there are Internet cafes, where you go, plop down a small fee, and surf or check e-mail. The Internet cafes are immensely popular. Libraries, not so much.

Are Gen Y people using libraries as free Internet cafes?

The difference is this: A library has a number of different resources; the Internet isn't really part of the library, but is a resource--a relatively cheap one. But most of the other resources are expensive. Would a large room with decent decor and a long row of computers, no books, magazines, or CDs, but with a "search-engine consultant" be a better--and much cheaper--alternative?

On a similar note ... my nearly-4-year-old kid loves the local public libraries. There are other kids, big bean-bag pillows, and some toys. He loves those particular resources as much as some of the books.