CIL 2007: Millennials and the Library

Marshall Breeding, Vanderbilt University

frenetic multitasking/ highly interactive style of working

forrester - "the millennials are coming" {usual demographic generalizations about millennial characteristics}

"things we're trying to do to satisfy millennials are things we should be doing anyway" {right on} - also hard to bridge gap between millennial and older gen styles in some regards

build collections that include media other than text: ejournals + ebooks {but everyone hates ebooks in reality!}/ lecture podcasts/ stock footage video libraries/ news archives/ data sets (census etc)- tool for mash-up and remix type projects

provide library search and discovery tools on level of commercial web

library websites don't match mil gen user expectations - mostly status quo, not intuitive, have to go to too many places to find different types of info

finding time magazine video from penn state {awesome}

metasearch "fundamentally bankrupt?" - very shallow results

redefinition of library catalog - have to redesign to capture attention

need to work on more comprehensive search, more like open archives initiative but better! problems with cooperation from commercial db providers - deep search capabilities

web 2.0 tools just a start in solving problem

xml api/ajax/microformats/ open search are support tools that can make lib stuff more like wider online world

replacement opacs: endeca/ aquabrowser - alternate search engine and interface on top of catalog data

extensible catalog - thinking about what library catalog should/ could be in future

interface expectations: more intuitive, get good stuff first, faceted browsing, rich visual info, navigational breadcrumbs

don't count on user starting at library site - know who they really search and guide them to resources/ collections, expose content through non-library interfaces (courseware etc)

global discovery vs local resources: discovery global, delivery local {good ideas, but how to do it well?}