I’m in Eagle, Idaho for the awesome “Evolving Library Services for Digital Natives” mini-conference put on by the Idaho Commission for Libraries. Last night we got to hear Stephen Abram talk, this morning we heard Alane Wilson talk about the OCLC Perceptions study, and in the early afternoon we heard from a panel of real life Digital Natives! And we just listened. Then Sarah Houghton, Stephen and I were moderated (ha!) by Alane while we had what was essentially a nearly three hour Q&A/show and tell session with the amazing audience. Tomorrow we get to workshop in the morning, and help groups plan services for Digital Natives. This has been a top-notch event! The librarians of Idaho should be thanking Gina Persichini and State Librarian Ann Joslin (and I’m sure others) for putting this on.
Kris and Jen have been blogging about the conference at Russet Vixen, so check that out, but I want to include my notes on the panel of Millenials. Stephen did a bang-up job asking them questions, which I’ll include right here so you can copy, paste, and ask these to a group of teenagers in your library.
What was the last song you listened to?
How do you listen to music?
Should the poor have access to college education or should it be only parents money?
Agree or disagree: It is better to be seen as a peer group than too smart by the group.
When did you last exercise, what did you do?
When was the last time you volunteered outside of school?
Will the world be better or worse in 10 years?
What will your standard of living be like? Same, better or worse than your parents?
How many friends are of a different ethnicity?
How many close friends do you stay in constant contact with?
What brand of jeans do you like?
Do you play an instrument?
Have you put content on the web?
Do you IM?
How much text messaging do you do?
Do you have a MySpace? Tell me about it.
Do you play videogames?
When did you last visit a public/school library?
When was the last time you were in a big bookstore?
Do you believe that gay marriage should be legal?
What is your career goal?
If you had money to spend on parks, libraries or schools, where would you put it?
Do you consider yourself a Republican, Democrat or independent?
Sarah did a great job writing some prose about the questions, so here’s the notes I took. After the ones Stephen asked, there are a few that were asked by the audience. In case you don’t read that far, let me pull out a few things:
- Even though some of these kids have grown out of IM (for the time being I suspect), and even though they are NOT library users, they unanimously thought that being able to contact the library via IM was a great idea.
- The number one things they’d change about the library teen spaces is the color. They want something very bright. So bright that you’d think it was totally gross.
- Every participant was very enthusiastic for gaming events in libraries.
Ok, here’s how they answered the questions.
Music?
radio – rock/pop
MP3 – can’t remember song
delilah (local woman)
wicked musical
delilah, not by choice!
lincoln park
hip-hop
radio
how do you listen to music?
split between radio and ipod. no CDs
what brand of jeans?
american eagle
BKE – the buckle
cheapest!
american eagle/aeropostle
whatever fits
don’t wear jeans, i like cargo pants
levi
old navy
don’t care
how many close friends do you stay in constant contact w/?
3-4
15-20
phone a lot
3-4 local friends
2-3
3-4, with them a lot
groups, 10-12
10, around the state, everyday, phone
5-6
(girls have more)
how many friends are of a different ethnicity
0
2
not many
2
0
everyone!!!
2-3
small minority
3
what will your standard of living be like? same better or worse than parents
better
aiming for better
better
better
same, but better
better
better, prolly the same
better, same is ok
better, prolly the same
will the world be better than 10 years?
same, prolly better
worse
worse
same, or worse
worse
worse
some aspects better (tech), but worse because more poverty
worse
maybe better because of tech! environmental concerns
when was the last time you volunteered outside of school? – 100% of the crowd!
every fall, church related
spring
church, carwash
carwash, church
church
church, family friends
when did you exercise, what did you do?
this morning, weights, running
this morning, pilates
skateboarding is not excercise
today
yesterday
this morning
two days ago
yesterday
yesterday
it is better to be seen as a peer group than too smart by the group – agree?
that’s the way things are
i agree, you’ll be left out otherwise
depends
really better to be smarter
i get picked on for being smarter
good to be smart, but don’t be cocky, friends shouldn’t care
what he said
better to be part of a peer group, if you’re smarter, you might be seen as making people stupid
people should accept you
should the poor have access to college education (government) or should it be parents money?
if they’ve worked hard, social status shouldn’t matter at all
same thing, if you work hard you should be rewarded
agreed
agreed, not your fault if you are poor
the government should help
agree. everyone should be able to do it. money does not equal smart
the rich should have to pay, the poor should not
do you believe that gay marriage should be law?
boy – nope, should not be law
boy – nope, it is not right in my beliefs
girl = it SHOULD be law
girl – shouldn’t be illegal
girl – can’t control it, called something different
girl – yes, ppl should be able to do what they want
boy – marriage no, being together okay
boy – gay marriage i disagree totally
boy – marriage no, being together okay
when was the last time you were in a big bookstore? (nothing w/in walking)
month ago
2 weeks
quite a while ago
quite a while ago
long time ago
i don’t read unless it is assigned, don’t visit them
when harry potter 6 came out
winter to buy books
when did you visit a public/school library?
really really long time/school often
couple months for big projects/constantly!
quite a while/don’t go in there much
couple weeks/not for a while
when i was 9/school year
when i need to get a study book or project, couple days ago/regularly
only been there once, a month in a half ago, didn’t have da vinci/for projects
winter/last day of school
do you play videogames?
yes, xbox and ps2 – tony hawk
no, sometimes like DDR
quite often – king of hearts 2
yes, mario, gameboy
few weeks ago, xbox motorcycle, computer
ps2, don’t play often, role playing games
daily, war games, call of duty, madden, xbox
this morning, the sims
late last night, xbox, all the games that i owned, halo. i was bored. i played a while ago, yesterday
do you have myspace, tell me about it
2 accounts, one real, one test, i talk to friends that way
don’t do it too much anymore, switching to facebook
don’t use it too much any more, i got over it
don’t have one, my friends do
trying to get it canceled
don’t have it, don’t get it
don’t have it, don’t get it
my parents hate it, think it is unsafe, won’t get it
don’t have it, made one up for fun
text messaging? how much
1000/month
unlimited! all the time
all the time, 3000/month
don’t have a phone
1000/month
no phone
would have to pay for it, no
don’t have phone
no phone and i don’t see why not. i want one!
IM?
MSN, Yahoo, and AIM, but I use myspace. used to be obsessed w/IM
in middle school i IMed all the time
yahoo, msn, aim, don’t use it much anymore
don’t have IM, parents won’t let me (has secret one)
msn, AIM, yes
msn, aim, yes
used to use it when i was younger (boy is 16), homework help
parents won’t let me
no accounts, my sister has three accounts, on it constantly
have you put content on the web?
yes
yes
nope
nope
yes, friends set up site for homework help
yes, video
musician?
yes, tried things
viola
drums
republican, democrat, independent?
republican, but some dems are okay
republican
no idea
independent
independent
whoever i agree with
republican
democrat
democrat (my mom might kill me otherwise)
what would make you go the library!?
group collaboration!
sweet computers, flatscreens – sexy!
plan ahead of time for research
talk and make noise
an area where you can have bigger groups
faster computers, way to find the books easier
easier way to find books
(boy thinks his library doesn’t have internet, window 98 is getting SLOW)
faster computers, easier to find books
parks, libraries or schools?
schools
schools, parks
library
schools
parks
schools
schools
schools
schools
(their concerns are better equipment)
what is your career goal?
photographer
physical therapist
graphic designer
marine biologist
medical field, physical therapy
undecided, medical
engineering
computer programmer
football player, navy pilot
would you go to the library if there was gaming?
of course
yes
yes
yes
yes
my friends would, tons of people would
if it was closer
what would your space in the library be?
barnes and noble, sit and read
bright colors, contemporary, sunken in floor
trendy colors
more colors, couches
food stand
music playing, headphones
comfortable seats
do you know any librarians as friends
my grandma
what would be in the library?
videogames
magazines and books
girls magazines
game rental, play it there and take it home
big TV, game nights like the library
laptops
what would you need in a study space?
3-5 people, 2 computers or big monitor
2 computers, doing different things (multitasking)
smartboard!
touchscreen
wireless keyboard/mouse
IM reference?
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes
yes (willing to pay!)
easier to drive,
never phoned the ref desk
we have this stuff. how should we let you know?
something on the internet
radio
video announcements
how do you FEEL about the library?
they are not so nice, eagle library is nice tho. depends
the library is a friendsly place (the homeless scare me), i’ll get what i need
depends on library and librarian, for the most part, good
always willing to help
i don’t know enough to know
they are nice for the most part
they want to help
it is a friendly place
have a favorite search engine? do you have a strategy?
dogpile, gives you the least amount to go through
google
google, spell correction
google, yahoo ads suck
google, the first i used
google
google, yahoo
google
google, used it first, i’m learning how to use it well
has anyone heard of lili databases (local stuff) 2/9 🙁