This document discusses trends in demographics and technology usage among current and future generations of library users. It notes that child poverty is rising while teen birth rates are falling. Cities are becoming wealthier and more segregated, while suburbs are growing more diverse. Most teens now access the internet primarily through mobile devices. It introduces "Generation Z", those born between 1995-2014, as the next generation of library users and discusses strategies for libraries to effectively engage them, such as providing diverse and collaborative programming and spaces for making things.

1. Snapshot.
trendspotting and modeling for the next
generation of library users
Monica Harris
Deputy Director
Schaumburg Township District Library

2. "We must welcome the future, remembering that soon it will be the
past; and we must respect the past, remembering that it was once all
that was humanly possible." - George Santayana

7. What does
America look
like for kids and
parents in 2014?

8. Child poverty rates are rising
Child Poverty By the Numbers by Curtis Skinner. http://prospect.
org/article/child-poverty-numbers

10. Teen birth rates fell to an all-time low

12. Cities are getting wealthier, whiter, and more segregated
Income Segregation in America, Chicago Magazine, http://www.
chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/The-312/July-2012/Income-
Segregation-in-Chicago-and-the-Gentrification-of-America/
Thomas B Fordham Institute, http://edexcellence.
net/commentary/education-gadfly-daily/flypaper/2012/the-
fastest-gentrifying-neighborhoods-in-the-united-states.html

13. Daniel Kay Hertz, Watch Chicago’s Middle Class Vanish Before Your Very Eyes, http://danielkayhertz.
com/2014/03/31/middle-class/

14. Meanwhile, the suburbs are getting more diverse
“Seven of the ten most diverse
neighborhoods in America are suburban.
None of them are in the evolving, creative-
class city and inner suburban districts that
many of us normally think of as undergoing
change. Taken as a whole, average home
values in the ten are slightly higher than
those in other neighborhoods, and the most
diverse are growing faster and their home
prices are increasing somewhat faster that
in other neighborhoods. Visually, they
strike me as very middle class, though their
settings range from beautiful to drab. They
look like America.”
Kaid Benfield, NRDC Switchboard http://switchboard.nrdc.
org/blogs/kbenfield/meet_americas_most_diverse_nei.html

16. ● About three in four (74%) teens ages 12-17 say they access the internet
on cell phones, tablets, and other mobile devices at least occasionally.
● One in four teens are “cell-mostly” internet users — far more than the
15% of adults who are cell-mostly. Among teen smartphone owners,
half are cell-mostly.
● Older girls are especially likely to be cell-mostly internet users; 34% of
teen girls ages 14-17 say they mostly go online using their cell phone,
compared with 24% of teen boys ages 14-17. This is notable since boys
and girls are equally likely to be smartphone owners.
● Among older teen girls who are smartphone owners, 55% say they use
the internet mostly from their phone.
Pew Teens and Technology 2013

17. "It used to be that there was lots of time, but
the information was limited. You would go
to the library, it might take a while, but
that's where all the information was. Now,
it's just the opposite. Information is
everywhere, but nobody has any time.
The rules have changed."
http://www.anythinklibraries.org/discuss/what-traditional-conventions-do-you-see-your-
library-and-how-would-you-disrupt-them#comments

18. One Piece of Advice:
Get.
Comfortable.
With. Change.

19. “Companies are valued
less for their success than
for the their ability to
adapt and change.”
-Tom Kelley, The Ten Faces of Innovation

20. “The greatest
glory in living lies
not in never
falling,
but in rising every
time we fall.”
― Nelson Mandela

23. “The results suggest that Wikipedia articles in this sample scored
higher altogether in each of the three languages, and fared
particularly well in categories of accuracy and references. As the
report notes, the English Wikipedia fared well in this sample against
Encyclopaedia Britannica in terms of accuracy, references and overall
judgement, with little differences between the two on style and
overall quality score. Similar results were found when comparing
Wikipedia articles in Spanish to Enciclonet. In Arabic, Mawsoah and
Arab Encyclopaedia articles scored higher on style than Wikipedia, but
no significant differences were found on accuracy, references,
overall judgment and overall quality score.”
Seven years after Nature, pilot study compares Wikipedia favorably to other encyclopedias in three
languages by Daria Taraborelli, August 2 2012. http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/08/02/seven-years-after-
nature-pilot-study-compares-wikipedia-favorably-to-other-encyclopedias-in-three-languages/

24. Encyclopedia Britannica Vs. Wikipedia
Britannica's goal is to become THE ironclad
definitive source. Wikipedia can just
document the change in how information
is perceived.
The real story is less about accuracy and
more about documenting change.

26. traditional

28. participatory

36. Learning from each other is not
new. This is what the college
experience is all about.

38. “Every day, we collectively
produce millions of books’
worth of writing. Globally we
send 154.6 billion emails, more
than 400 million tweets, and
over 1 million blog posts and
around 2 million blog comments
on WordPress. On Facebook, we
post about 16 billion words.
Altogether, we compose some
3.6 trillion words every day on
email and social media — the
equivalent of 36 million books.*
(The entire US Library of
Congress, by comparison, holds
around 23 million books.)”
- Clive Thompson

39. From Geeks to Mainstream
‘Twenty years ago, “jacking in” to the Internet provided an escape for boyd from the social trials of high
school life. According to her book, teenagers today use social network sites to do just the opposite: to
supplement their physical social activity with photos, videos and conversations. In this way, teens are doing
what they’ve always been doing: hanging out in the socially designated “cool” place. Adults disturbed by the
gravitational tug of social media on teens may be comforted to know it’s the virtual equivalent of the
previous generation’s mall food court.’
- The Kids (Are Still) Alright by Emily Alhadeff. http://www.microsoft.com/en-
us/news/stories/people/danah-boyd.html

40. “Rather than get anxious
about kids and technology,
let’s get anxious about kids
who are struggling. It’s
about being conscientious
not just about our own
children, but about the
communities we live in.”
-danah boyd

41. Introducing
Generation Z
(Born 1995-2014)

42. Flynn McGarry (Trunk Media), Tavi Gevinson (Larry Busacca/Getty Images), and Adora Svitak (Jose Mandojana)

43. Generational Population Breakdown (Sparks & Honey)

44. Meet Generation Z; Sparks and Honey. http://www.slideshare.net/sparksandhoney/generation-z-final-june-17

49. Meet Generation Z; Sparks and Honey. http://www.slideshare.net/sparksandhoney/generation-z-final-june-17

50. How to Reach
the Next
Generation of
Library Users

51. The Project for Public Spaces: The Power of 10

52. Barrington Area Library

53. Depict them as diverse.

54. Images matter.
Tom Deja, Oak Park Public Library

55. Snackable Content

56. Make Stuff
Meridian Library Detroit Public Library, HYPE Makerspace

57. Assume they have opinions and are vocal. Collaborate.

58. “Adult librarians are like lazy bakers: their patrons want a jelly
doughnut, so they give them a jelly doughnut. Children’s
librarians are ambitious bakers: 'You like the jelly doughnut? I’
ll get you a jelly doughnut. But you should try my cruller, too.
My cruller is gonna blow your mind, kid.” -John Green

59. Questions?
Monica Harris
Deputy Director
Schaumburg Township District Library
Email: mharris@stdl.org
Twitter: @showlola