7. Digital Differentiation
• 32 million+ adults have
very low literacy skills
• 36% of Americans lack
internet access at
home
• Internet access vs.
Internet use
7
8. Diversity & Immigration
• America’s ethnicity
changing quickly and
dramatically
• Minority population:
34% of total population;
50% by 2042
• Minority business start-
ups 2x the national rate
8
--The following slides capture some important societal trends in technology, demographics and behavior. --These are not far-future predictions, but things occurring NOW that have the stickiness and prevalence to prevail for quite some time, and thus merit our review. --The Ivy Groupers use a variety of media and research tools to find and narrow down the trends to ones worth watching. --Library leaders should watch and track trends; you have a bibliography of some of our favorite trends resources. Prof. Rose Vainstein used to tell our class you’re not worth anything as a reference librarian if you don’t read the newspaper every day, it was true. --Each trend concludes with a trigger question to get you to think about applying the trend in your work setting.
From “MoneyTalksNews - http://www.moneytalksnews.com/2010/12/29/30-things-babies-born-in-2011-will-never-know/Socio-economic and library trends:---Influence or shape your library's vision.---Inspire you to come up with a new business concept, an entirely new outlook, a new brand.---Add a new product, service or experience for a certain customer segment.---Speak the language of those consumers already 'living' a trend.--Tracking trends is a part of community assessment.March 12 issue of Time magazine – “10 ideas that are changing your life” –most already in here before the article came out.Socioeconomic trends include a question to help you apply to your library situation.
Pew Internet report--52 percent of all cell phone owners said they had used their mobile devices to do a variety of things while watching TV.--What exactly were these folks doing with their cell phones while watching TV? --38 percent - keep them occupied during commercial breaks.--23 percent - text message someone else in another location watching the same show.--22 percent -used their phones to check to see if something mentioned during the show was true or not. --20 percent -checking Web sites mentioned during the program they were watching. --Tend to be households over $50,000.--Avid readers are voracious multi-media consumers.--Meanwhile, neuroscientists have proven YOU CAN”T MULTI TASK. Most libraries don’t have mobile websites or catalogs yet – how can we play catch up with mobile trends?
“Technology Overload” Time Magazine reported we spend about 12 hours a day taking in 34 gigs of data. Backlash to email and 24/7 texting and twittering. “Tech free” spa retreats. Scientists proving multi tasking not really possible. Recognition that tech reduces quality time with family and friends. Green spaces highly valued in community planning. Community responses:Parks, churches, beautiful quiet spaces, protected, planned. Stronger anti-texting driving laws. How do you assign space to group and collaborative work vs. need for quiet?
--GPS, smartphones and our computers generate massive amounts of information that companies, law enforcement and even individuals are willing to pay money to see. --Unlocked by the spread of ever smarter sensors in mobile phones, people will not only be able but increasingly willing, to broadcast information about where and what they are doing, to help improve products and services,ie. WSJ article about Kindles. --Surveys demonstrate that in spite of concerns about privacy and identity theft, Americans actually do little to protect themselves online.--Surveys have shown that people are willing to give up some privacy for the advantages of GPS traffic reports, etc. --How can you library address a growing demand for personal borrowing records while maintaining confidentiality?
More people living alone, and liking it, than ever before. Global trend. 29% of Ohioans are living alone. Young people delaying marriage. Concerns about cost of care of aging singles.Psychological difference between solitude and loneliness. No reason to believe that solitude leads to loneliness. “Singletons” are not necessarily lonely. How do you think of singles as a library market segment?
Thirty percent of U.S. adults help a loved one with personal needs or household chores, managing finances, arranging for outside services, or visiting regularly to see how they are doing. Most are caring for an adult, such as a parent or spouse, but a small group cares for a child living with a disability or long-term health issue. The population breaks down as follows:--24% of U.S. adults care for an adult--3% of U.S. adults care for a child with significant health issues--20 hours per week is the average number of hours family caregivers spend caring for their loved ones--13% of family caregivers are providing 40 hours of care a week or more.Eight in ten caregivers (79%) have access to the internet. Of those, 88% look online for health information, outpacing other internet users on every health topic included in our survey, from looking up certain treatments to hospital ratings to end-of-life decisions.--51% of care recipients live in their own home, 29% live with their family caregiver, and 4% live in nursing homes and assisted living. --Exhausted baby boomers among your customers and staff – how do you support them?
--81% of Americans say obesity is an "extremely" or "very serious" problem to society, up significantly from 69% in 2005, the last time Gallup asked this question. --Americans now see obesity as a more serious societal issue than cigarettes -- a change from the past.--OH 46th in GallupWellbeing, 65.7%, national average 63.8%. 29.3% obese and 11% diabetic. --Blacks most obese, Asians least.--Nearly half of Ohio’s children received free or reduced-cost school lunches in 2010, and those children were 30 percent more likely to be overweight or obese than others, according to a survey released in June 2012. http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/06/13/data-sobering-on-ohio-kids-poverty-obesity.html--How can libraries partner with health agencies to address public health issues and promote health literacy?
Self-service, Frugality, Personal expression, HGTV-Holmes the HeroEtsy, Pinterest and the crafts explosionWhat community businesses and agencies are reflecting this trend?
Sure, the cashless society has been popping-up in every trend list since 2005. And while 2012 (again) is not going to be the year that consumers en masse will forego coins and notes and just swipe their smartphones, it is going to be the year that major players like Google and MasterCard will actively roll out their cashless initiatives around the world. For consumers, the initial lure will be convenience, but eventually mobile payments will create an entirely new data-driven eco-system of rewards, purchase history, deals and so on. In November 2011 Deutsche Bahn, Germany’s main rail operator, extended its Touch&Travelservice to all its 320 stations. Passengers can either use NFC (near field communications in smartphones) to pay, or take a photo of a barcode as they enter and exit stations.--Backlash – popular restaurants that only take cash.--Merchants pay an average of 2% of each credit card transaction to Visa or MasterCard to process the sale, regardless of whether the customer bought a BMW or a piece of Bazooka bubble gum. But their past contracts with card companies prevented them from passing along these costs to consumers.Under the terms of the settlement, retailers will now be free to charge higher prices to reflect those costs — OH allows surcharges, 10 states don’t.--Library prepared for the costs and convenience of these payment services?
This Faith Popcorn named trend reflects regional action with national significance. For the second time in three years, advocacy group Environment America ranked the Ohio River as the most polluted river in the United States.“It’s still an industrial, working river,” “It receives a lot of toxic discharges." Environment America analyzed 2010 data from the Environmental Protection Agency to create its report about factory discharges in waterways.Ohio beaches remain the second most polluted in the country and Cuyahoga County overtook Lorain County for the most polluted beach water among Ohio counties alongside Lake Erie, according to an environmental advocacy group. The Natural Resources Defense Council report released this year analyzed more than 3,000 beaches last year from the 30 states with coastlines. It found Ohio's beaches are the most polluted along the Great Lakes.Marcellus Shale, Keystone Pipeline, global warming, are complex community issues pitting family members, neighbors and friends against each other. It is often an argument about protection of the environment vs. desperately-needed economic development.Example of small changes – plastic grocery bags being replaced with reuseables. Community response: political debate; conflicted elected officials; business lobbying and marketing; government information and support.When is it appropriate for the library to get involved?
What do these have in common? Extreme couponing, Facebook managed company boycotts, Thanksgiving Day shopping, “Occupy Wall Street” – what’s going on here? It’s the “Vigilante Consumer” – “Make my day”, says the “Dirty Harriet” in this photo. She won’t let her scarce funds be depleted! She wants the deepest sale price possible, the hunt is fun. He will protest bad service and parts openly on social media and collect additional disgruntles that force a corporate response. Young adults learn the secrets of dodging automated phone systems. Ethical purchasing. Businesses that survive have the right combo of price and people. Government employees are on their toes in this anti-government climate. They get bashed for things beyond their control, i.e. Hershey flooding. Library response: Is your library need-focused instead of rule-focused? How do you train staff who prefer black and white rules and live by a “fairness” doctrine instead of a problem-solving one?
