Digital
differences
New data and trends
Kathryn Zickuhr, Research Specialist
Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project
American Library Association Spectrum Leadership Institute
Anaheim, CA - June 25, 2012
Kathryn Zickuhr
Research Specialist
Pew Internet & American Life Project
kzickuhr@pewinternet.org
@kzickuhr
@pewinternet
@pewresearch
About Pew Internet
• Part of the Pew Research Center, a non-partisan “fact
tank” in Washington, DC
• Studies how people use digital technologies
• Does not promote specific technologies or make policy
recommendations
• Data for this talk is from nationally representative
telephone surveys of U.S. adults and teens (on landlines
and cell phones)
All slides and reports are available at
pewinternet.org
PewResearchCenter
• Public opinion attitudes toward the press, politics and
public policy issues (people-press.org)
• The performance of the U.S. press (journalism.org)
• The impact of technology (pewinternet.org)
• Worldwide public opinion (pewglobal.org)
• Religion and public life (pewforum.org)
• The U.S. Hispanic population (pewhispanic.org)
• Social and demographic trends (pewsocialtrends.org)
More: pewresearch.org
Factors
•
•
•
•
•
Age group
Race/ethnicity
Household income
Educational attainment
Quality of access
Internet
Internet use over time (1995-2012)
% of adults ages 18+ who go online
82%
(April
2012)
14% (June 1995)
Source: Pew Internet surveys
Almost two-thirds of adults have home broadband
% of adults ages 18+ who go online at home via dial-up or broadband
66%
3%
Source: Pew Internet surveys
@kzickuhr @pewinternet
pewinternet.org
Internet use vs home broadband by age
% of all adults 18+
Source: Pew Internet April 2012 survey.
@kzickuhr @pewinternet
pewinternet.org
Internet use vs home broadband by
race/ethnicity
% of all adults 18+
Source: Pew Internet April 2012 survey.
@kzickuhr @pewinternet
pewinternet.org
Internet use vs home broadband by
yearly household income
% of all adults 18+
Source: Pew Internet April 2012 survey.
@kzickuhr @pewinternet
pewinternet.org
Internet use vs home broadband by
educational attainment
% of all adults 18+
@kzickuhr @pewinternet
Source: Pew Internet April 2012 survey.
What is the MAIN reason you do not use
the internet? (asked of non-users)
Source: Pew Internet May 2010 survey.
@kzickuhr @pewinternet
pewinternet.org
Gadgets
Adult gadget ownership, 2006-2012
Source: Pew Internet surveys. Data is for adults age 18+.
pewinternet.org
Gadget ownership by age group
Source: Pew Internet surveys. Data is for adults age 18+.
pewinternet.org
Amost nine in ten adults (and threequarters of teens) have a cell phone
Teen data: July 2011
Source: Pew Internet surveys.
Adult data: Feb 2012
pewinternet.org
Cell phones by age group
Teen data: July 2011
Source: Pew Internet surveys.
Adult data: Feb 2012
pewinternet.org
Gadgets by household income
Source: Pew Internet surveys. Data is for adults age 18+.
pewinternet.org
Gadget ownership by education
Source: Pew Internet surveys. Data is for adults age 18+.
pewinternet.org
Gadget ownership by race/ethnicity
Source: Pew Internet surveys. Data is for adults age 18+.
* English- and Spanish-speaking
Cell phone ownership (total) by
race/ethnicity
% of all adults 18+
Source: Pew Internet February 2012 survey.
Cell phone activities by race/ethnicity
% of adult cell phone owners 18+ within each group who do the following activities with their cell phone
White, nonHispanic
Black, nonHispanic
Hispanic
(n=196)
Send or receive text messages
70
76
83*
Take a picture
71
70
79*
Access the internet
39
56*
51*
Send a photo or video to someone
52
58
61*
Send or receive email
34
46*
43*
Download an app
28
36*
36*
Play a game
31
43*
40*
Play music
27
45*
47*
Record a video
30
41*
42*
Access a social networking site
25
39*
35*
Watch a video
21
33*
39*
Post a photo or video online
18
30*
28*
Check bank balance or do online banking
15
27*
25*
*indicates statistically significant differences compared with whites.
Source: Pew Internet May 2011 survey
About half of adults (and almost a
quarter of teens) have a smartphone
Teen data: July 2011
Source: Pew Internet surveys.
Adult data: Feb 2012
pewinternet.org
Smartphones by age group
Teen data: July 2011
Source: Pew Internet surveys.
Adult data: Feb 2012
pewinternet.org
Smartphone ownership by age and
income/education
% of adults within each group who own a smartphone
18-29
30-49
50-64
66%
59%
34%
Less than $30,000/yr
58
42
16
5
$30,000 or more/yr
72
69
44
27
High school grad or less
63
43
22
8
Some college or college grad
70
71
44
20
(n=336)
All adults
(n=601)
(n=639)
65+
(n=626)
13%
Household Income
Educational Attainment
Adult data: Feb 2012
@kzickuhr @pewinternet
pewinternet.org
Cell phone ownership (total) by
race/ethnicity
% of all adults 18+
Source: Pew Internet February 2012 survey.
Smartphone ownership by race/
ethnicity
% of all adults 18+
Source: Pew Internet February 2012 survey.
25% of smartphone owners say
they mostly go online with their
smartphone.
About one third of them do not have a traditional
high-speed broadband connection at home.
Groups that are more likely to say their phone
is their main source of internet access:
• Young adults
• Minorities
• Those with no college experience
• Those in lower-income households
Twitter use by race/ethnicity
% of internet users ages 18+
Source: Pew Internet February 2012 survey.
* English- and Spanish-speaking
Questions?
@kzickuhr
@pewinternet
@pewresearch
Libraries
of today and tomorrow
About our libraries research
• Goal: To study the changing role of public
libraries and library users in the digital age
• Funded by a three-year, $1.4 million grant
from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
libraries.pewinternet.org
RESEARCH TIMELINE
Stage I (August 2011-July 2012)
Libraries + new technologies
• The rise of e-reading (April 2012)
• E-books, patrons, and libraries – JUST PUBLISHED
– Includes quotes from librarians and patrons
– Available online at libraries.pewinternet.org
• Library use in different community types (summer)
• The habits of younger library users (summer)
The rise of e-reading
Report: The rise of e-reading
One in five adults has read an e-book in the past year
Note: Due to multiple responses, categories do not add up to 100%
Book reading by age group
% of each age group who have read a book (in any format) in whole or in part
in the past 12 months
Source: Pew Internet December 2011 survey.
libraries.pewinternet.org
The book format used by readers on
any given day is changing
% of adult book readers (age 18+) using this format on an average day,
as of June 2010 and December 2011
Source: Pew Internet December 2011 survey.
libraries.pewinternet.org
Who reads e-books?
E-book readers are more likely than
other readers to be:
• Under age 50
• College educated
• Living in households earning $50K+
Other key characteristics:
• They read more books, more often
• More likely to buy their books than borrow
Source: Pew Internet December 2011 survey.
libraries.pewinternet.org
How e-readers read their e-books
% of all Americans age 16 and older who read an e-book in the past
12 months, as of December 2011
Source: Pew Internet December 2011 survey.
libraries.pewinternet.org
Who owns tablets and e-readers?
29% of US adults own a
specialized e-reading
device (either a tablet or
an e-reader)
19% of adults own an
e-reader
19% of adults own a
tablet computer
Who owns tablets and e-readers?
E-reader and tablet
ownership are strongly
correlated with income &
education, as well as age—
both devices are most
popular with adults under 50.
Women are more likely than
men to own e-readers
Parents are more likely than
non-parents to own tablets
How device owners read their e-books
% of owners of each device who read e-books on that devicewho
read an e-book in the past 12 months, as of December 2011
* = among people who own that device
Which is better for these purposes, a printed
book or an e-book?
Among people ages 16+ who read both an e-book & a print book in the past year
“My Kindle fits in my purse, so I
can carry my Kindle places I
wouldn’t carry a book. I find
myself taking it almost
everywhere I go so if I find
myself with a free couple of
minutes, I can read a couple of
pages.”
– E-book borrower
E-books at
libraries
How people used the library in
the past year
The % of Americans ages 16+ who used the library for the following
purposes in the past year
12% of e-book readers
borrow e-books from
the library
Source: Pew Internet December 2011 survey.
libraries.pewinternet.org
When you want to read a particular
e-book, where do you look first?
Among all people ages 16+ who read an e-book in the past year
When you want to read a particular
e-book, where do you look first?
Among people who borrowed an e-book from the library in the past year
n=111
Have you ever wanted to borrow a particular
e-book from the library and found that...
Among e-book borrowers
Source: Pew Internet December 2011 survey.
libraries.pewinternet.org
“Fast, easy,
plentiful.”
– E-book-borrowing patron
62% of all Americans ages
16 and older, including 58%
of library card holders, say
they do not know if their
library lends e-books.
What is the main reason you do not borrow
e-books from your public library?
Among e-book readers who do not get e-books at the public library
Reason
% of e-book readers who
do not get e-books at the
public library
Inconvenient / easier to get another way
Didn’t know I could / didn’t know library offered e-books
Don’t use library / no library nearby
22%
19
8
No interest / no real need
Just found out about it / haven’t had a chance to try it yet
E-books still new to me / no time to learn
7
6
5
Just never thought to
Don’t read a lot / don’t use e-reader much
Prefer to own my own copy
5
4
4
My library doesn’t offer e-books
Prefer print books
Poor e-book selection at library
4
3
2
Do not have format I need
Cumbersome process / wait list / short borrowing period
Other
2
2
6
Among those who do not currently borrow e-books
from libraries, the % who say they would be likely to…
Among those who do not currently borrow e-books
from libraries, the % who say they would be likely to…
All three ideas
are most
popular with:
African-Americans and
Hispanics
Those under age 65
Those in households
making less than $30k
per year
Those who had not
completed high school
Parents of minor
children
What these
changes
[could] mean
for libraries
“Our customers are still using
the library but in different ways.
They browse our catalog online,
place reserves on the items they
want, then pick them up at their
location of choice. Many fewer
browse the collection in person,”
– E-book-borrowing patron
“People are asking for digital
content. Anything digital. They
are hungry for it.”
– Library staff member
“We spend a significant part of
our day explaining how to get
library books onto e-book
readers.”
– Library staff member
“The greatest change has
been the need not only for
computer access, but
computer assistance.”
– Library staff member
“It all feels pretty murky. Some
clarity and good advice would
be nice. It’s OK for libraries with
big budgets to plunge into ebook readers. As a small library
with limited collection funds, we
have to be more careful.”
– Library staff member
Imagining the
“librarian of the future”
Aggregator/
Synthesizer
Organizer
Network node
Facilitator
“Our library is a critical
link in our community.
It provides access to
books, computers,
[and] knowledge, and is
a critical social center.”
– E-book-borrowing patron
RESEARCH TIMELINE
Stage II (May-November 2012)
The changing world of library services
• The evolving role of libraries in communities
– New library services
– People’s expectations of libraries
– “The library of the future”
• The role of libraries in the life of special populations
– Lower-income users, minorities, rural residents, senior
citizens
RESEARCH TIMELINE
Stage III (Sept. 2012–April 2013)
A closer analysis of who does – and does not – use
libraries
• A “library user” typology
– Different user “types” based on:
• What their local libraries are like
• How they use libraries
• Attitudes about libraries in general
• An updated, in-depth portrait of how teens & young
adults use libraries
Thank you!
Kathryn Zickuhr
Research Specialist
Pew Internet & American Life Project
kzickuhr@pewinternet.org
@kzickuhr @pewinternet @pewresearch
All data, slides, and reports available at
pewinternet.org