Who are young librarians? Millennials as academic librarians
Jenny Emanuel Taylor
Digital Resources & Reference Librarian; Reference, Research, and Scholarly Services
Introduction
There has been a lot of discussion and literature
about meeting the needs of Millennial student,
also referred to as digital natives. This
generation, generally born 1982 – 2000, is
frequently referred to as being very technology
and media savvy. Universities and their libraries
have talked for some time how to make the
academic experience centered around
technologies Millennials use.
Libraries:
Academic libraries are interested in supporting
campus technology needs, including building
media labs, introducing multimedia tutorials, and
utilizing technology in instruction. I was very
interested if younger librarians were being driven
into librarianship because of the increasingly
technical nature of the job. I was also interested
in learning the technical skills of younger
librarians, to see if they could be defined as digital
natives.
Demographics
Birth Years
70
60
P
e
r
c
e
n
t
50
40
30
10
0
1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990
1%
Race
3% 3% 2% 3% 1%
African American
American Indian
Research Questions
Pacific Islander
1. What factors influenced Millennials to chose
academic librarianship as a career?
2. What influence does technology have on
career choice?
3. What are the demographics of Millennial
librarians?
White
Survey:
A 55 question survey was sent to ALA accredited
library schools in the United States and various
groups serving new librarians, including NMRT,
the ACRL New Members Discussion Group, and
the Emerging Leaders. The survey focused on
demographics, technology skills and generational
attitudes. There were approximately 450 valid
responses.
Interview:
Survey responders were asked if they would
participate in a follow up interview. Twenty
participants were chosen at random for an
approximately 45 minute interview done utilizing
Skype. Interview questions focused on career
choice, attitudes towards technology, and
generational characteristics.
Conclusions
Career Choice Influences:
1. Desire to have a profession
2. Wide variety of jobs
3. Desire for meaningful work
4. Peers respect work
5. Values fit with workplace
6. Technology resources
7. Opportunities to learn
Although participants believed they had
better skills at using technology and
searching for it online than previous
generations, they were reluctant to refer
to themselves as technically savvy or
digital natives.
20
Hispanic
Method
Technology Skills
87%
Academic Backgrounds
56.8% Humanities
35.8% Social Sciences
3.6% Education
3.8% Life Sciences
0.5% Physical Sciences, Math, Computer Science
3 Majors were technical: Multimedia (2), Computer
Science (1)
1 in 5 had a graduate degree, almost all Master’s
42.9% Humanities
26.5% Social Sciences
Half had previous library experience.
Many considered careers in K-12 education, higher
education, publishing, writing, and the non-profit sector.
Eight considered technical career alternatives including
programmer (4), IT specialist (2), intelligence analyst
(1), engineer (1), and user experience specialist (1).
Many saw librarianship as a way to work in higher
education without specializing in a single subject or
getting a PhD. Most believed getting a library job would
be easier than a job in their college major.
Overall, participants believed they learned more
about technology in library school than they had
previously. However, there was a frustration that
they learned how to use technology, but really
needed to learn how to develop technology.
When asked what skills they wanted to learn,
programming was the top answer.
Most wanted to be reference & instruction
librarians, but lamented that there were few jobs.
They noticed that most of the jobs require
specialized technology experience that they did
not get in library school, such as programming,
user experience, advanced web design, data
management, and GIS software.
When interviewed, few considered themselves a
digital native. Most remember their family getting
their first computer and getting Internet access,
and most did not have this until they were in
middle school. They were quick to say that they
could not be a true digital native because their
family did not have internet access their entire
lives.
Participants did like searching for information
online, and talked extensively about the amount
of time they spent looking at random things
online and doing in depth searches. They felt
these skills were more developed than their
colleagues’ and made them better searchers.
This is one thing that united participants.
Two interview participants talked about how their
family did not own technology while they were
growing up, and they were the “have nots” in the
digital divide. They disliked the digital native term
as they felt it only applied to people of their
generation who lived in more urban areas or had
more money.
Technology played little role in the career
choice of younger librarians. Once they
entered the job market, they realized that
many jobs required higher technical skills,
which they saw as a barrier to career
entry. They believed that library schools
were out of touch to the actual needs of
libraries, which made it difficult to get a
job.
Overall, participants like what they do in
their jobs. However, there were a few
concerns. Many felt they were burdened
with technology projects in their library
because their colleagues saw them as
technically savvy, so they should be the
ones doing that work. Many desired to
work in other, less-technical roles, and
resented that their colleagues saw them
as the “library tech person”.
Conclusions
The write up of the technology portion of
this project was recently published in
Information Technology and Libraries,
vol. 31, no. 4.
http://ejournals.bc.edu/ojs/index.php/ital/a
rticle/view/3811
It has generated a lot of buzz, and many
have stated that this backs up the idea
that there is no such thing as the
Millennial librarian, and shows there is a
disconnect between LIS education and
practice.
A second demographic article is out for
review.