We are serving a new generation of students, the Millennials, who were born 1981-2000 and who have a different set of behaviors and expections around web sites than our past library patrons.

Characteristics:

• Frenetic multitasking
• Highly interactive
• Highly social
• Confident with a variety of media; have established conventions for navigating web, and Reluctant to ask for help
• Scan don’t read web pages
• Begin their research on non-library, aka Google, site; can’t expect to “lead” them to resources

Expectations of web sites:

• Expect content to be digital and immediate
• Expect discovery to be Google-like, high expectations set by previous web experienceExpect access anytime anywhere
• Impatient with “clunky” library sites

Expectations of social functionality:

• Commenting
• Rating and reviewing (voicing opinion)
• Send to a friend
• Share applications (like a calendar)
• Subscribe on the spot
• Save for later using own social bookmarking system
• Blog or comment area to know what other people are saying
• Sharing discoveries
• Creating mashups
• Alternate navigation – tag clouds, top links list, zeitgeist, relationship maps, mashups

QUESTIONS

What types of outreach do we need to establish/revise to reach the Millennials?

What types of online resources can HCL provide to best serve this library user?

How can we coordinate the production of online resources so that libraries are not duplicating services and so that all needed resources are being created?