Librarians in the Digital Age: Impact of Internet Adoption on

Search HabitsJenny Emanuel

Digital Services & Reference Librarianemanuelj@illinois.edu

Purpose

Every generation has different values regarding technology

How do librarians who are digital natives search for information compared to librarians who first got online after obtaining their library degree?

Participants• Group A: Library degree holders and

students with at least 1 year of public services reference experience. Must have used online resources for research starting in high school.

• Group B: Library degree holders with public services experience who first accessed online resources after graduating library school

Methods

• Ethnographic observations of different librarian groups working a public services desk

• Structured tasked based comparative activities (ongoing)

• Survey of Millennial librarians (winter)

Preliminary Results• Group A:

– Showed some similar traits as undergraduates

– Scanned quickly, and sometimes overlooked important information

– Little tolerance of ambiguity– Did use advanced search skills– Often searched several places or

techniques at once

Preliminary Results

• Group B:– Considered print resources more often– Went to Google last, but did use it– Slower & more methodical– Tolerated ambiguity and more accepting of

poor interfaces– Did not explain what they were doing

Next Steps

• Continue with comparative testing• Millennial survey• Look at other types of libraries,

librarians• Trace patterns and find reasons