Perceptions of Libraries, 2010: Context and Community

This new membership report provides updated information and new insights into information consumers and their online information habits, preferences and perceptions

By Cathy De Rosa

Eight years ago, my colleagues and I began work on our first OCLC membership report, The 2003 OCLC Environmental Scan: Pattern Recognition. Our aim was to learn about the attitudes and habits of the emerging “online information consumer.” We explored three themes that described the information environment of the early Internet: 1) self-service (moving to self-sufficiency), 2) satisfaction and 3) seamlessness. While that work barely scratched the surface of what we needed to explore, it set into motion community discussion and a series of OCLC studies aimed at learning more about the increasingly confident, empowered “information consumer.”

Perceptions of Libraries 2010: Context and Community, which chronicles the online practices and perceptions of the 2010 information consumer, is our fifth membership report. While each study had a unique theme as we researched the hot topics of the time, the reports share a common goal—to provide a future frame for libraries by studying the perceptions, not just the practices, of the information consumer.

Understanding beliefs over behaviors has been our primary research objective. If it is true that perception is reality or, maybe more accurately, perception predicts tomorrow’s reality, then our goal has been to provide hard data about the current perceptions of the library, Internet and information, and the ties among the three. We have explored the physical library, the online library, search engines, searching, Internet privacy, trust, social networking, library funding and the concept of “library value.” We have pushed hard to understand more about the information consumer’s perception of the library brand.

Below are some highlights and considerations from Perceptions 2010. Much more information is available in the report, which is available for download on our website free of charge. Your feedback and comments are welcome as always. I look forward to the opportunity to explore these and many other ideas as we work together to take the long view for libraries.

• Rethink online strategies—beyond the library website. No one starts their information search on a library website. If the library website is not the first stop on the information search, but one of several stops on an information consumer’s search trail—or maybe not at all—what must be done to increase the touchpoints and invitations for the information consumer to use library resources?

• Embrace the brand and extend the experience. Libraries = BOOKS. And in today’s economic context, libraries also equal free books and real economic value. The number one reason for increased library use is to save money—on books, DVDs and music. While users increased their use of library materials, they are also discovering the many other services that libraries have to offer. These services have economic value, too. Libraries have an opportunity to create invitations to experience what comes with free book services—free job search help, free tutoring, free computer skills training, free e-books, etc.

• Become personal information trainers. The information consumer knows good information. Did the information consumer have a different view of information quality based on type of information? The short answer is “no.” From health care to recreational materials, self-help, career and financial information, the information consumer had the same view—search engines are favorable compared to libraries. If information consumers are confident about search engines, what are the best strategies to support and improve, not discourage, this self-service, self-assessment model of information literacy? A metaphor might be: how can we serve our users at the point of need as personal information trainers rather than information literacy instructors?

• Librarians are valued, even more so than five years ago. In 2005, 76 percent of information consumers who were assisted by a librarian thought librarians add value to the search process. In 2010, this grew to 83 percent. The value for Americans who experienced a negative job impact was even greater—at 88 percent.

• The third place—online. The infosphere is social. Two-thirds of online Americans use social networking. Physical libraries are social spaces and social places. Online libraries are not. The idea of the library as the “third place” is that Americans are looking for a place—a third place—that is not home and not work, but instead a neutral place to reflect, connect and become inspired. What could the online “third place” look like? The concept of the library as the online third place has not been “socialized” across the community. What might this mean for libraries individually and collectively? The library social network—what might be possible?

• Seize the moment. The economy created renewed value for libraries for millions of people. Thirty-seven percent of those negatively impacted by the economy increased their use of the library. We have our best opportunity to advocate in decades. The value of libraries is high—31 percent of Americans see increased value for their community, and that number is even higher (40 percent) for Americans who have experienced a negative job impact. A strategic priority must be to encourage our users, our students and our colleagues to tell their stories—again and again, online and in person. Let’s grab some market share and mind share and build programs to make today’s perceptions fuel tomorrow’s budgets.

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