“Did you expect me to be a Snooki or a Twihard?” How the portrayal of youth in popular culture may hurt the credibility of young librarians
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Presentation was given at PCA/ACA 2012 in Boston, MA. Contact me for full paper or more information.
This PowerPoint helps students to consider the concept of infinity.
Portrayal of youth in popular culture may hurt credibility of young librarians
1. “Did you expect me to be a
Snooki or a Twihard?”
How the portrayal of youth in
popular culture may hurt
the credibility of
young librarians
Laura Loveday
Southwest Florida College
2. Millennials
Trophy Generation
Generation Y
Echo Young
Boomers Professionals
Born:
Post-1980
Population:
70-80 million
3. Unemployment
Gallup: Unemployed Underemployed
Adults age 15-29 12% 27%
Adults age 30-49 5% 15%
Adults age 50-69 4% 14%
Pew Research Center:
The percentage of employed 18-24 year
olds is the lowest its been in recorded data
- Marlar, Jenny. “Worldwide, Young Adults Twice as Likely to Be Unemployed.” Gallup, Inc., 27 April 2011. Web.
- “Young, Underemployed and Optimistic: Coming of Age, Slowly, in a Tough Economy.” Pew Research Center,
9 Feb. 2012. Web.
4. Job Satisfaction
1-3 years
Kept Job
3-5 years
Changed
Jobs
5-7 years
0% 50% 100%
- Markgren, Susanne, Thad Dickinson, Anne Leonard, and Kim Vassiliadis. "The Five Year Itch: Are Libraries Losing
Their Most Valuable Resources?" Library Administration & Management 21.2 (2007): 70-76. EBSCO. Web.
5. Change may be due to…
Burnout
Resistance to change by administration
Financial stability
Increased focus on technology
…or I was checking out books [at a college library] and a
freshman asked if I was a librarian. When I said yes, he
asked if he could check me out on a date. –Brittany, 26
Another librarian who works with A patron came in and asked if she could speak to
me asked if I took my job [in a “real” librarian. When I said I was a “real”
reference] until I could take a librarian, she looked at me for a minute and then
young adult position. I said no asked if she could speak to the older librarian she
and asked why, and she said had seen another day. I said she was out, and
she figured since I looked so the patron said she’d come back another time.
young. –Adonis, 29 –Leonah, 25
6. The average American:
watches 239 videos online per month
watches 34 hours 39 minutes of TV
per week
is exposed to over 3,000 ads per day
What are we being shown?
7. Most Popular Google Searches:
2011
Searches included in the Top 10 for
their categories:
Casey Anthony, Mean Girls 2, Ryan
Dunn, Amy Winehouse, Beavis and
Butthead, Kim Kardashian, Rebecca
Black, Britney Spears, Thundercats, Pretty
Little Liars, Pippa Middleton, Breaking
Dawn
The most searched for travel
location for U.S. and the U.K:
Las Vegas, Nevada
10. What have we learned from what
we’re being shown?
Workplace Options, Inc.:
77% believe Millennials have a different attitude
toward workplace responsibility
68% believe Millennials are less motivated to produce
quality work
46% believe Millennials are less engaged at work
Pew Research Center
When asked their top priorities, 52% included being a
good parent, 30% included having a successful
marriage, and the third most frequently included
priority was helping others in need (21%)
Only 1% included “becoming famous” and 9% included
free time
11. Changing the Face of
Young Librarians
“There is a role here for our library
associations to provide opportunities and
support systems for local mentoring groups.
But there is also a role for the Millennial
librarian: If mentoring programs don’t exist
in a particular city, then perhaps Millennial
librarians should start one themselves.”
–Kate Davis