Hi, I am looking forward to learning more about this stuff. One thing I have realised in connecting with younger people is how tech savvy they are. This was brought home to me at Christmas when my stepdaughter came to visit.
She brought her laptop, her wireless modem and her mobile (of course). She was facebooking, downloading music, texting, and all sorts of mysterious stuff into the early hours of the morning!
So, how are we, as librarians, going to engage this generation. My first thoughts are - by using the same communications technologies as 'them', and by proving our worth. But how to prove our worth?
I feel that they are the most consumer driven generation ever. I don't mean that in a bad way, I think that they take what they want and make it work for them.
I also feel that, as consumers, they don't care about copyright. They want what they want, and delivered to their laptop, phone, etc, when they want it. They want all the copyright stuff sorted out, like it's not their problem.
Remember not being allowed to video live tv, but everybody did it, and it was unenforceable, so eventually the government decided that it wasn't illegal and a copyright breach. That was our generation, and this generation wants much the same thing, only bigger and more complicated.
How will the libraries fit into all this? Online librarians, 24/7. I know it's already been done. If somebody asks a question online, the librarian can download the answer to their phone, laptop, their technology of choice. With all the 'who owns what' problems already sorted out.