“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 - Presentation was given at PCA/ACA 2012 in Boston, MA. Contact me for full paper or more information.

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

8. BusinessWeek recently posted this question
on its cover:
“Are Millennials the New Office Moron?”

9. Cultural Perception of Gen Y

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