userslib.com

Oh my. School will be starting next week. Ann Arbor is already crawling.

A couple of months ago I wrote a “Who are we dealing with” post to describe these new academic users/patrons in an attempt to better understand them. Beloit College also regularly publishes a rather extensive list of tidbits about our new first year students. And Jenny at the Shifted Librarian has just added some great and more techy examples.

Here are a few of the tidbits I came up with (link to full post):

• They were born in 1989
• They’ve (more or less) always known the internet, home computers and graphical user interfaces, and mobile phones.
• They were newborns when the first episode of The Simpsons aired, they were 3yrs old when the first episode of MTV’s The Real World aired
• They were 4yrs old when Schindler’s List won an Oscar for best picture, they were 10 when they saw their first Star Wars movie.
• They were newborns when the Berlin wall fell, 5yrs old during the OJ Simpson murder trial, and 12yrs old on Sept. 11, 2001

Here are a few of Jenny’s (link to her full post):

• They have always had to narrow down search results (rather than expand them).
• They have never started a search at an “advanced” screen.
• They store information and documents on keychains.
• They have always copied and pasted.
• “.” is pronounced “dot,” not “period.”

And now, a few from Berloit (link to full list):

• Nelson Mandela has always been free and a force in South Africa.
• “Off the hook” has never had anything to do with a telephone.
• Stadiums, rock tours and sporting events have always had corporate names.
• Women’s studies majors have always been offered on campus.
• Tiananmen Square is a 2008 Olympics venue, not the scene of a massacre.

Are you ready?