The Pew Reports Are Strangely Fascinating

I hope I’m not the only one who thinks that the Pew Reports have some very interesting information (if so, I have to thank the Pew researchers for doing this all just for me!). They have done reports on library use and on technology before, but their latest survey is about social media and the ways in which adults are using and driving usage, especially with mobile messaging.

So, what does this have to do with libraries? Maybe it’s time to take another look at the platforms we use and analyze how it’s really working for us. Since 62% of American adults are using Facebook, maybe we need to change up our content and make it more interactive. The report also notes that 67% of American adults have smartphones, which means we need to be able to communicate with our patrons using a mobile format. How many of our catalogs or other resources are mobile-user friendly?

Anyway, check out a few of the Pews. They are interesting to parse, and sometimes offer compelling reasons to librarians to change things up a bit (even if we’re allergic to change).