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#squadgoalsKnow your Millennials
By Erin Hughes, Carlstadt Public Library& Morgan Taylor,
Louis Bay 2nd Public Library & Community Center
What’s a millennial? Anyone born between 1981 and 1996 is considered a millennial by the Pew Research Center. Millenials have been responsible for the “death” of many institutions (fast casual dining, paper napkins, the concept of a starter home). One of the (many) reasons for this is that millennials have less use of ownership, and a more conceptual take on communal property.
Millennials are also considered the do-nothing generation (mostly by older generations). This is in part because of sky-rocketing costs of education, housing, and a lack of appropriate post college entry level employment. People are simply not retiring as young as they used to, and that coupled with insane expectations for entry level jobs (I saw one that literally called itself “entry level” and also suggested five years of field experience #librarystuff) means that millennials often can’t afford the American Dream. The nuclear family ideal has become less and less important while millennials create families of choice (sometimes out of necessity).
The need for free services is paramount with the 18-35 generation. According to Fortune, millenials are “earlier in their careers…[and] far worse off financially than their parents were at the same age.” Today parse it down? We broke, yo. Millennials are taking advantage of free community services (like the library) in a way that no other generation has. Most patrons participate in early life and late in life- traditionally, patrons have dropped out between the ages of say 21 to 35-we get them as kids, and get them back when they have kids.
And now, a quick list of things millenials have killed!
According to Business Insider, here’s a list of things millennials have killed! Casual dining, starter homes, beer, napkins, Hooters, cereal, golf, motorcycles, home ownership, yogurt, bar soap, diamonds, fabric softener, banks, department stores, designer bags, gyms, home improvement stores, football, and oil.
So what’s with all this murdering anyways? Well, the fact of the matter is that while millennials may have responsibility for “killing” industries, they’re also responsible for reinvigorating others. The return of small shops, bespoke coffee joints, record stores, and even barbers has been a millennial trend, and pairing right up along with that is the upticked use of the library. Pew sites that 53% of millennial adults- the highest percentage ever- are more likely to have visited a library in the past year. 41% of millennials have used the library’s website to access information, versus 24% of baby boomers (age 52-70). Because the website for your institution is the first point of entry for a millennial, there are some definite boxes that need to be ticked in terms of mobile accessibility and even aesthetics. A poorly designed website *says* a lot about an institution- first and foremost that it may be millennial un-friendly.
This…
Oh honey, no. The logo, the lack of clear information, and the boxed in look of this website will make a millennial cry. There are examples of much *worse* websites out there, but we chose not to shame anyone we weren’t personally related to (because that is mean and we don’t roll that way), but if you think your website looks outdated, it probably is. There are also some real inherent issues with a website like this-- you can be almost sure it’s not https, and therefore not secure, and that it probably has almost no modifications to make it accessible to patrons with disabilities. It’s also probably a beast to update-- (eh) When I got to my current job in Carlstadt only three years ago, they were still using HTML to update the website. I clocked it, and it once took me *four hours* just to add new children’s programming to the page, mostly because my HTML skills were most highly utilized on MySpace. On top of that, because of the way these text boxes are being used, I can almost guarantee that it’s completely unusable on a mobile device. That is going to get you absolutely nowhere. Looking at my most recent analytics from the Carlstadt Library, thirty three percent of my users are accessing our website via their phones, while another ten percent are accessing it through a tablet.
or that?
Millenials are from the internet. The aesthetics matter, and often younger millennials don’t even remember the Wild Wild West internet landscape that most libraries formed their website under. Using graphics, slick transitions, and having information up front and readily available is *important*. Formatting your website for mobile use, making your website accessible to patrons with disabilities, and making your website mobile friendly is a great way to attract millennials to the library. And the best part is that you don’t have to be a web design genius to create an aesthetically pleasing website- platforms like Wix and SquareSpace make it incredibly easy to create a beautiful, easy to use website for a fairly nominal fee and a little bit of patience.
If you’re not sure about the reference, phone a friend! These are some instances of bad meme use from across the internet. We culled these specifically from Reddit, but if you look, you might find a few in the wild (and I’m sure there are even some being used here at NJLA).
Setting the record straight. There are some phrases you should not use for library promotion.
Seriously guys, like...no. Just. No. If you want to use a meme, make sure you catch the full meaning behind it before you commit. If you’re really not sure, catch a volunteer or younger patron and ask if they think what you’re doing is lame.
I can’t even right now.
So how do you create pretty, millennial friendly content? Canva is your friend! Stacked with hundreds of beautiful, free templates and fancy-ass fonts, this is what puts the pizazz in fliers and soc meds for library programming. Canva isn’t the most intuitive to use, but once you get the hang of it, it’s kind of a breeze. (Pro-tip, you cannot ctrl+c/v no matter how much you might want to). Plus, Canva supports free use for non-profits- all you need to do is provide your tax exempt form, and you can have up to ten people using the full Canva suite free of charge.
The other really great thing about Canva is that not only can you produce boss fliers, you can also make pre-formatted social media content, specific to Facebook, but malleable for Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. Canva makes it super easy to create eye-catching content. Their pay (or non-profit) service also gives access to even more layouts, fonts, and stock photos, and there’s an ala carte option, as well, in case you really just need one specific kind of dog picture (or whatever else you’re looking for).
Where can you find them?
○ Go into the community! Bars, Starbucks, coffee shops, local mom’n’pop shops. Let them know what you’re doing.
○ Get out of the library- try hosting events in different venues.○ Build relationships with patrons- face to face contact is important to this
demographic.○ Online to face-to-face communications- engage with reach-out
technology.
COLLABORATE
Look at how many libraries are doing Millennials Book Club! The more the merrier, and the more librarians and towns you can get to, the way better. Pub Trivia at Johnson PL in Hackensack is actually at a pub-- so you’re catching a whole new swatch of patrons that may not have even realized that the library was down like that. The more that you can lighten your load, the better off you’ll be for programming, and the more that you can show up *in* the community, the better chance you’ll have of finding your millennial patrons.
Some libraries are bringing millennials in with different and interesting collections. Many of these can lead directly to programs once you develop an interest and following. For instance, board games have become insanely popular in millennial culture, largely due to the face-to-face and group nature of the games. Some libraries are cultivating “libraries of things,” like sewing machines, tools, seeds, and even vinyl. Nicholas Van Dorn at the Nutley Public Library started with a few records, and then he threw a record party. After that, he was able to get the owner of the Princeton Record Exchange to do a program about vinyls, and then had his friends of the library donate three bluetooth turntables that patrons could check out along with the records. Finding niche markets that millennials like is key- and being able to grow that collection to contain more physical media is important. Including non-physical media in this umbrella is also important- millennials as consumers have been brought up on an Amazon diet, and providing content that exists immediately will quell that need for speed. Makerspace materials, tools, and sewing machines may be out of the reach of millennial budget, and the sharing aspect of these usually home-bought but not often used materials should have some appeal, especially to the environmentally conscious. Having classes that highlight these collections (like basic sewing, makerspace projects, etc) can lead to further use of interesting, non-traditional collections.
We were lucky enough to poll a bunch of non-library friends-of-friends on Facebook. Now, keep in mind, some of our data may be a little skewed, since this was a pretty non-scientific polling method (for instance, people who use Facebook will hear about events more often than not *from* Facebook), but this is an imperfect world we live in.
Who are they?
Out of 75 respondents, 46% were in the 24-28 group, followed by 21% in the 32-35- a nice cross section of younger and older millennials. The responses were super interesting-- 78.7% of those polled said that they’re at least occasionally involved in their local community. This is a generation that really likes to get involved. A whopping 89% of respondents said they are interested in borrowing books; after that, 50% selected that they’d like to attend programming. Awesome, right? Built in audience, except we need to engage with them in ways we haven’t before.
What do they
want?
This aligns with what librarians want, too-- cocktails and books! 66% of respondents said they were interested in wine and cocktails, 50.7% in craft beer, with 76% interested in art, culture, and museums. If you don’t already have a museum pass program, this is a great time to invest in one. The main theme of millennials is that they’re broke- but they’re also into culture. A museum pass is the perfect marriage of this phenomenon. 65% of those surveyed said they were into reading, while 56% were looking to meet new people- this is the dream combo for a book club. The question is, how to we get them to come- collaborations, libraries of things, new shiny fancy websites, making your fliers and programs look good, and offering non-traditional programming outside of the library are all ways to “get” a millennial in the door.
We asked respondents when they’d typically be able to visit the library for events. Most said Saturdays and Sundays and weekdays after 7pm, which aligns with the fact that many millennials do work (contrary to popular beliefs).
Arts, culture, & museums
Being active
Craft beer
Discussion groups (philosophy, politics, religion, etc)
Gaming (video, card, or board)
Job/ Career
Making/creating
Meeting new people
Networking - for career/business purposes
Politics
Pop Culture
Reading
Science
Wine or cocktails
Travel
Networking
History
Parenting philosophy/strategies
When asked to select what interests them...
As you can see, “Art, Culture, and Museums” was at the top of the interest levels, closely followed by “Wine and Cocktails,” and “Reading.” “Travel,” “Meeting new people,” and “Being active” were also big winners. What kind of programming could you put together based on these likes? Many libraries offer museum passes- if yours doesn’t, it might be time to research having them. Programming at wine and cocktail bars might also be something to consider- beer making programs are often super popular amongst a male millennial target group, which is unusual for library programming. Consider having a cocktail mixer and getting a liquor license for the evening. Something as simple as a walking or hiking club might be an easy (and way cheap) way to integrate the library- a historical walking tour of town might be a way to create face-to-face contact while being active and participating in the culture of your own town or city.
Where do they get their
info?Facebook is the primary place where people find out about things to do, in conjunction with email and other social media networks.More than half of respondents find out about things to do via email. Are you actively using Constant Contact, Mail Chimp, Library Aware, or another email marketing campaign to reach out to patrons? Make sure to collect email addresses and ask people if they want to stay up to date on what’s going on.EventBrite is another way to get community patrons to see your events- you can get free registration if your program is free, and they generate reminder emails for your events.
Here is a word cloud generated from how people responded to “What do you think a public library could do to appeal to your demographic?” Many discussed getting the word out and advertising services - I can’t tell you how many people I have met as an adult (especially in my online dating forays) who don’t realize what public libraries have to offer them. They want us to be updated with great spaces. Multiple respondents said they’d like space similar to Barnes and Noble. It might be difficult for you to swing at your place, but consider the opportunities for cafe spaces, or at the very least, let people bring their coffee with them.Some surprised us with specific interest in parenting. Have you considered programs specifically for your parents and not just their kids?As a millennial myself, I know that there is a total deficit of cool/safe/interesting places to meet people and get involved. Think about ways you can set up meet-ups, conversation groups, and more. You might even be able to get volunteers to run them.
There are some people who have no ideas about how to appeal to their demographic and one went so far as to say that with the internet, they don’t need libraries. Think about what you can do to change that person’s mind.
