This document summarizes a presentation on ageism and libraries. It discusses several key points: 1) Ageism can affect people of any age but often targets older individuals, manifesting as stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination. 2) During the coronavirus pandemic, some expressed ageist attitudes suggesting older people are expendable or a burden. 3) Ageism in the workplace can involve biases in hiring, promotion, and assumptions about competency and ambitions based on age rather than individual skills or desires. 4) Libraries often frame programs for older adults around decline, disability, and stereotypical interests rather than recognizing older individuals' diversity. Events could involve intergenerational learning and skills-sharing.

1. Ageism and libraries
Sheila Webber
Information School, University of Sheffield
CALC, May 2020

2. Outline
• Ageism
• Ageism in a time of Coronavirus
• Ageism and the workplace
• Ageism and people
Sheila Webber 2020

3. Ageism can affect
people of any age, but
I’m focusing on ageism
and older people
References at https://tinyurl.com/yb7x49kd
https://www.slideshare.net/sheilawebber
Pictures by me except where otherwise stated
Sheila Webber 2020

4. Some triggers for my awareness
MIL
events
Young
people
Old
people
“Seniors in a digital
world can be easily
overwhelmed by all
the new technology
around us.”
Aging in Place (2020)
“We will host 13 dynamic
international young people
willing to spend their holidays
surrounded by nature and fun
while contributing to the field!”
EAVI (2019)
Johnston, 2020.
Sheila Webber 2020

5. Positionality
• Baby boomer
• Female, White, English
• Principle wage earner, no
children
University:
First in Family
Different perspectives e.g.
Gardner, C.C. & Galoozis, E.
(2018). False narratives of
generational difference in
academic libraries: Toward an
intersectional approach.
Library Quarterly, 88(2), 177-
192.
Reading different things into
the same articles; implicit and
explicit standpoints
Saunders (2009)
Sheila Webber 2020

6. Ageism
“Ageism is the stereotyping of, prejudice or
discrimination against individuals or groups based on
their age. Although ageism can target young people,
most studies in this area focus on the unfair treatment
of older people. Ageism is deeply structural, ‘find[ing]
expression in institutional systems, individual
attitudes and inter-generational relationships.’ ”
European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (2018, p.11)
Cognitive, affective & behavioral components; micro-, meso- & macro-levels (see
also Iversen, Larsen & Solem, 2009)
Sheila Webber 2020

7. Have you experienced ageism (at any
age)?
1 – Yes
2 – No
(if not sure etc. do not click anything)
If you have examples of strategies and actions
that combat ageism (for people of any age),
either relating to the library workforce or users of
libraries, please contribute them at any time in
chat
Sheila Webber 2020

8. “The 2015 Eurobarometer survey on discrimination
shows that discrimination or harassment because of
old age is the most frequently mentioned type of
discrimination: 42 % of Europeans perceive
discrimination due to old age (being over 55 years old)
as “very” or “fairly” widespread in their country.”
European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (2018, p.9)
The status of elders, and the stereotypes of ageism,
will vary depending on culture, country, religion etc.
Sheila Webber 2020

9. “Older people are more likely to be portrayed as senile,
ugly, stupid, unskilled, unproductive, unhealthy, badly-
dressed, sedentary and inactive, all portrayals aligned
with negative old age
stereotypes of low competence
and physical and mental decline”
Swift & Steeden (2020, p.31)
Also stereotypes of the
“successful” ager – slim, fit,
tasteful, perfect grandparent
ArmyMedicine.(2014)
Sheila Webber 2020

10. UNESCO(2020
“Increasingly, media discourse is also
promoting the view that all older people are
lonely and socially isolated. Contrary to this
discourse, the evidence shows that loneliness
and social isolation affect people of all ages.
Recent studies suggest that young adults may
be at greater risk of loneliness than older
adults, with one in ten people aged 16-24 years
being often lonely, compared to three per cent
of people aged 65 and over”
British Gerontology Society (2020)
See e.g. also Milner (2020) Sheila Webber 2020

11. Source: Swift & Steeden (2020, pp.10 & 11) from a lit review
Sheila Webber 2020

12. Ageism in a time of Coronavirus
Sheila Webber 2020

13. “many more families
are going to lose
loved ones before
their time”
#okboomer
#boomerremoval
#boomerremover
“they’ve had their
time”
“People over 70 could
be forced to social
isolate for a year to
fight coronavirus”
“none of your
residents aged over
75 will be admitted
to hospital”
Sheila Webber 2020

14. “Within family relationships, benevolently ageist
language that emphasises care and concern, and
which fits with an old-age stereotype of incompetence,
can encourage dependency and discourage more
active ageing behaviours” Swift & Steeden (2020, p28.)
My grandchild said “I’ve lost one
grandma, I don’t want to lose you
too” (example of older person
talking about self isolation)
“You can hear the sort of
collective sigh of everyone
under 40, can’t you,
knowing that they’re going
to have weeks of phone calls
from their parents going
‘the app’s gone funny, I
don’t know what to do!’ ”
Angela Barnes (BBC, 2020)
Casual ageism in talking
about Covid-19 contact
tracking with phone apps
Sheila Webber 2020

15. Ageism and the workforce
Sheila Webber 2020

16. Older people active in the workforce
“There are currently more than 360,000 people over
70 in paid work [in the UK], including one in seven
men between 70 and 75 and one in sixteen women...
Almost one million people over the age of 70 provide
unpaid care, including one in seven women in their
70s. One in five people aged between 70 and 85, over
1.5 million people, volunteer in their communities”
British Gerontology Society (2020)
“In 2019, nearly 1 in 5 (19%) of the entire self-
employed [UK] workforce is over 60”
RestLess (2019)
Sheila Webber 2020

17. Older people active in the workforce
as a problem
• Theme of young, ambitious librarians held up by
outdated old people who just won’t go
“The participants raised concerns about the
difficulties of encouraging older staff who have not
kept up-to-date with changes and are not prepared
to move out of their comfort zone to update their
skills or exit the profession.” Barthorpe (2012, p.6)
• Theme of older people discriminating against
younger people, ignoring their ideas, stereotyping &
insulting younger people
Sheila Webber 2020

18. Conflating “age” with “place in hierarchy”
Munde (2010)
‘career timetables’ hypothesis “involves expectations
of how individuals move up in the organizational
hierarchy as they become older and more
experienced, and that employees who ‘lag behind’ on
this schedule - and who are hence surrounded by
younger individuals in their work unit - are more likely
to face discrimination”
Naegele, De Tavernier & Hess (2018, p.79)
Sheila Webber 2020

19. Workplace discrimination is, of course,
intersectional
Age, disability, ethnicity, colour, religion, gender,
sexual orientation
see e.g. European Union Agency for Fundamental
Rights (2019, pp.73-74)
Sheila Webber 2020

20. ‘old male grey eminence is looked at in
a different way than an old grey woman’
• Lookism, girling, assumptions about having
children, old-ageism
“The ‘optimal’ time for women managers seemed to
be relatively short, somewhere between 40 and 50
years of age” Jyrkinen & McKie (2012, p. 70)
• Adjah & van der Walt (2019) – cultural expectations
of women (in Ghana), lack of mentors, lack of time
& opportunity in early career stages
IntervieweeinJyrkinen(2014)
Sheila Webber 2020

21. Aspects of workplace ageism
• Attitudes, behaviours, and
institutional practices & policies
• Varies: sector; organisation size,
structure, identity & culture Naegele, De
Tavernier & Hess (2018)
• Implicit ageism existing even where
explicit doesn’t e.g. in recruitment
e.g. Malinen & Johnston (2013);
Zaniboni et al. (2019)
“participants tended
to associate younger
workers with
desirable work
characteristics
(competent,
motivated,
responsible, able and
laborious), and older
workers with
undesirable working
characteristics
(demotivated,
unreliable, incapable,
low-skilled and
negligent)” Zaniboni
et al. (2019, p.463)
Sheila Webber 2020

22. Reviewing work practices
• Age-inclusive human resources policies
• Age-blind promotion and recruiting procedures e.g.
reviewing job descriptions & performance appraisal
criteria for biased wording; lack of assumptions about
ambitions at different life stages
• Multigenerational teams; avoiding stereotypes in
mentoring
• Discussing explicitly issues such as communication,
working styles & transitions
• CPD: Taking differing learning styles into account;
catering for different approaches to CPD; taking training
needs at all career stages and ages seriously
Sheila Webber 2020

23. Reviewing work practices
• Remembering that just because powerful people in
an organisation are older, it does not mean that all
older people are powerful
• Recognising and challenging implicit stereotypes,
prejudice and discrimination
• Reflecting – in challenging the old “librarian”
stereotypes – don’t let’s create new, ageist ones
Sheila Webber 2020

24. Ageism and
people
“At the public libraries studied the only services
explicitly for older adults are a) homebound delivery
services; b) assistive technologies in the computer
lab; and, c) partnerships with retirement
communities. All three services frame older
adulthood as a time of disability and decline.”
Lenstra (2017)17) Sheila Webber 2020

25. What do the “older people” events saying
about the people providing them?
ALA (2006) 21 ideas [for
older people] for the 21st
Century includes:
• Offer programs on Burma
Shave signs, local trivia,
music boxes, WWII.
• Have a show of wedding
fashions from the 30s
and 40s.
“Programs offered by the
five [Canadian] library
systems were fairly
traditional and did not
appear to address older
adults as composites of
diverse ethnicities, sexual
orientations, family
arrangements, religious
affiliations, etc.”
Dalmer (2017)
Sheila Webber 2020

26. Spaces
• World Health Organization Regional Office for
Europe. (2017). Age-friendly environments in
Europe: A handbook of domains for policy action.
• Physical and virtual accessibility
• Universal Design principles, as ever, will help all
users
• Dedicated spaces in larger libraries for older people
where they can feel comfortable (Lenstra, 2017)
Sheila Webber 2020

27. Ideas: Events & services
• Events aimed at all ages (e.g. gaming nights) (Wynia,
2019) & not just “intergenerational” events seem from
the young person’s perspective (Decker, 2010)
• Avoiding always age badging as puts off some older
people (Wynia, 2019)
• Listen to needs without preconceptions: e.g. Online
dating programmes (Wynia, 2019)
• Integrate into existing interests e.g. tech support to
quilting group (Lenstra, 2017)
Sheila Webber 2020

28. Ideas: Teaching & supporting
• Older people teaching older people: actively recruiting
older volunteers & librarians (Lenstra, 2017)
• Librarians/ volunteers learning from older people
(Lenstra, 2017)
• Events that use skills of people of varied ages
“One library offered a program where older adults
taught youth how to fix small appliances. A program
such as this stands in contrast to the ageist assumption
that the daily activities of those who are no longer in the
labour force hold little practical value” (Wynia, 2019)
Sheila Webber 2020

29. Most articles/research do not address
ageism in tertiary education
• Services and messages from universities geared
towards students in late teens/early 20s
• I have heard numerous complaints from students
about this: I do not think universities take this
exclusion very seriously
• Academic libraries creating programmes for older
people: may also be “a significant source of
philanthropic donations”! (Carlson, cited Sabo, 2017
p.13)
Sheila Webber 2020

30. • Connecting with older people’s organisations (ones
run by older people) to advise & represent
• Just because someone on an advisory committee is
“old” it does not automatically mean the older
person’s voice is being expressed
• Examples from other countries (not just Western)
Stratagies
Sheila Webber 2020

31. “People of all ages are privileged with the
same rights, and policies need to be
applied at population level. Ageism – the
stereotyping, prejudice, and
discrimination against people on the
basis of their age – has detrimental
consequences for societies and
individuals.”
British Gerentology Society, 2020
Sheila Webber 2020

32. Sheila Webber
Information School
University of Sheffield
s.webber@shef.ac.uk
Twitter: @sheilayoshikawa
http://information-literacy.blogspot.com/
http://www.slideshare.net/sheilawebber/
References for this presentation at
https://docs.google.com/document/d/14F9sEHZ8Fq0wI5gZ1IVkPGP-
I88bOcWm02D7n8Vu1cg/edit?usp=sharing or
https://tinyurl.com/yb7x49kd
Photos and graphics: Sheila Webber
except where otherwise indicated