This document discusses the evolution of libraries and the changes in information consumption in the digital age, particularly between 2000 and 2012. It highlights the increasing use of mobile devices and social networking sites, indicating that 82% of U.S. adults used the internet via mobile devices by 2012, transforming how information is accessed and shared. Furthermore, the study, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, provides insights into the changing role of public libraries and their users in relation to technology and information access.

1. Libraries 2020
Imagining the library of the
(not too distant) future
Kris ten Purcell, Ph.D.
A s s ociate Director, Res earch
Pew Internet Project
S UNY Library A s s ociation
A nnual C onference
J une 7, 2012

2. • Part of the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan “fact tank” based in
Washington, DC
• PRC’s mission is to provide high quality, objective data to thought
leaders and policymakers
• Data for this talk is from nationally representative telephone surveys
of U.S. adults and teens (on landlines and cell phones)
• Presentation slides and all data are available at pewinternet.org

3. About our libraries research…
• Study the changing role of public libraries and library users in
the digital age
• Funded by a three-year, $1.4 million grant from the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation
• More information available at libraries.pewinternet.org

4. The Internet:
Then and Now

5. Internet Use in the U.S. in 2000
Slow, stationary connections
46% of US adults used the internet built around a desktop
computer
5% had home broadband connections
53% owned a cell phone
0% connected to internet wirelessly
0% used social network sites
_________________________
Information flowed mainly one way
Information consumption was a
stationary activity

6. The Internet in 2012
Mobile devices have
82% of US adults use the internet fundamentally changed the
relationship between
2/3 have broadband at home information, time and space
88% have a cell phone; 46% are Information is now
smartphone users portable, participatory, and
personal
19% have a tablet computer
19% have an e-reader
2/3 are wireless internet users
65% of online adults use SNS

7. The Very Nature of Information Has Changed
Information Information
was… is…
Scarce All around us
Expensive Cheap or free
Shaped and controlled Shaped and controlled by
by elites consumers and networks
Designed for one-way, Designed for sharing,
mass consumption participation and feedback
Slow moving Immediate
External to our worlds Embedded in our worlds

8. Information is Woven Into Our Lives
Mobile is the needle, Social Networks are the thread
Mobile… Social Networks…
Moves information Surround us with
with us information through our
many connections
Makes information
accessible ANYTIME Bring us information
and ANYWHERE from multiple, varied
sources
Puts information at
our fingertips Provide instant feedback,
meaning and context
Magnifies the demand
for timely information Allow us to shape and
create information
Makes information
ourselves and amplify
location-sensitive
others’ messages

9. GADGETS

10. Adult gadget ownership over time (2006-2012)
% of American adults age 18+ who own each device
Source: Pew Internet surveys, 2006-2012

11. Gadget ownership snapshot for adults age 18+
% of American adults age 18+ who own each device
Subset
of cell
phones
Source: The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project surveys.

12. Mobile is the Needle: 88% of US Adults Have a Cell Phone
% in each age group who have a cell phone
46% of US adults now
own SMARTPHONES,
up from 35% in
Spring 2011
Highest rates among:
18-24 year-olds (67%)
25-34 year-olds (71%)
23% of all teens age
12-17 have a smartphone
31% of 14-17 year-olds
have a smartphone,
compared with just 8% of
Teen data July 2011 Adult data Feb 2012
12-13 year-olds

13. Smartphone ownership by age & income/education
% of adults within each group who own a smartphone (for example, 58% of 18-29 year olds with a household income of less
than $30,000 per year are smartphone owners)
18-29 30-49 50-64 65+
(n=336) (n=601) (n=639) (n=626)
All adults 66% 59% 34% 13%
Annual Household Income
Less than $30,000 58 42 16 5
$30,000 or more 72 69 44 27
Educational Attainment
High school grad or less 63 43 22 8
Some college or college graduate 70 71 44 20
Source: Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project January 20-February 19, 2012 tracking survey. N=2,253 adults age 18 and older,
including 901 interviews conducted on respondent’s cell phone. Interviews conducted in both English and Spanish.

14. Overall, if you had to use one single word to describe how you feel about
your cell phone, what would that one word be?

15. Mobile is the Needle
That Weaves Information Throughout Our World
% of US adult cell owners who use their phones to…

16. Cell Phone Activities by Race/Ethnicity
% of adult cell phone owners age 18+ within each group who do the following activities with their cell
phone
White, non- Black, non-
Hispanic Hispanic Hispanic
(n=1343) (n=232) (n=196)
Send or receive text messages 70 76 83*
Take a picture 71 70 79*
Access the internet 39 56* 51*
Send a photo or video to someone 52 58 61*
Send or receive email 34 46* 43*
Download an app 28 36* 36*
Play a game 31 43* 40*
Play music 27 45* 47*
Record a video 30 41* 42*
Access a social networking site 25 39* 35*
Watch a video 21 33* 39*
Post a photo or video online 18 30* 28*
Check bank balance or do online banking 15 27* 25*
*indicates statistically significant differences compared with whites.
Source: The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, April 26 – May 22, 2011 Spring Tracking Survey. n=2,277 adults ages
18 and older, including 755 cell phone interviews. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish.

17. How Phones Function In Our Lives
% of US adult cell owners who had done each of the following in the 30 days prior to the survey…

18. Using Phones for Real-Time Information
% of cell owners in each age group who have performed these real-time activities in the previous 30 days
Source: Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Mobile Survey, March 15-April 3, 2012.

19. Gadgets Teens Use to Access the Internet
In the last 30 days, have you used the internet on ____?
% of teens age 12-17 who used this gadget in past 30 days to access the internet
Source: The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, April 19 – July 14, 2011 Teen Survey. n=799 teens 12-17 and a parent or
guardian. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish, by landline and cell phone, and included an oversample of minority families.

20. Apps: From Superhighway to Bypass
One in three US adults download apps to a cell phone or tablet computer
Apps provide direct connections to information
% of app downloaders who have downloaded each type of app…
App downloading
is highest among
young adults age 18-29 Based on August 2011 Pew Internet Tracking Survey

21. Apps, Geolocation and Augmented Reality

22. Tablet and E-reader Use is on the Rise
• 29% of adults own a specialized device for
e-reading (either a tablet or an e-reader)
– 19% of adults own an e-book reader
– 19% of adults own a tablet computer
• E-book reader and tablet ownership are
strongly correlated with income and
education, and these devices are most
popular with adults under age 50
• Women are more likely than men to own e-
readers, and parents are more likely than
non-parents to own tablets

23. What Kind of e-Reader Do You Own?
Percent of
e-reader owners
age 18+
who own each
type of e-book
reader

24. What is the main reason you do not currently
have an e-reader?
Just don't need one/don’t want one 24% % of Americans
Cost/can’t afford it 19 age 16+
Prefer books/print 16
who do not own
Don’t read/no time to read 10
an e-book
Don’t know what an e-reader is 5
Don’t want to learn tech/don’t know how to use it 4 reader who cite
Have enough other devices/use other devices 3 each reason
Plan to get one/waiting for better features 3
Have iPad/tablet 3
Lack of time in general 2
85% of those
I’m too old 2
who do not own
Vision/health problems <1
Other 3 an e-book
Don’t know/refused 5 reader have no
plans to
Dec. 2011 results are from a survey of 2,986 people age 16 and older conducted November 16- purchase one
December 21, 2011 conducted in English and Spanish on landline and cell phones. The margin of error
is +/- 2 percentage points. N for non-owners of e-reading devices=2,290.

25. What Kind of Tablet Computer Do You Own?
Percent of
tablet owners
age 18+
who own each
type of tablet
computer

26. What is the main reason you do not currently
have a tablet computer?
Just don't need one/don’t want one 35%
% of Americans
Cost/can’t afford it 25
Have enough devices/happy with current devices 20 age 16+
Don’t want to learn tech/don’t know how to use it 7 who do not own
Don’t know what a tablet computer is 2 a tablet
Plan to get one/waiting for better features 2 computer who
I’m too old 2 cite each reason
Lack of time in general 1
Don’t read/no time to read <1
Vision/health problems <1 81% of those
Prefer books/print <1
who do not own
Prefer to use library <1
a tablet
Other 2
Don’t know/refused 3 computer have
no plans to
Dec. 2011 results are from a survey of 2,986 people age 16 and older conducted November 16-
December 21, 2011 conducted in English and Spanish on landline and cell phones. The margin of
purchase one
error is +/- 2 percentage points. N for non-owners of tablet computers=2,290.

27. SOCIAL NETWORKS =
NETWORKED INDIVIDUALS, NETWORKED INFORMATION

28. Social Networks are the Threads That Connect Us
65% of online adults use
social networking sites
Consistent rates across gender,
race/ethnicity, and income groups

29. Why Adults 18+ Use Social Networks

30. Social Networks and Social Cohesion
For networked individuals, information is embedded
A Pew study finds that
contrary to fears the and ambient
internet isolates
people...
• Facebook users
are more trusting
than other adults
• Facebook users
have more close
relationships
• Facebook users
get more social
support than
other adults

31. Teens and Social Media Use
Teen social network and Twitter use – trends over time
Based on teen internet users
Source: The Pew Research Center Internet & American Life Project Teen & Parent surveys.

32. 76% of ALL Teens Are Social Media Users
Facebook is the dominant social Girls are twice as likely to use
media site among teens Twitter as boys
•93% of teen social media users •22% of online girls use Twitter v.
have a Facebook account 10% of online boys
•MySpace ranks a distant second at
Black teens are 3X as likely to be
24%
Twitter users as whites or Latinos
The percent of teens who use •Among online teens, 34% of black
social network sites almost teens use Twitter v. 11% of white
doubles between ages 12 and 13 and 13% of Latino teens
•45% of online 12-year-olds use
social network sites Twitter use is especially low among
younger boys
•That jumps to 82% among 13-
•2% of online boys ages 12-13 use
year-old internet users
Twitter

33. THEY AGREE ON SOMETHING!
Adults and Teens Use the Same Social Media Sites
Other than LinkedIn, teens and adults maintain online social
media accounts in the same places 87% of parents of
Based on teens/adults who use social network site(s) and/or Twitter
teens 12-17 use
the internet
67% of parents of
teens use social
media sites
39% of parents
have friended
their teenager on
a social network
Source: Teen data is from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Teen-Parent survey, April 19-July 14, 2011. N=799 for teens
site
12-17 and parents, including oversample of minority families. Adult data is from Pew Internet’s August Tracking survey, July 25-August 26,
2011. Nationally representative, n=2260 adults 18+, includes cell phone & Spanish language interviews.
* indicates a statistically significant difference between age groups.

34. Given So Many Choices, How do Teens Communicate?
The volume of
teen texting has
risen from
50 texts a day
in 2009 to
60 texts a day
in 2012
for the median
teen texter
Just 6% of teens
use email daily,
while 39% say
they never use
email

35. The Age of Search

36. Search and Information Gathering
Over time, search has remained one of the most popular internet activities
% of adult internet users who engage in each activity online
Source: The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project tracking surveys, 2002-2012. Social network site use not tracked
prior to February, 2005. “Get news online” and “buy a product online” have not yet been asked in 2012.

37. Who Uses Search?
All online adults 91%
Race/Ethnicity
% of online adults in each
White 93*
group who use search engines
African American 89*
Hispanic 79 The vast majority
Age
of internet users are
18-29 96*
30-49 91 search users, but
50-64 92 some demographic
65+ 80 groups are more likely
Education
Some high school 78
than others to
High school 88* use search….
Some college 94*
College graduate 95* Young adults have
Household income
< $30,000 84
been raised on search
$30,000 - $49,999 93* and are most likely to
$50,000 - $74,999 97* use it
$75,000+ 95*
*Denotes statistically significant difference with other rows in that category
Source: Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project Tracking Survey, Jan 20-Feb 19,
2012. N=2,253 adults age 18 and older. Interviews conducted in English and Spanish.

38. Internet users are turning to search more frequently
% of adult search users who use a search engine….
Daily use of search
engines is most common
among younger, more
educated and more
Daily affluent internet users
60% of internet users age
18-49 are daily search
users v. 40% of those 50+
70% of internet users
who have graduated from
college are daily search
users v. 36% of those
who have never been
Source: The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project Tracking Survey, Jan 20-Feb 19, 2012.
to college
N=2,253 adults, age 18 and older. Interviews conducted in English and Spanish.
An asterisk (*) indicates a significant difference across years at the .95 confidence level.

39. Most adult search users have faith in the
fairness and accuracy of results
In general, do you think Internet search engines are a FAIR and UNBIASED source of information, or do you
think search engines are NOT a fair and unbiased source?
In general, how much of the information you find using search engines do you think is ACCURATE or
TRUSTWORTHY?
Source: The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project Winter 2012 Tracking Survey, January 20-February 19, 2012. N=2,253
adults, age 18 and older, including 901 cell phone interviews. Interviews conducted in English and Spanish.

40. Who has the most faith in the fairness and accuracy
of search results?
Younger search engine users have the most
faith in the search results they get
72% of 18-29 year-olds say that search
engines are a fair and unbiased source, v.
65% of 30-49 year-olds,
67% of 50-64 year-olds,
54% of search users age 65+
Women are slightly more likely than men
(76% v. 69%) to say all or most of their search
results are accurate and trustworthy
Search users living in the highest income
households are also more likely than others
to believe that all or most of their search
results can be trusted

41. Most adult search engine users say the relevance and quality of
results are improving over time
Overall, in your experience, are search engine results getting MORE relevant and useful over time, LESS relevant
and useful, or have you not seen any real difference over time?
Overall, in your experience, is the QUALITY of the information you get using search engines getting BETTER over
time, WORSE over time, or have you not seen any real difference?
Source: The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project Winter 2012 Tracking Survey, January 20-February 19, 2012. N=2,253 adults, age 18 and
older, including 901 cell phone interviews. Interviews conducted in English and Spanish.

42. READING IN AMERICA
Books
or
Nooks?

43. Library Research Timeline…Stage I (August 2011-July 2012)
• Focus on libraries and new technologies
• The Rise of E-Reading - Published
– Special focus on reading habits of e-reader and tablet
owners
• E-books and libraries - June 2012
– Stories/quotes from library staff and patrons
• Library use in different community types (forthcoming)
• The habits of younger library users (forthcoming)

44. First report: The rise of e-reading
21% of American adults read an
e-book in the last year
68% read a print book
11% listened to an audiobook
Overall, just 19% of adults say they
read NO books in the past year,
in any format

45. Book reading by age
% of each age group who have read a book in whole or in part in the past 12 months
Source: Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Reading Habits Survey, November 16-December 21, 2011. N=2,986
respondents age 16 and older. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish and on landline and cells. The margin of error
for the sample is +/- 2 percentage points.

46. % of adult book readers (age 18+) using this format on an average
Theday, as offormat used by readers on any given day
book June 2010 and December 2011 is
shifting over time
% of adult book readers (age 18+) who use each of these formats on an average day
Source: Pew Research Center Surveys.

47. Who are the readers behind the screens?
Readers of e-books are more likely
than other readers to be:
• Under age 50
• College educated
• Living in households earning $50K+
Other key characteristics:
•They read more books, more often, and
for a wider range of reasons
• More likely to buy than borrow

48. On what gadgets do e-readers read their books?
% of e-book readers age 16 and older who read e-books on each type of device

49. Which is better – print or e-book?
Asked of those16+ who have read both e-books and print books in last 12 months

50. When you want to read a particular e-book, where
do you look first?
% of e-book readers age 16+ who look first to each source

51. Some Takeaways for Libraries
Additional takeaways for librarians
• The gadget doesn’t make the reader,
but it may change the reader
• 41% of tablet owners and 35% of e-
reader owners said they are reading
more since the advent of e-content
• A majority of print readers (54%) and
e-book readers (61%) prefer to
purchase their own copies of books
• Most audiobook listeners (61%)
prefer to borrow their audiobooks

52. Imagining the Library of the
Not-Too-Distant Future

53. Functions: Helping Information Consumers with the “Three V’s”
How do I separate
the wheat from the
chaff to find what’s
useful TO ME?
Volume
Volume Velocity
70% of adults say they How do I keep up
are overwhelmed by with the constant
the amount of stream of
information available information in the
today world today?
Valence/Relevance

54. The Operating System of the New Learning Environment
Anywhere Any Time Any Device
Real time, easily accessed, easily
shared and synched information

55. The Role(s) of the Librarian in the Library
of the Not-Too-Distant Future
Sentries Evaluators Filters Certifiers
identifying and locating the highest quality information

56. The Role(s) of the Librarian in the Library
of the Not-Too-Distant Future
Aggregator/ Organizer Network Node Facilitator
Synthesizer
helping patrons put information in action

57. The Library of the
Not-Too-Distant Future
From ALA:
Confronting the Future
Strategic Visions for
the 21st Century
Public Library
Available at
www.ala.org

58. Library Research Timeline…Stage II (May-November 2012)
• Focus on the changing world of library services
• The evolving role of libraries in communities
• The role of libraries in the lives of special populations
Library Research Timeline…Stage III (Sept 2012–April 2013)
• Library User Typology
• An updated, in-depth portrait of young library users

59. All data available at:
pewinternet.org
libraries.pewinternet.org
Kristen Purcell, Ph.D.
Associate Director, Research
Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project
kpurcell@pewinternet.org
Twitter:
@pewinternet
@kristenpurcell