The Google Generation: the information behaviour of the researcher of the future
Dr. Ian Rowlands
CIBER, School of Library, Archive and Information Studies, University College London, Henry Morley Building, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom.
i.rowlands@ucl.ac.uk
Purpose – This presentation will be based on a report commissioned by the British Library and JISC to identify how the specialist researchers of the future (those born after 1993) are likely to access and interact with digital resources in five to ten years’ time. The purpose of the report was to investigate the impact of digital transition on the information behaviour of the Google Generation and to guide library and information services to anticipate and react to any new or emerging behaviours in the most effective way.
Methodology/approach – the study is a virtual longitudinal study and is based on a number of extensive reviews of related literature, survey re-analysis, and a deep log analysis of a British Library and a JISC website intended for younger people.
Findings – the study shows that much of the impact of ICTs on the young has been overestimated and the ubiquitous presence of technology in their lives has not resulted in improved information retrieval, information seeking or evaluation skills. The study claims that although young people demonstrate an apparent ease and familiarity with computers, they rely heavily on search engines, view rather than read and do not possess the critical and analytical skills to assess the information that they find on the Web.
The Originality/value of paper – the study is the first ever virtual longitudinal study, and it dissects and challenges the common assumption that the “Google Generation” is the most web-literate.
Keywords Google generation, Students, Information seeking behaviour, Young adults
Paper type Research paper
Aims of the study
For the purposes of this paper we define the “Google Generation” as those born after 1993 and explore the world of a cohort of young people with little or no recollection of life before the Web.
The broad aims of the study were to gather and assess the available evidence to establish:
- whether or not, as a result of the digital transition and the vast range of information resources being digitally created, young people, the “Google Generation”, are searching for and researching content in new ways and whether this is likely to shape their future behaviour as mature researchers?
- whether or not new ways of researching content will prove to be any different from the ways that existing researchers and scholars carry out their work?
- to inform and stimulate discussion about the future of libraries in the Internet era
Full report:
Information behaviour of the researcher of the future.
