• 94% of young people say they go online from home
• 23% of students have their own cell phone
• 51% of Grade 11 students access the Internet from their own personal computers
• 28% of Grade 4 students use IM
• 86% of Grade 11 students use IM
• 89% of Grade 4 students are online gamers
• 14% of Grade 4 students blog

You already know what I’m going to say, right? If you work in a public library in Canada, these are your users; if you work in an academic library in Canada (as I do), these are your users next year. Plan accordingly. The great thing about studies and reports like this one is that they provide ammunition during those planning stages (for anyone in your organization who needs convincing that yes, it IS a good idea to try out an IM reference service; or yes, it IS a good idea to expand your info literacy program to include sessions on blogging).

Here are a few more salient points:

• “Kids use the Internet to extend their existing social networks and develop new ones within their community”
• “When students are asked how they like to get their information for school assignments, the Net is the clear winner over books from a library. Sixty-two percent of Grade 4 students prefer the Internet, while 38 percent choose the library. Ninety-one percent of Grade 11 students prefer the Internet, with only nine percent choosing the library.” *
• “Despite their preference for the Net, young people recognize the drawbacks of getting information online. When students are asked what Internet-related subjects they would like to learn about in school, the top choice for 68 percent is “How to tell if information you find on the Net is true or not.” **

* & ** Fascinating, isn’t it? I think these two points, viewed back-to-back, make it pretty clear where we need to step up and improve our services and programming. What better way to do that than to meet them halfway (online) with services (IM) and programmes (Blogs for Teens! Fun Website Evaluation Classes!) they can relate to? Oh, the possibilities!

• Blogging as an Effective Tool in Teaching and Learning Software Systems Development
• Weblogs as Open Constructive Learning Environments
• Assessment by blog: Ethical case studies assessment for an undergraduate business management class
• Blogging as pedagogic practice: artefact and ecology
• Blogging in undergraduate design studios
• Blogs versus discussion forums in postgraduate online continuing medical education

More and more, the “format” is a communication device that moves from creator to consumer in channels completely outside of the traditional ones such as the library. Content is no longer format-dependent and users are not dependent on traditional distribution channels for access to content. This is true both in the realms of scholarly communication and popular materials. For libraries and content sellers, this means the processes of acquisition, organization and delivery of content need to change to accommodate the expectations of our communities.

And, of course, the bits about wikis and blogs are worth a quote too:

As forms of social publishing, wikis and blogs are indicators of further change in the information landscape that could lead to a new publishing paradigm. Together with mechanisms to syndicate content — such as RSS and Atom — wikis, moblogs and blogs have enabled ordinary people to gain the power of publishing. Blogs and wikis could be a natural way for librarians and libraries to reach out to their communities — and perhaps more importantly, hear back from them.

At 20 pages, the report isn’t too much of a time-investment, and definitely worth a read if this stuff means anything at all to you.