Serving the millennial generation: Management challenges for the modern academic library

Abstract

This paper will explore some of the challenges faced by academic library managers in trying to serve a new generation of techno-savvy users known as the Millennials. The challenges, which are in large part defined by the Internet, include: • the availability of search engines which provide alternative pathways to digital information resources; • programmes to digitize analogue materials by non-traditional providers of library services, such as Google and Microsoft; • the ability of publishers or producers of digital information resources to bypass libraries and target end users directly through pay-per-view services; • social networking and virtual world sites where the Millennials gather. Some possible responses to these challenges are discussed. These include the establishment of “intelligent portals”; participating in national and international programmes to deal with the scholarly information crisis, promoting the academic library in the virtual environment where the millennial generation gather, and changing the physical environment of libraries to take account of the flexible learning requirements of the information age. It is only by successfully confronting these challenges that academic library managers will ensure the continuing relevance and survival of libraries in institutions of higher education.