With a focus on how libraries can best serve a tech-immersed public, a new report looks at research strategies of youth in the U.K. Particularly concerned with the current confluence of shortcomings in information literacy and a surfeit of information, the report finds that young people rely on digital resources and spend little time evaluating that information for relevance, accuracy or authority.

The report confirms many images of what it identifies as the "google information." For example, They are more competent with technology; they are turning away from being passive consumers of information, and they are the `cut-and-paste' generation.

The report also identifies images that the authors see as myth. Among the untrue perceptions are:

• They have zero tolerance for delay and their information needs must be fulfilled immediately
• They find their peers more credible as information sources than authority figures
• They need to feel constantly connected to the web
• They pick up computer skills by trial-and-error
• They prefer quick information in the form of easily digested chunks, rather than full text
• They are expert searchers

The public is largely unaware of library investments in digital resources, says the report, in part because they don't appear on Google or other major search engines. It includes policy recommendations, including greater investment and education. "Libraries in general are not keeping up with the demands of students and researchers for services that are integrated and consistent with their wider internet experience", says Dr Ian Rowlands, the lead author of the report.

The British Library and the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) commissioned the report from the Centre for Information Behaviour and the Evaluation of Research (CIBER) at University College London.

Source: Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future