Comments on: Beloit List for Librarians

By: Bruce Farrar

Bruce Farrar — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 19:33:37 +0000

More shocking than “.” is pronounced “dot,” not “period,” is that it’s not pronounced “Decimal Point.” Oh, for the good old days of the twentieth century when we just had world wars and teetered on the brink of thermonuclear annihilation, and didn’t have to worry about these new-fangled contraptions and new ways of communicating.

By: userslib.com » Take a deep breath and welcome the class of 2011

userslib.com » Take a deep breath and welcome the class of 2011 — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 23:13:05 +0000

[…] A couple of months ago I wrote a “Who are we dealing with” post to describe these new academic users/patrons in an attempt to better understand them. Beloit College also regularly publishes a rather extensive list of tidbits about our new first year students. And Jenny at the Shifted Librarian has just added some great and more techy examples. […]

By: Skippy

Skippy — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 21:24:15 +0000

Does anyone besides me find this list a little insulting? I expect a lot of it rings true, but it’s all stated in a slightly snotty tone. I mean, the creators of the list never lived in a world without cars, but nobody’s pointing that out. It just seems geared toward people who want to complain about younger generations.

By: RCPL ANNOUNCEMENTS » 8.27.08 Beloit College Mindset List

RCPL ANNOUNCEMENTS » 8.27.08 Beloit College Mindset List — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 00:40:30 +0000

[…] http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2007/08/23/beloit-list-for-librarians.html […]

By: jenny

jenny — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 03:18:42 +0000

Skippy, I suppose that’s one way to read it, but the point is that things like cars, land line telephones, television, etc. are all things we take for granted so we all have those as common touchstones. These are things we don’t have in common. I didn’t see anything in either list that complained about younger generations, either, but YMMV.

By: Quick Links - News from Around the Library World - 28 August 2007 by Blogging Librarian

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 09:11:42 +0000

[…] - Beloit College’s Mindset List for the Class of 2011A useful list for everyone, particularly teachers and librarians, to just know a little bit more about those who were born in 1989 and who would be entering university this year (for the ladies in Singapore as the guys will have to serve National Service).(via The Shifted Librarian) […]

By: Eats Wombats

Eats Wombats — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 11:42:50 +0000

> They have always cut and pasted

But… without knowing, in some cases, where the terms originated. Children of a scientific colleague recently exclaimed “Ah, so THAT’s why it’s called cut and paste!” They had, literally, never used scissors and glue (and they thought the idea was hilarious). So “They have always cut and pasted” should, perhaps, be “They have always cut and pasted electronically.”

The Beloit list needs a corollary, what most older people don’t know and haven’t yet experienced might be interesting. (Perhaps a way of assessing one’s youthfulness by checking a list would be fun?). The world is run mostly by older people and changed mostly by younger ones, and neither has a monopoly on being out of touch.

Kudos to you as a service provider for reflecting on this. Clearly you are young at heart!

By: Simon

Simon — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 07:12:14 +0000

I like Jenny’s list a lot more than the original; it offers some practical reminders of the things that distinguish me (35) from the students I interact with daily. The original list just seems kinda stupid and random. (Then again, I’m not North American, so a lot of the things on the list confused me, because I’d never heard of them either). And things like “what Berlin Wall?” are silly. I was well aware of the Vietnam War from the age of about eight, even though it ended just before I was born.

By: The Library Shelf - Today’s Top Blog Posts from Librarians - Powered by SocialRank

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 10:12:41 +0000

[…] The Shifted Librarian » Beloit List for Librarians […]

By: Rachel

Rachel — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 22:50:58 +0000

I just think it’s kind of a dumb list. I graduated from undergrad in 2000, and there are numerous things on that list that apply to me (U2’s been around since before I was born, and WTF is a MagiCan?), as well as things that I don’t think really fit kids born in 1989 (they were, what, 3 when Wayne’s World peaked?). Your library list is better, but still, it’s not as though older folks haven’t adapted to these changes, or anyone’s missing out by not writing checks. The whole Beloit/trying-to-define-people-with-tidbits thing just seems trivial to me.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 03:57:24 +0000

The specifics of my comment relate to this year’s list, of course.

By: jenny

jenny — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 17:22:14 +0000

Rachel, I don’t think Beloit is saying that these are new or unique things for these kids only. They’re just pointing out that they are the first ones to grow up in a world where these things were different for them since birth. So while others born around that time or far before will definitely still adapt and even share some of the characteristics, these are interesting benchmarks for comparison. I don’t think it’s meant to be definitive, comprehensive, or even quantitative. These are starting points for discussion, and I often find them interesting as such. YMMV.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 17:05:58 +0000

Jenny, I’m always skeptical of generational-type groupings and definitions, but my husband says that this is a very cynical, Gen X thing to say.

By: jenny

jenny — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 17:49:33 +0000

Heh - I totally get that, as I’m Gen X, too. But having just turned 40, I find myself using the phrase “those kids today” way too much :-p I also worry a lot about my generation getting lost between those other two “mouse in the snake” ones (boomers and millennials), so maybe it’s easier for me to digest the Beloit list since I use groupings in other contexts.

Overall, I have to say that I don’t think many of the divides in our profession are generational. Rather, I think they are due to other factors (whether you’ve created content on the internet, whether you buy into the “everything is miscellaneous” theory, etc.) that *appear* generational on the surface. That breakdown fails, though, when you go into any depth.

So maybe I’m being truly Gen X and being ambivalent, having my cake and eating it, too!