Yes, Yes, Yes!!!

I know it’s a bit out of character for me to post twice in the same day, but I just read this great blog post, and I wanted to share it with you all. Here’s an excerpt, followed by a link to the post:

And as the population in general and the librarian population has aged (this is not a myth nor an ageist statement—my library director pointed out in a staff meeting last week that 58% of our full time staff is over 50—we are not an anomaly), we are seeing an increased focus on services to the Boomer and Senior generations. These are all good and excellent things.

However.

While we are addressing the needs of these specialized populations, we are failing to engage people who are a huge portion of our tax base and potential advocates: adults between the age of 20 and 40. When I speak to friends in my age group: smart, educated, engaged people—they do not use the library—either because they feel unwelcome, it's open at inconvenient hours (no evenings or weekends) or they just don't see any personal benefit until they become parents and are bringing their children to story times.

http://lisnews.org/don039t_forget_about_us



What do you think, readers? Are 20-40 year olds grossly underserved by public libraries? How does this speak to the idea of libraries as community space?

Jason