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Great questions here, fishrocker.

Maybe it's more on target to think of this group as retirees with extra leisure time. After all, I know someone who 'retired' from Microsoft at age 42. (oh, to have been one of those early employees.) He is far from doddering and his active mind is always seeking new learning opportunities.

Many people who have been caught up in the work world aren't aware of how libraries have evolved into the 21st century, so part of the challenge is a marketing one.

There is a demographic of 70+ who missed the computer revolution and want to learn enough to catch up with their grandchildren. There are many classes oriented to this "senior" group. But what about the 50-65's who probably encountered computers on the job -- what do they want to learn?

I hope we can explore some answers in this forum. Thanks for getting the ball rolling.

Bob: YES! You're hitting on exactly the crux of the issue. As one of my colleagues said, "We're really talking about ourselves here." In many cases it's true - we're no different in this sense than this "special" audience we are allegedly separating out.

However, boomers ARE special. They're becoming truly 'senior' in numbers comparatively higher than ever before in American history, and that trend will not cease.

Yes, some have "definite physical limitations" or are "seniors with special needs;" true, we're missing some of this age cohort who couldn't be less interested in libraries. And yes, some of them don't know computers for squat, but "intro to computer" programming is always a winner. Some are spoiled.

But (aha!) what an incredible resource this group of people can be for libraries! We can turn this situation around and tap the more interested of these folks into becoming pools of talent for us. As more boomers retire, we can use the skills they exhibited in the workplace for libraries. The recently-retired marketing director, the recently-retired computer tech teacher, the recently-retired lady who used to do coordinate her firm can be our voluntary volunteer coordinator.

Am I blue sky? You betcha. But I also think that this exact group of folks is worth the development time.

What d'yall think?

I apologize that I'd lost this thread. :-(

I turn 55 this year ... so my idea of "old age" is rather, ah, elastic.

I view being "older" as someone who is "old school" and one who is not accustomed to change. Older is: always remembering when....doesn't adjust to change; insist that "keep" the old card catalogs because computers will destrou everything (LOL) "Older" is someone who is out of touch, both physically and intellectually to the world. When it comes to views of what libraries are or what they should be, this opens up a whole can of worms! The older folks think of libraries as quiet, serene places to frolick and a place to peruse shelves for good books. The "younger" group views the library as a place to hang with friends after school, peruse the internet to play games and/or find research and perusing the shelves as a last resort for more information. and some even use it as their own personal space and some still only go out of sheer boredom. "Older" really is relative when discussing a topic... I'm 37 and YES, I am considered to be "older" from a child/teens point of view. LOL

I have created a program to break the myth of what "older" is. We offer school-aged children class tours that consist of getting their first library card, a story and an activity. I am now going to offer the same program to seniors but with a little twist. The teens will act as tour guides, give out library cards and interact with them during lunch and entertainment. This will allow the teens to view and describe the library to the seniors from their point of view.the seniors will be able to hear/see it from a teens point of view. It's funny how the connotation of the word "library" means the same thing to everyone as a whole BUT somehow we never let go of what the library meant to us as we entered it's doors for the first time, whether as a child, teen or adult.

that's what older is to me.... it's in the eye of the beholder

DesertRat

That does indeed sound like a whale of a program.

And that's a good point about retaining "what the library meant to us as we entered it's doors for the first time" - that's quite true in a lot of cases.

I wonder what Sandy Berman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanford_Berman would make of this young/old discussion? Or should I write, how might he classify this conversation...

Thank you for posting desertrat!!!

I sure can't afford to retire! But Allan M. Kleiman found the 'watch online' version of the PBS show at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/retirement/ for viewing anytime with Windows Media nd Realplayer.

Scary tagline:
"Baby boomers are heading for a shock as they hit retirement: vanishing pensions and inadequate 401(k) savings. What can be done?"

The Census Bureau has a couple of publications of interest, though of course they are dated snapshots at this point.

The 65 Years and Over Population: 2000 is at http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/c2kbr01-10.pdf.

The similar-sounding Older Population in the United States at http://www.ctlibrarians.org/events/soar.htmlhttp:/www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/p20-546.pdf from March 2002.

Both are profiles, useful for reports and aggregate data.

Stephen Abram recently <a href="http://stephenslighthouse.sirsidynix.com/archives/2007/07/two_new_seniors.html"> posted </a> about two new sources of marketing information about older adults. These sources are:

<a href="http://www3.brookings.edu/views/articles/200705frey.pdf">Mapping the Growth of Older America: Seniors and Boomers in the Early 21st Century</a> , a publication of The Brookings Institution: Metropolitan Policy Program, which predicts future population trends for older adults throughout the United States

and

<a href="http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/aging.htm">Data and Statistics on Older Americans</a>, health data and trends from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Maybe Mark Freedman’s new book will give us a clue on what an older adult actually is these days? By the author of [url http://www.amazon.com/Prime-Time-Revolutionize-Retirement-Transform/dp/1586481207/ref=sr_1_1/105-9257083-0181246?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1185548904&sr=8-1]Prime Time[/url].

Encore: Finding Work that Matters in the Second Half of Life (PublicAffairs) ISBN: 1586484834 $24.95. [url http://www.amazon.com/Encore-Finding-Work-Matters-Second/dp/1586484834/ref=sr_1_1/105-9257083-0181246?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1185548560&sr=1-1 ]hyperlink[/url]

Picking up this thread again, there has been interest about the taxonomy of our terms on this board: 'Older Adults' vs. 'Seniors.'

Originally I had envisioned 'older adults' as inclusive of the Baby Boomers. 'Seniors' (to me) seems more an older school term for actual senior citizens definitely not in the Boomer age cohort.

While it is, naturally, dicey to try to categorize individuals into broad groups, I guess the question is: should we change the name of this board to 'Library Services to Seniors'? Or to something else altogether?

I'm hoping that all readers/posters will chip in on this and that we can discuss. All are welcome to post.

Though I'm not wedded to either camp and just want to help librarians serve their targets, 'older adults' seems more inclusive to me personally.

Fishrocker/Doug