“More than 60 percent of all respondents, regardless of geographic region, are extremely familiar, very familiar or somewhat familiar with search engines. Just 1 percent of all respondents surveyed have never heard of search engines.

In the 12 years that search engines have been in existence, they have achieved a familiarity that is slightly high than that of physical libaries and considerably higher than that of online libraries.”

This is from OCLC’s newest publication “Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources,” which reports the findings of an extensive research study of consumers. Read this report. It is informative and important as we consider delivery of library services to our users and those we hope will be our users in the future.

As I continue to read this report, I am struck by a realization that we need to keep our eyes and ears open. We need to talk with our community members and learn how they are getting their information. It’s about more than marketing our services to them; it’s about delivering our services in a way that consumers recognize.

The report can be read online for FREE at http://www.oclc.org/reports/2005perceptions.htm.