Cross-generational Valuing among Peer Academic Librarians: A Preliminary Report Following Up with Millennials

Literature Review Neil Howe and William Strauss, authors of such titles as Generations, the History of America’s Future, 15842069 and Millennials Rising, are credited with developing and popularizing the ‘generational theory,’ in which differences among generations are treated in a cyclical fashion.2 The majority of the literature that follows Howe and Strauss is largely concerned with human resource-related aspects of intergenerational attitudes and work habits generally. Smola and Sutton surveyed more than 350 individuals concerning generational differences in worker values and compared their results with those of an earlier study conducted in 1974.3 Their results indicate that generational work values differ, and also suggest that work values change as workers grow older. Further support for this idea was found in a study commissioned by the American Psychological Association (APA) Center for Organizational Excellence, which found variances in the forms of recognition preferred by employees of different age groups. Employees age 34 and under valued all forms of monetary compensation less than older employees, and valued peer-to-peer recognition and one-on-one time with a supervisor more than older employees.4 Kowske, Rasch and Wile examine generational differences in work attitudes across five generations, looking for similarities and differences of Millennials when compared to prior generations. The study finds that generational differences at work are small over-