Monday, April 23, 2012

Creativity and innovation spike for many in later life

"Later entrepreneurship often crosses paths with yet a third later-life trend — the urge to give back. Research shows that half of those who want to become midlife entrepreneurs — more than 12 million people ages 44 to 70 — also want to meet community needs or solve a critical social problem at the same time." Marc Freedman "Why Older Entrepreneurs Have an Edge" Harvard Business Review

  • What sort of resources and programs would older entrepreneurs want from their public library?
  • How well equipped is the library to provide information for small business (start-up, legal, financial, networking, etc.)?
  • Images of older women in the media



    Description: Images of older women in the media are frequently stereotyped or left out altogether. The 'Look at me! Images of Women and Ageing' project, led by Dr Lorna Warren at the University of Sheffield, encouraged women to create their own, alternative images - showing their experiences of ageing. A transcript of this video can be found at www.esrc.ac.uk/publications/multimedia/seven-days/transcript-image-identity.aspx

    It is important to consider the stereotypes that might influence library marketing to older adults, perhaps it is men who might be missing from images used ... or older adults from diverse backgrounds? Are there stereotypes influencing the choice of programming for older adults at the library?