Sonja Ervin said of her Multnomah County Library system: “We’re always trying to figure out, who are we missing? Who are we not quite there with?” (American Library Association, 2019). This mentality was similar to the philosophy emphasized by Stephens (2016) for library and information science practitioners to constantly ask, “Are we reaching everyone we can? Are we giving them services they want to use? Are we giving them a reason to depend upon us? … Who doesn’t use the library? Who in your community could benefit from access, services, assistance? Find them. Go to them, ask them what they want and need” (pp. 41–42).
The approach to interrogate conditions with these questions resonated with me because, as a male student and a lover of library environments, I can’t help but become a bit perplexed by the continually declining rate of male college and university enrollment, and relatedly, question what capacity libraries might hold in addressing this downward trend.
The Allan Hancock College Library, shown in Santa Maria, Calif. in 2025, serves a campus enrollment of roughly 11,000 students. (Author Photo)
Per Fry (2023), “men make up 44% of young college students today, down from 47% in 2011, according to newly released U.S. Census Bureau data.” More recently, as of last year, Elder-Connors (2024) noted, “Nationally, only 41% of college students are men — an all-time low. Higher education officials say dwindling male enrollment presents a problem for their long-term sustainability.” The Chronicle of Higher Education even went as far as calling this trend a “crisis” (Mangan, 2022).
The idea of questioning which demographics are not being served by the institution, and then seeking to understand why, and how such gaps can be addressed, connect with real-world library service because we have an opportunity to contribute toward campus missions to better serve the populace. Of course, this is a dynamic with far-reaching implications beyond the library and information science field. However, as academic libraries are often referred to as the “centers” or “heartbeats” of campuses, what, then, is our charge in reversing this drop, whether via recruitment or retention?
While enrollment trends have become challenging in general post-pandemic, male higher-education enrollment has seen particular decline. (Graph by Pew Research Center)
Similarly, as partners in education, what might public libraries be able to do from a contributory standpoint? What can be done to bring back in men in their late 20s, 30s, and 40s who might be missing now? For various libraries to reach their potential for appealing to, and serving as wide of a community spectrum as possible, this particular trend is concerning because it diminishes our audience of users.
I have been struck in recent years by the extent to which people receive their information only from quick bursts on smart phones, whether via brief social media or other apps. Perhaps the LIS field can capitalize on this trend by rethinking, or re-marketing, mobile delivery of services and expansion in apps such as Hoopla, Libby, MyLibro, and related channels.
Of course, this is an assumption on my part, and truly examining the trend in-depth could spark exciting possibilities to narrow this gap with re-envisioned services, outreach, and offerings. It’s possible that there may be reasons for, and solutions to, the trend on both national and local levels. Thus, to truly look for answers, “it might mean performing a community analysis on a granular neighborhood, campus, or department level[s]” (Stephens, 2016, p. 43).
References
American Library Association. (2019, June 17). Multnomah County Library: Creating conditions for equity to flourish. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKGlxh-zc0Y
Elder-Connors, L. (2024, June 5). Colleges struggle with falling enrollment — especially male students. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2024/06/05/nx-s1-4993536/colleges-struggle-with-falling-enrollment-especially-male-students
Fry, R. (2023, December 18). Fewer young men are in college, especially at 4-year schools. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/12/18/fewer-young-men-are-in-college-especially-at-4-year-schools
Mangan, K. (2022, January 19). The male enrollment crisis. The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/special-projects/the-different-voices-of-student-success/becoming-a-student-centric-institution/the-male-enrollment-crisis
Stephens, M. (2016). The heart of librarianship: Attentive, positive, and purposeful change. American Library Association.
Before I begin, I’ll share a few photos. The first is of me outside of the former Key Arena (today named Climate Pledge Arena) in Seattle during a summer vacation. The SuperSonics once existed, and I hope some day they will again! Seventeen years has been long enough. Secondly, I’ll share indeed a “favorite place,” the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, where I once sat in the very front row for a Raiders game. We have very real problems in this world, and needs for our public money. Both Seattle and Oakland, of course, realized this more than most; hence why both of the teams pictured left both cities. Nonetheless, the pictures capture great memories. Both stadiums, while decadent and unmonetized by contemporary standards, when filled, were rockin’ & rollin’ full of soul. They were places of community, both real and imagined, leading to banter, debate, and attempts to deepen understanding, and built bonds between generations of family members, friends, neighbors, and strangers. Their teams offer(ed) an unquantifiable psychic value. Lastly, I’ve included a photo of my pet, Eddie, a senior stray who chose to move in. He brings good luck, no matter what anyone else says!
I have three strong interests in the LIS world. The first interest is in archives and special collections, especially pertaining to vintage newspapers and similar documentation. I regularly use newspaper archive databases to add to and edit Wikipedia articles as a hobby (most of which are maintained by LIS systems), and being able to work in a capacity related to such collections would be a treat. (My profile avatar here is a picture I took of a file cabinet of decades worth of Santa Maria Times newspapers in a public library close to my hometown. A treasure chest!) Secondly, I’m interested in academic libraries in contexts of access services, research assistance, outreach and instruction, and even cataloging and metadata. I’ve had great experiences with all of these areas as a community college and then CSU student, and I think landing in a career along these lines would also be rewarding. Thirdly, I’m intrigued by the concept of city and public library systems evolving in the manner and directions referenced; helping to push in those directions also seems fulfilling and exhilarating.