Meeting the Needs of Student Users in Academic Libraries. Reaching Across the Great Divide

214 Pages·2012·9.32 MB·English

by  Michele Crump and LeiLani Freund (Auth.)

Meeting the Needs of Student Users in
Academic Libraries
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Meeting the Needs of
Student Users in
Academic Libraries
Reaching across the great divide
M J. C
ICHELE RUMP AND
L L S. F
EI ANI REUND
WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM
S C , A L ,
TEVEN ARRICO NN INDELL
P L R O
ASCAL UPIEN AND ANDY LDHAM
Oxford Cambridge New Delhi
Chandos Publishing
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First published in 2012
ISBN: 978-1-84334-684-5 (print)
ISBN: 978-1-78063-323-7 (online)
© M. J. Crump, L. S. Freund and contributors, 2012
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Typeset by Domex e-Data Pvt. Ltd., India
Printed in the UK and USA.
To the memory of our parents:
– Genevieve and Richard Crump – thank you for your love,
the words and music.
– AnnaMae Oliver, who cherished her books – she is always
in the words I write.
List of figures and tables
Figures
3.1 University of Central Florida: Knowledge Commons 42
3.2 Georgia Tech University: West Commons 43
3.3 Georgia Tech University: detail of suspended power cable 44
3.4 Florida State College at Jacksonville: Circle of Learning 45
3.5 Florida State College at Jacksonville Study Room 46
3.6 University of North Florida: Reading Room 47
3.7 University of Florida: Library West Entrance 49
3.8 University of Florida: Library West Ground Floor 49
3.9 Georgia Tech University: Clough Undergraduate Learning
Commons, exterior 51
3.10 Georgia Tech University: Clough Undergraduate Learning
Commons, green roof structure 52
6.1 User Q3: Do you ever use Library Services or resources
from outside the library? 141
6.2 User Q4: When not in the library, how do you access
services or resources? (Select all that apply) 142
6.3 User Q5: What services or resources do you use from
outside the library? (Select all that apply) 143
6.4 User Q6: Why don’t you use library services or resources
from outside the library? 144
6.5 User Q8: When you come to the library, do you ever
ask library staff for help with your research, for a class
assignment, etc.? 146
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Meeting the Needs of Student Users in Academic Libraries
6.6 User Q8: Comments for (if never, please explain why not) 146
6.7 Staff Q2: In your current library position, where do
you serve the library patrons? (Select all that apply) 151
6.8 Staff Q6: When I perform Reference services I prefer ...;
Staff Q7: When resources are scarce, what Reference
services should be offered? (Ranks 1–4 used) 154
6.9 Staff Q14: What is your position? 156
6.10 Staff Q15: How many years have you been in your
present position? 157
6.11 Staff Q16: How many years have you been in the
library profession? 158
6.12 Staff Q19: Does your library conduct focus group
discussions and interviews with users? 159
6.13 Staff Q4: Why do you think most patrons come into
the library? (Select up to 3); User Q2: Why do you
usually come into the library? (Select up to 3) 161
6.14 Staff Q8: When you advise a patron on how to start
their research, where do you begin most frequently?
(Select up to 3); User Q7: When you have a paper to
write, how do you start your research? (Select up to 3) 164
6.15 Staff Q9: How do you think most patrons perceive
library staff in your institution? (Select up to 3)
User Q10: In general, how do you perceive library staff?
(Select up to 3) 166
6.16 User Q11 and Staff Q10: What do you think of the
present library facility? 168
Tables
5.1 Computer ownership 93
5.2 Frequency of bringing laptop/tablet to campus locations 93
5.3 Cellphone feature usage, several times per month or more
frequently 95
5.4 Digital education preference comparison 96
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List of figures and tables
5.5 Hybrid course preference 97
5.6 Frequency of social software use on academic projects 99
5.7 Frequency of online gaming and gender 101
5.8 Frequency of tool use to find resources for research
assignments 102
xiii
Acknowledgements
A debt of gratitude is due to all the folks who helped us with our project,
we thank you for your creativity and energy: Jami Beserock crunched the
data and created all the spreadsheets and graphs – you rock, Jami! Tom
Minton “Monkey Man” and Mathew Daley were endlessly patient and
are SurveyMonkeyTM experts extraordinaire! Brett Diaz, for distributing
the survey and chocolate – the evening customers are lucky to have you
there. Patrick Reakes and Rachel Schipper – we can’t thank you enough
for your understanding and encouragement.
Thank you to our contributors for their insight and vision: Steven
Carrico and Ann Lindell from the University of Florida and Pascal
Lupien and Randy Oldham from the University of Guelph. Thank you
to the kind staff of Chandos Publishing for your guidance, and much
gratitude especially to Jonathan Davis, who has been with us from the
start. Many thanks as well to Sarah Price, who took us to the end.
A special thank you goes to our survey participants for conducting our
surveys at their institutions. Without their partnership and the
participation of their students and staff, the University of Florida project
would have been incomplete. At Oregon State University, Valley Library:
Victoria Heiduschke, Learning Commons Coordinator, and Jennifer
Nutefall, Associate University Librarian for Innovative User Services. At
Syracuse University, E.S. Bird Library: Lisa Moeckel, Associate Dean for
Undergraduate Education, Lesley Pease, Head of the Learning Commons,
and Nancy Turner, Research & Assessment Analyst. At the University of
California, Santa Cruz, McHenry Library, and the Science & Engineering
Library: Greg Careaga, Head of Research, Outreach, and Instruction
and Lee Jaffe, Planning & Assessment Librarian. At the University of
Texas at San Antonio, John Peace Library: Carolyn Cunningham, User
Experience Librarian.
To the brilliant librarians and library staff we have worked with
through the years – you know who you are and we thank you for your
example and guidance.
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Meeting the Needs of Student Users in Academic Libraries
Michele wishes to thank her family, especially her sister Kimberly, for
the encouragement, support and love. Michele also thanks Claire and
John Dimsdale for their life-long friendship and through happy
circumstances (the wedding of Taylor and Alex) introducing me to
Hamish McRae whose book gave our book direction.
LeiLani thanks her Dad, Warren Oliver, for all his encouragement,
now and through the years (now you have to read the book, Dad), and
to Sheila Oliver, thank you for being my reader and cheerleader. Finally,
LeiLani is, as always, thankful to her husband, John, for his patience and
understanding and his belief in me – and all the great meals and mighty
fine cocktails were essential, too. We couldn’t have done this without
you, John!
xvi