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

Michele Crump (Author), LeiLani Freund (Author)

9781843346845, Elsevier Science

Paperback / softback, published 4 October 2012

222 pages
23.3 x 15.6 x 1.5 cm, 0.4 kg

Meeting the Needs of Student Users in Academic Libraries surveys and evaluates the current practice of learning commons and research services within the academic library community in order to determine if these learning spaces are functioning as intended. To evaluate their findings, the authors examine the measurement tools that libraries have used to evaluate usage and satisfaction, including contemporary anthropological studies that provide a more detailed view of the student’s approach to research. The book takes a candid look at these redesigns and asks if improvements have lived up to expectations of increased service and user satisfaction. Are librarians using these findings to inform the evolution and implementation of new service models, or have they simply put a new shade of lipstick on the pig?

• Dedication
• List of figures and tables
• Acknowledgements
• About the authors and contributors
• Chapter 1: The divide as we see it
• Abstract:
• Introduction
• Book layout
• Chapter 2: Services in the information commons
• Abstract:
• Introduction
• Background
• What works in the information commons environment
• Reference services: the dinosaur in the commons?
• Conclusion
• Chapter 3: A post-occupancy look at library building renovations: meeting the needs of the twenty-first century users
• Abstract:
• Introduction
• Literature review
• Six library building profiles
• Observations about the six profiles
• Survey results
• Conclusion
• Appendix New Library Spaces: Post-Occupancy Survey
• Chapter 4: Assess to cultivate your own library
• Abstract:
• Introduction
• Surveys tracking trends and perceptions
• Anthropological and ethnographic approaches to assessment
• User experience in academic libraries
• Conclusion
• Chapter 5: Millennials and technology: putting suppositions to the test in an academic library
• Abstract:
• Introduction
• Our research
• Hardware ownership and usage
• Online courses
• Social software and gaming
• Student research habits
• Conclusion
• Appendix
• Chapter 6: We asked and they told us: survey — 2
• Abstract:
• Survey methodology
• Survey participant profiles
• Library user survey: data and results
• Library staff survey: data and results
• Library users and library staff: how they compare
• Review of findings and comments
• Chapter 7: Reaching across the divide
• Abstract:
• Concluding words
• Appendix A: Library user survey
• Appendix B: Library staff survey
• Index

Subject Areas: Library, archive & information management [GLC]