Search results

The purpose of this paper is to quantify recent changes in students' use of laptops in one academic library and to consider the potential role of new high‐tech library spaces on laptop use.

Instead of relying on standard library exit and entrance counts, this study was based on brief, structured observations of library spaces, including counts of laptop use. By conducting such observations over regular intervals in both new and pre‐existing library spaces, the authors were able to observe changes in laptop use across both time and type of library space.

The growth in laptop use dramatically exceeded expectations: 28 percent of students used laptops in existing spaces in 2005, while 62 percent of students used laptops in the same spaces in 2008. While a new, adjoining high‐tech space also had high laptop use, the opening of this new space coincided with growth in both laptop use and overall student presence in the pre‐existing library spaces. In addition, the paper posits a variety of potential causes for these changes, including available technology and hardware, university‐wide policy, and student behavior.

The changing use of laptops in libraries is important for administrative decision making at both the library and institutional level, including decisions about facilities, technology infrastructure and support, and security.

The purpose of this paper is to review the considerations necessary in developing modern library spaces.

Both internal and external segments of library space are analyzed from the positions of their physical availability to users, services offered and future prospects.

The findings indicate that the library space consists of two segments: internal and external. Internal space is physical space with traditional documents and services, and the external segment is physically intangible virtual space dealing with virtual services using electronic resources.

The two segments of library space have not previously been considered together in one paper. Also, virtual library resources and services, in respect of relating them to the certain segment of library space, have not been considered previously.

The purpose of this article is to describe how assessments informed changes to library spaces to improve students' experiences.

The article describes three changes to the library to improve students' experience within the library. For each change, describe the reason for the change, assessments prior to the change to inform decision-making and follow-up assessments to determine value.

In each instance, the assessment prior to the changes informed decisions that expedited the changes. The results were spaces that improved library spaces to improve students' library experiences and better meet their needs.

The purpose of the article is to describe the importance and use of assessment to assist with changes to library spaces and inform the value of those changes.

The purpose of this article is to discuss the need for librarians to be proactively involved in institutional decisions regarding repurposing or annexation of library space. As libraries transition from print to electronic delivery of journals, especially in STM intensive libraries, administration will begin to question the need to retain large runs of bound print journal volumes, especially in light of the ever‐present space crunch faced by many institutions.

The paper provides a viewpoint based on the experience of repurposing library space for alternative use.

Librarians must be proactive when addressing library space issues. It is imperative that librarians are actively involved in defining the direction and future of the library rather than waiting for the decision to be made for them by their institution.

The paper advocates the need to be proactive rather than reactive in planning for the future use of library space.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a method for the assessment of library space use and user experience by combining seating studies, surveys and observational data.

Seating usage studies (called seating sweeps), technology-assisted face-to-face surveys and observational data were used to assess library space usage and identify user behaviors.

Results from the study revealed higher library use than expected and provided insight into user behaviors and patterns.

The methods and study described aid in raising awareness of user experience within library spaces and provide valuable data for space redesign efforts.

The study builds upon methods described by Linn (2013) and combines traditional user experience methodologies to gain insight into library space use and user needs.

In higher education libraries, the concept of the user experience has increased in profile and importance. The concept of the “student as customer” has generated much debate but there is general agreement that universities need to be more successful in meeting student expectations. A key strategic area for university libraries has been to adapt and improve their physical spaces to ensure that they are still relevant for today’s students. York and Loughborough University Libraries have both undergone building refurbishments and both are committed to monitoring and reviewing services and spaces. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

There were various constraints which very much influenced the methodology. These included: avoiding survey overload no resource allocation an acknowledgement that the methodology employed needed to combine rigour and validity with a pragmatic approach to data collection. A joint project team was established of representatives from each university. A questionnaire created on Google Forms was administered by staff with individuals in the library and entering the data onto a iPad.

Findings provide evidence of use across a range of users along with valuable information on who is using our library spaces and for what purpose.

This research is a rich contribution to the evidence based around student’s learning in universities. It benefits from the expertise and knowledge of two university libraries. As university’s continue to develop learning spaces, this work will enable further investigation around what makes a successful learning space and what makes the library a destination of choice.

It has been suggested that “space and artifacts constitute systems of communication which organizations build up within themselves” (Gagliardi, 1992a, b, p. vi) and reflect the cultural life within that organization. This is a study of how the “landscape” of a public library (“Library X”), as an information retrieval system, relates to the values of the people who created it. The efforts here are geared towards understanding the physical instantiation of institutional culture and, more specifically, institutional values as they are reflected through the artifact.

This exploratory study, a Ph.D. dissertation completed at the University of Western Ontario in 2013, examines the materially embedded relations of power between library users and staff in public libraries and how building design regulates spatial behavior according to organizational objectives. It considers three public library buildings as organization spaces (Dale & Burrell, 2008) and determines the extent to which their spatial organizations reproduce the relations of power between the library and its public that originated with the modern public library building type ca. 1900. Adopting a multicase study design, I conducted site visits to three, purposefully selected public library buildings of similar size but various ages. Site visits included: blueprint analysis; organizational document analysis; in-depth, semi-structured interviews with library users and library staff; cognitive mapping exercises; observations; and photography.

Despite newer approaches to designing public library buildings, the use of newer information technologies, and the emergence of newer paradigms of library service delivery (e.g., the user-centered model), findings strongly suggest that the library as an organization still relies on many of the same socio-spatial models of control as it did one century ago when public library design first became standardized. The three public libraries examined show spatial organizations that were designed primarily with the librarian, library materials, and library operations in mind far more than the library user or the user’s many needs. This not only calls into question the public library’s progressiveness over the last century but also hints at its ability to survive in the new century.

Undergraduate information commons have become pervasive in the academic library landscape. In recent years, librarians and administrators have come to identify the need for comparable commons’ spaces and services for graduate students. This chapter serves as a review of recently developed models of graduate commons—in this discussion referred to as Scholars’ Commons—as defined by an integration of physical learning spaces, personnel, and a dynamic availability of research support services that support assist graduate students throughout their academic life cycle. These provisions serve as the foundation for the development of enhanced library-supported graduate student success.

Still a rare commodity, existing models from selected institutional web sites were examined using a framework for analysis consisting of several criteria: new use of space; segmented services; partnerships; and new organizational structures. Through a synthesis of the commonalities prevalent in these systems, this chapter aims to provide recommendations for prospective Scholars’ Commons models and proposals for their development. Library organizations contemplating the development of a Scholars’ Commons need to consider the needs of their target population, potential new or reallocated spaces, feasibility of providing support and research technologies, and possible staffing models. As well, the authors consider the importance of library-based graduate student support that bolsters cross-divisional collaborative partnerships across the academy.

The idea of active learning classrooms (ALCs) in post-secondary institutions across North America is not a new one and it continues to gain prominence (Davis, 2018; Ellern & Buchanan, 2018; Park & Choi, 2014). Research shows that these dynamic classrooms increased student comprehension of key concepts, problem-solving ability, improved attitude toward learning, and overall learning gains (Cotner, Loper, Walker, & Brooks, 2013; Park & Choi, 2014). Not surprisingly then, there has been a growing number of academic libraries which see the potential benefits and have incorporated ALCs, or elements of such, into their spaces (Ellern & Buchanan, 2018; Karasic, 2016; Soderdahl, 2011).

This chapter presents a case study on the 2017 redesign of a Canadian academic library, the Albert D. Cohen Management Library at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. Once considered a “study hall,” the renovated business library has been transformed into a modern student learning space. The library is outfitted with a modular ALC equipped to accommodate the varied learning needs of the twenty-first-century students at the Asper School of Business. The author provides a detailed first-hand account of the ALC planning process, key partnerships, challenges, and post-launch reaction.