The Library Facility and Student Perceptions
Back in June, the Chronicle of Higher Education published an article - "Facilities Play a Key Role in Students' Enrollment Decisions, Study Finds" (requires password, sorry) - which has been on my mind ever since then. The Chronicle article reported on "The Impact of Facilities on Recruitment and Retention of Students" by David Cain, Ph.D. & Gary L. Reynolds, P.E., which was published in Facilities Manager (for another day but ironically, the article itself is available online without password even though the Chronicle piece about the article requires a password).
I, like many other librarians, was pleased that 53.6% of students reported that the library was an Extremely or Very Important facility in the selection decision process and 48.4% believe it is important to see the library facility on a campus visit. But then, when one gets to the findings on the characteristics of institutions students rejected in their selection process, the data give me pause. 2.9% rejected an institution where the library facility was missing; 21.1% where the library facility was inadequate; and 19.3% were the library facility was poorly maintained. Finally, once on campus students were fairly well satisfied with the library facility (as they were with other facilities that they ranked as important). Just to finish the story, in Part II of the study's report, data reveal that women view the library as more important than men but very few other differences in how the library is perceived in the selection decision process.
So, why is this on my mind? I keep wondering why so many students rank the Library as important but then also seem relatively satisfied with what they see at the institutions they visit? Is it that it is perceived as "a good thing" to say the library is important or does it go deeper than that? If yes, what are the reasons? What does a library facility signal to students? Also, how do students judge adequacy and maintenance? Are those judgments effected by the state of other facilities on campus? Then - why do students seem relatively satisfied with what they see on the campuses they visit? Are libraries in such better shape than residential facilities and classrooms? What characteristics are students looking for in a library facility? And, do the students use criteria similar to or completely different than those ACRL outlined in "A Student's Guide to Evaluating Libraries in Colleges and Universities"?
And, why does this matter? Because if we are trying to create a learning environment in the Undergraduate Library, it would be very helpful to know what students think make a good library. What is the best way to open up the channels of communication so that students can tell us what they would find important, useful, relevant, desirable, attractive, etc.? A survey seems such a sterile approach. Focus groups? Interviews? University of Rochester Library has students draw pictures, take photos, and draw maps of their travel paths on campus (and they have an anthropologist on staff to help them with this sort of study!). National studies like the one in Facilities Manager are interesting and raise many questions. How do we answer them for UIUC?
I, like many other librarians, was pleased that 53.6% of students reported that the library was an Extremely or Very Important facility in the selection decision process and 48.4% believe it is important to see the library facility on a campus visit. But then, when one gets to the findings on the characteristics of institutions students rejected in their selection process, the data give me pause. 2.9% rejected an institution where the library facility was missing; 21.1% where the library facility was inadequate; and 19.3% were the library facility was poorly maintained. Finally, once on campus students were fairly well satisfied with the library facility (as they were with other facilities that they ranked as important). Just to finish the story, in Part II of the study's report, data reveal that women view the library as more important than men but very few other differences in how the library is perceived in the selection decision process.
So, why is this on my mind? I keep wondering why so many students rank the Library as important but then also seem relatively satisfied with what they see at the institutions they visit? Is it that it is perceived as "a good thing" to say the library is important or does it go deeper than that? If yes, what are the reasons? What does a library facility signal to students? Also, how do students judge adequacy and maintenance? Are those judgments effected by the state of other facilities on campus? Then - why do students seem relatively satisfied with what they see on the campuses they visit? Are libraries in such better shape than residential facilities and classrooms? What characteristics are students looking for in a library facility? And, do the students use criteria similar to or completely different than those ACRL outlined in "A Student's Guide to Evaluating Libraries in Colleges and Universities"?
And, why does this matter? Because if we are trying to create a learning environment in the Undergraduate Library, it would be very helpful to know what students think make a good library. What is the best way to open up the channels of communication so that students can tell us what they would find important, useful, relevant, desirable, attractive, etc.? A survey seems such a sterile approach. Focus groups? Interviews? University of Rochester Library has students draw pictures, take photos, and draw maps of their travel paths on campus (and they have an anthropologist on staff to help them with this sort of study!). National studies like the one in Facilities Manager are interesting and raise many questions. How do we answer them for UIUC?
posted by Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe at 11:12 PM
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