Abstract:

This study examines how college students on an urban campus use the academic library. A web survey of 1147 students showed that some of the commonly measured variables such as GPA and SES do not necessarily influence how often they use the library in the conventional manner. It has been speculated that the physical library is becoming obsolete, a mere outdated storage facility for printed media. At the same time, there are reports of increased use of library space, suggesting a new role for the library as a portal to the ever-growing body of digital knowledge. The frequency of visit and the satisfaction level for many activities, such as reading, finding books, studying with friends or checking email reveal that there are two types of users; Solitary and Social users. The data supports that the role of library as a place for solitary activities is still strong. Additional findings suggest that more collaborative promotional effort from librarians and the faculty is needed to help students learn how to fully benefit from the available resources. Also noteworthy is that the concept of the library as a place, rather than an operation should be more actively explored as the role of the library is shifting from a storehouse to a workspace, where users collaborate and share the digitized references.

Keywords:

academic library, library use, group activities, social space, evolving role