Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to examine undergraduates' perception and use of two distinct library spaces -social and communal -in an academic library in order to provide more customized services. Design/methodology/approach -A survey was conducted at D.H. Hill Library at North Carolina State University, including structured questions on perceptions and use of the library, perceptions of library layout and design, and respondent demographics, as well as open questions on the advantages and disadvantages of social and communal spaces. Findings -Undergraduates frequently use the physical library. Their usage patterns mirror common characteristics of Generation Y by going there mostly on weekday nights, with friends or in a group. Both communal and social spaces appear to be well-used for many different activities ranging from solitary academic work to technology-driven collaborative work and socializing. Some demographic variables, such as ethnicity and gender, are found to affect aspects of perception and use. For example, African American and Asian students tend to engage in activities that involve library technology, tools and resources, while White students simply use the spaces. Despite their excitement and appreciation of the social spaces in the library, students consider the quiet communal spaces integral to their experience of the library and stress the need of quiet space for academic work. Originality/value -This is one of a few systematic empirical studies on end-users' use of library space.
This paper is a critical bibliography which examines U.S. library history literature from 1997 through 2015 to map the current research around race, ethnicity, and racism in such literature. Seventeen years ago Wayne Wiegand (2000) examined fifty years of published research literature (1947-1997) in American library history looking for varied theoretical perspectives. He argued for the use of more critical theories, and for library historians to join with social and cultural historians to help contextualize library history within broader cultural and social forces in the United States. The paper examines the progress of histories around race, racism, and people of color in libraries since Wiegand's call, and discovered that theoretical perspectives around library histories have broadened into the areas of race and ethnicity, but that there is still much research to be done. Many topics and time periods are still underresearched. For example, the paper found few or no articles that focus on race or ethnicity in the histories of U.S. private libraries, the predecessor to the public library, special libraries, or library education; it also found many articles in ethnic studies journals rather than LIS journals. Melissa Villa-Nicholas is on the faculty of the University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, in the Harrington School of Media and Communications. Her research interests include the history of Latinxs and information technologies and information spaces, Latinx sociotechno practices, the history of libraries, and race/class/gender technology studies.
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