International STEM graduate students: reaching a deeper understanding

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to better understand the perceptions international STEM students have of the library and higher education based on their responses to the Ithaka S+R Graduate Student Survey. Design/methodology/approach To better understand these groups, this study conducted the Mann–Whitney–Wilcoxon test on the Ithaka survey results to compare the groups and identify any statistically significant differences that the international STEM graduate students group (ISG) has to other groups. Findings This paper found that ISG valued Higher Education objective variables more than the non-ISG group, with the exception of one question. The ISG group also valued 7 of the 13 role of the library (ROL) variables statistically different. Research limitations/implications Since the students self-reported as international or STEM, the authors are unable to assess whether the response pool is representative of the university as a whole. Practical implications By understanding how international/STEM students may differ from other populations, libraries can better design spaces and services for these groups. Originality/value Existing studies tend to focus on international students or STEM students and information literacy. This study intends to fill a gap in the understanding of how these groups perceive the ROL and their education.

STEM undergraduate students: library use, perceptions and GPA

“…However, there were no statistical differences in how STEM and non-STEM respondents value other resources. This finding is similar to another study indicating that STEM respondents perceived less value in supporting developing research skills and providing assistance in finding resources than non-STEM respondents (Yu et al , 2018). The only difference in this study was a focus on undergraduate students, whereas Yu et al examined only graduate students.…”

“…The results revealed a strong positive correlation between the library use of students in the humanities and their GPA, while there was a weak correlation between the library use of students from STEM and social science disciplines and their GPA (Allison, 2015). Other studies show that STEM respondents visit the library building less frequently than non-STEM respondents (Carroll et al , 2016; Yu et al , 2018). However, online use by STEM and non-STEM disciplines is mixed.…”

“…However, online use by STEM and non-STEM disciplines is mixed. A study conducted by Carroll et al (2016) showed that there were similar frequencies of “daily and weekly use of online library resources” between STEM and non-STEM respondents, whereas another study conducted by Yu et al (2018) revealed that STEM respondents accessed library resources from off campus more frequently than non-STEM respondents. Additionally, non-STEM undergraduate students had the highest preference for printed citation manuals, style guides, general and special references, and had the lowest rate of preference for eBooks in scholarly monographs (Carroll et al , 2016).…”

“…Additionally, non-STEM undergraduate students had the highest preference for printed citation manuals, style guides, general and special references, and had the lowest rate of preference for eBooks in scholarly monographs (Carroll et al , 2016). In terms of students' perceptions of the usefulness of library services, non-STEM respondents perceived a higher value than STEM respondents in the role of the library in preserving library resources, supporting developing research skills, providing assistance in finding resources, and using information ethically (Yu et al , 2018).…”