University libraries and the postgraduate student: physical and virtual spaces

Abstract

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Academic library as learning space and as collection: A learning commons' effects on collections and related resources and services

“…While noting that the field had demonstrated some uncertainty concerning what to call its newly repurposed spaces, Bennett mused that they had become so nearly ubiquitous as to have supplanted the card catalog as the "principal means of defining space as library space" (2008, p. 183). A number of contemporaneous authors were also making note of the extent to which academic/research libraries were transforming themselves into study environments, learning spaces, collaboration spaces, makerspaces, and so forth, in which open shelves were being replaced by a variety of other student-oriented library services and non-library services (Beard & Bawden, 2012;Beard & Dale, 2010;Kao & Chen, 2011;Ludwig & Starr, 2005;Montgomery, 2014;Paulus Jr., 2011). By 2015, Bennett was opening an essay in portal: Libraries and the Academy by flatly asserting, "No one now plans an academic library without a learning commons" (2015, p. 215).…”

Pop-Up Library at the University of Birmingham: Extending the Reach of an Academic Library by Taking “The Library” to the Students

“…For those groups highlighted as potentially less confident in using formal channels to approach Library Services for support (first-year, postgraduate, part-time and English as Second Language students (Toner, 2008;Beard & Bawden, 2012;Martin et al, 2012)), the Pop-up Library provides an accessible alternative.…”

“…Robinson and Reid (2007), in their 12 qualitative interviews with undergraduate students, found that "lack of awareness of services, embarrassment or shyness, anxiety caused by mechanical barriers and affective barriers" were all reasons why enquiry services were not used (p. 405). Lack of awareness and unwillingness to engage with library staff has also been identified in different types of users; for example postgraduate students (Beard & Bawden, 2012) and English as a Second Language students (Martin, Reaume, Reeves, & Wright, 2012). The results of these papers offer libraries a challenge to engage with non-users and to consider proactive ways, inside and outside of the library building, to showcase library resources and remove barriers to access.…”

“…Given that Toner (2008) identified first year undergraduate students as potential non-users of library services, such a high percentage of respondents indicates that the Pop-up Library is a successful communicative mechanism for reaching this cohort. Elsewhere, Beard and Bawden (2012) recognise a significant number of postgraduate students as displaying a lack of awareness of library services and/or an unwillingness to engage with library staff to ask for help. As only 14% of questionnaire respondents were postgraduates (lower than the 32% of postgraduates that make up the University of Birmingham student body (University of Birmingham, 2016)) it could be suggested the Pop-up Library was less effective as a mechanism for engaging postgraduates.…”

Coping with Library Anxiety Using Interactive Technology

“…Technology can be a good medium to share information with students nowadays because they are familiar with technology and therefore the library information will Ida F Priyanto be more engaging and entertaining for them. Beard and Bawden (2012) stated that the library of the future must be a place of study that is equipped with excellent computing facilities, common spaces for collaborative work and adequate silent space; while Niegaard (2011) said that the library should be an "intelligent space" (p. 180). Lippincott (2005) emphasized that "the library offers a venue where academic work can be carried out in a social context.…”