P-08 What Students Really Want: Library as Place at Andrews University

Although there is abundant information available remotely, higher education students and teachers still seek the campus library to meet many of their teaching, research, and learning needs. The usefulness of the spaces provided is directly dependent on the match between these spaces and the learning and teaching styles students and teachers engage in today. Thus, the purpose of this study was to identify what types of spaces students really want in order to better accomplish their academic requirements and learning needs. The data was collected through several ethnographic techniques, such as focus groups, design charrettes, and image analogy. Information from students reading, studying, or using their laptops and computers in other places in the university was also gathered with the main objective of identifying the reasons they prefer or choose to be there and not in the library. The findings was supplemented by an actual field survey so the participants could identify special priorities. Main results: 138 students participated in the design charrettes. Most students preferred individual study areas. 63% of the students where using individual carrels or computer stations. In average, students greatly value silence. 75% of the students indicate that they didn’t use more the library due to distance, and 50% because they preferred open spaces