Demystifying Ethnography: Exploring Student Use of Library Spaces

Demystifying Ethnography: Exploring Student Use of Library Spaces
MLA 2010 Annual Conference
Julie Gilbert, Amy Gratz,
Anna Hulseberg, and Sarah Monson

Session OVERVIEW
Study: how students use library space
Why ethnography?
What we wanted to learn
How we gathered data: multiple methods
What did we learn, and what’s next?
You as library ethnographer

Library as physical and virtual space

Why Ethnography?
What exactly is an ethnographic approach?
Emphasis on qualitative
Use of multiple methods
Interviews, surveys & focus groups
Participant observation
Holistic
Inductive

Ethnography and Libraries
Previous studies
Foster and Gibbons, Studying Students: The Undergraduate Research Project at the University of Rochester
Ethnographic Research in Illinois Academic Libraries (ERIAL) Project
Ethnographic objectives
Elicit student-focused data
Understand and accommodate academic needs

Our Research Questions
How do students make use of existing library spaces and services, both physical and virtual?
What improvements could the library make to better meet the needs of students?

Methods
Survey
Semi-structured Interviews
Linguistic Listing
Mapping
Photo Diaries
Image Association
Focus Groups

Managing the Research Process
Research team
Library staff and students
Varied skill set
Project plan
Responsibilities and deadlines
Communicating with library staff
Planning ahead (data analysis, implementing changes)
Funding
Departmental mini-grant

Recruiting Participants
Communication
E-mail invitations
Table tents
Posters
Blog
Incentives
Library VIP room
Print vouchers

Survey
Starting with a Broad Base

Survey
Surveyed students about use of library’s physical and virtual spaces
Quantitative and qualitative questions
Mainly open-ended questions
Survey affected design and recruitment for subsequent activities

Survey: physical space

Survey: virtual space

Interviews
In Students’ Own Words

Interviews
Semi-structured format
Focused, open-ended questions
Recording and transcription
Student interviewer - Lindell scholar

Examples of Interview Questions
Basic Questions
What is your major?
How often do you use the library?
At what times do you use the library?
Why do you use the library?
Physical Space Questions
Where is your preferred space in the library (1st, 2nd, 3rd floor)?
Do you use the library for individual study? Where do you place yourself?
Do you use the library for group study? Where do you place yourself?

Linguistic Listing
Learning the Students’ Language

What is Linguistic Listing?
Listing words or phrases that belong to a particular category
Example: What comes to mind when you hear the word “library?”
Such as: Books, Study, Information
Responses to open-ended questions
What is your favorite space in the library? Why?

Why Linguistic Listing?
Used to elicit concepts and perceptions in people’s (library users’) own words
Example: “circulation desk” v. “front desk”
Used to measure consensus among words and categories
Is the word “periodicals” associated with “journals?”

Mapping
Where do Students go in the Library?

Mapping
What?
1 week, 5 mappers, 3 times a day, 3 floors
Mapped exact location and number of students in a given space
Why?
To find out which spaces are used, when they are used, and which spaces are not used
Compare findings with survey responses

2nd Floor, 10am

2nd Floor, 3pm

Compilation Map – 2nd Floor

Photo Diaries
Around the Library

Photo Diaries
Show us how students view and use the library space and resources
Photos can show us more than the students say
Designed to deepen the knowledge gained through earlier methods
Photo prompts selected based on questions asked in survey and linguistic listing
Most prompts designed to help us learn why students use the library in addition to what they do here

Photo Diary Prompts
Your favorite place
Your least favorite place
Something you can’t imagine the library without
Something you don’t think should be here
Your preferred solo study space
Your preferred group study space
What your study space looks like when you’re working
Your most common destination
Something you’ll miss when you graduate
Something you want to change in the library
A picture to show to a “prospy”
Someplace you’ve never been before
A place in the library where you feel lost
Where you ask questions
Library activity
Something unique (to our library)
Something you want more of
Most popular space
Least popular space
The computer you use most often in the library, showing its surroundings
Your favorite search tool
A resource you rarely use
Something you have a question about
Why you come to the library

7.What your study space looks like when you're working:
What does this photo say about you?
“Like to have everything in front of me.”

13. A place in the library where you feel lost:
What do you think we could change to help you?
“Occasionally the reference section seems daunting”

14. Where do you ask questions?
What sort of questions do you ask here? Why here (over another location)?
“I ask questions at the reference desk when I need help. If I can’t find something or need a book behind them as well as with citations for papers. I go here because they tend to know the most.”

1.Your favorite place :
What do you like about this space?
“I love [the] comfy chairs facing the windows of the 2nd floor of the library because the chairs are comfortable, there are still tables to place necessary caffeinated beverages and if you need a distraction from studying, you can look at the great scenery.”

Image Association
The Ideal Library

Image Association
Designed to elicit how students envision an ideal library
Prior methods had focused on use of the current space
Used Flickr® as a platform
Created an account students shared to create galleries of their ideal library
Asked the students to include comments explaining why they chose specific images

Image Association Prompt
Create a collection of images depicting your ideal library. Think about what you do, or would like to do, in the library, and find images that look or feel the same to you.
Be as creative as you want – your ideal library doesn’t need to look anything like the current library. The sky is the limit!

For more see: flickr.com/photos/fbml_space_study/galleries/

Web Focus Groups
Students in the Virtual Space

Web Focus Group 1
Brainstorming exercise:
What do you want to see on a library homepage?

Web Focus Group 1
What do you like / not like about the current library homepage?

Ideal Website Mock-up
Main exercise: Design your ideal library homepage from scratch

Web Focus Group 2
What was new to you when you started college?

Web Focus Group 2
Tell us about a recent research project & what sources you used?

Web Focus Group 2
Main exercise: Create a guide for incoming first-year students about how to use the library website for research.
“Depending on the requirements you may need to use different types of sources such as books or articles or websites so try to use a variety in your papers”
“Within each database think of the overall assignment and purpose of the paper and come up with specific words to use in your search”

How Did We Analyze All This Data?
Very carefully!

Data Analysis
Overall patterns & themes
SPSS for Surveys & Photo Diaries
Quantitative analysis
Coding schema
Frequency tables & cross tabulations
Debriefing with student academic assistants
Focus groups & Interviews
Photos, videos, transcriptions
Research retreat – discuss data as a whole

Findings
Students want natural light, more tables, more private study areas, more group study areas, a café, and better tools to navigate the library
Students want a website that is visually appealing, dynamic, simple, and well-organized

Action Plan
Recommendations to library committees
Website task force
Ongoing data analysis
Implement changes
Evaluate

Activity
You as library ethnographer

Part 1: Current Knowledge
What do you already know about how patrons use your library’s physical and virtual spaces?
How do you know this? What evidence do you have?

Part 2: Research Questions
Scenario: Your library receives a grant to hire an ethnographer to study your patrons’ use of your library’s physical and virtual space over the course of a year.
What would you like to explore about use of your library’s space?
What would your primary research questions be?

Part 3: Methods
How are you going to find the answers to your research questions?
Pick one of your research questions and design a specific method you might use.

Interested in doing a similar study?
Here are some recommendations:
Use student researchers/focus group leaders
Be well organized but be prepared to adapt!
Be creative – things don’t always go as planned
Project Plan(s)
Recruitment – start early!

Thank you!
Questions?

Demystifying Ethnography: Exploring Student Use of Library Spaces

by Amy Gratz

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