Article
A Longitudinal Study of Undergraduates’ Academic Library Experiences

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Abstract

This study examined the library use patterns of 1,046 undergraduates during their first three years of college. The significant changes in library use patterns have implications for the redesign of academic library services including reference and bibliographic instruction.

Section snippets

Literature review

Although single institution and cross-sectional studies have limitations, the following studies are useful for identifying the kinds of activities that students engage in when using the academic library. One study at the University of Iowa assessed the needs of undergraduate students. The first section of the survey asked students to state the purpose of their library use and the types of library services and resources used. The authors found that most students used the library to study

Data source

Researchers conducting the National Study of Student Learning (NSSL) collected the data used in the present study. The purpose of the NSSL was to “expand knowledge about college impact by examining the influence of academic and nonacademic experiences on (a) student learning, (b) student attitudes about learning, (c) student cognitive development, and (d) student persistence.”6 The NSSL consisted of several surveys. One survey, the College Student Experiences Questionnaire (CSEQ), supplied the

Findings

Table 4 reports the means and standard deviations of the undergraduates’ library experiences during the three years of the study. An inspection of the means for the first year of the study revealed that undergraduates used the online or card catalog more than any other library activity during their freshman year followed in descending order by using computers in the library, using the library to read or study, developing a bibliography, reading in the reserve or reference sections, asking the

Discussion

“this study supports the findings of other studies, cited in the literature review, that noted undergraduates’ use of the academic library primarily as a place to study.”

This study supports the findings of other studies, cited in the literature review, that noted undergraduates’ use of the academic library primarily as a place to study. The findings also indicated that using the library as a place to study during the freshman year was strongly associated with using the library as a place to study during the sophomore and junior years. According to a recent Library Journal cover story, more academic librarians are recognizing that students are using the library

Acknowledgements

I thank Dr. Kristin Eschenfelder for her feedback on the manuscript.

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