What Students Really do in the Library: An Observational Study

Abstract

The authors observed 730 collegiate students in the library and recorded their study (or non-study) activities. Approximately 60% of behaviors were study related. The most commonly observed behavior was reading print material (18.8%). The second most common behavior was the use of social media (11.4%). These results have implications for understanding how students learn and study in the pervasive digital world.

Keywords:

• library research
• user studies
• academic libraries
• observational research
• social media

Notes

© Lawrence T. Paretta and Amy Catalano