A Study in Reference

I’ve been working on an assignment for IST608 Research and Statistics which I’ve tied in to my Reference experience. I’m preparing the prospectus and proposal for a study to identify the primary user groups of the Reference Area at the University Library and to understand their use behavior; how often and for what reasons they come.

Originally I had contemplated something in the area of services or resources for Hispanic students. I was sent a really interesting article on sensitivity to language and cultural barriers when providing reference services to international students which seemed like a good lead. I’m sure this would have been an interesting issue for me to explore, however I opted for doing something for which there was an actual need at the University Library.

At this point I’m finding a lot of previous research on general academic library usage, Information Commons models and on the development of local user studies to complement Lib-Qual surveys at academic libraries - it’s not ground-breaking, but it’s eye-opening for me. I’m kind of stuck on how to get an ideal sampling – the library usage studies mostly rely on gate counts – but that's not physically feasible in this case. I’m sure I’ll enjoy designing the survey. The book we’re using in class has a lot of useful information on question formats, selection and wording.

For this assignment I’ve also been reading about other data collections techniques – the above-mentioned article, for example, used observation - and thinking back to a funny, offbeat Norwegian movie I saw last year: Kitchen Stories. This movie takes the method of observation to a new level. In it a design company that’s studying how bachelors make use of their kitchens sends observers into the homes. The observers sit in a sort of umpire’s chair in a corner of the kitchen from which they watch and take notes - and they're expressly forbidden from establshing any communication with their subjects! The entire movie explores the unusual relationship that develops between the observer and the observed – there’s one very funny scene in which the tables are turned and another in which the observee completely stops making use of his kitchen. Wouldn’t want that to happen in a library…