Thursday, February 15, 2007

Undergrad Study

Was just at a fascinating presentation yesterday by some UofR librarians, who talked about the ethnographic study they had just concluded. Very intriguing and informative work, with much information that brought on many thought provoking moments.

For example, the map exercise, where they asked students to map their route about campus on a given day. One forgets how much back and forth there is for a student each day! And that realization helps one understand the student desire for both PCs and WiFi in the library, since much of the day they don't want to have to carry laptops around, since they are so on the go. But sometimes they do want to grab the laptop and head to the library to settle in for some work, and then they want WiFi.

There is a site with some information about the study, and they are actually coming out with a book on it in the next few months.

No comments: