Abstract
In this paper, the authors present interim research results from an ongoing ethnographic examination of eight engineering undergraduate students from two technology universities in Prague, Czech Republic. A multi-layered data gathering strategy was employed, including semi-structured in-person interviews as well as in situ and virtual observations of participants interacting with learning environments. This data enabled the authors to examine whether or not students are aware of library services. “Library services” are here broadly defined to include not only traditional support services but also new, emerging areas of activity which can be categorized under the broader concept of undergraduate student support [1]. Findings indicate very poor awareness of library offerings although participants were aware of the library as a study space. The authors additionally touch briefly upon the concept of “backward design” [2] for service development, in which research data is gathered and considered prior to service design and launch.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Seal, R.: Resource sharing begins at home: opportunities for library partnerships on a university campus. Presented at: 14th Interlending and Document Supply Conference, Istanbul, Turkey. Loyola eCommons, Chicago (2015). http://ecommons.luc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1036&context=lib_facpubs
Dourish, P.: Reading and interpreting ethnography. In: Olson, J.S., Kellogg, W.A. (eds.) Ways of Knowing HCI, pp. 1–18. Springer Science+Business Media, New York (2014)
About NTK – Czech National Library of Technology History. https://www.techlib.cz/en/2749-about-ntk#tab_history
Jorhi, A., Teo, H.J., Lo, J., Dufour, M., Schram, M.: Millennial engineers: digital media and information ecology of engineering students. Comput. Hum. Behav. 33, 510–523 (2014). doi:10.1016/j.chb.2013.01.048
Gabridge, T., Gaskell, M., Stout, A.: Information seeking through students’ eyes: the MIT photo diary study. Coll. Res. Libr. 69, 510–522 (2008). http://crl.acrl.org/content/69/6/510.full.pdf
Foster, N.F., Gibbons, S. (eds.): Studying Students: The Undergraduate Research Project at the University of Rochester. Association of College and Research Libraries, Chicago. http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/publications/booksanddigitalresources/digital/Foster-Gibbons_cmpd.pdf
Hill, K.H., Best, M.M., Dalessio, A.P.: Information literacy in the engineering technologies at the community college: a literature review. Community Jr. Coll. Libr. 18(3–4), 151–167 (2012). doi:10.1080/02763915.2012.812920
Zhao, J.C., Mawhinney, T.: Identifying challenges faced by Chinese undergraduate engineerng students in acquiring iınformation literacy skills – a report on survey findings. Presented at: 2014 ASEE Annual Conference, Indianapolis, IN (2014). https://peer.asee.org/20578
Zhao, J.C., Mawhinney, T.: Comparison of native Chinese-speaking and native English-speaking engineering students’ ınformation literacy challenges. J. Acad. Librariansh. 41(6), 712–724 (2014). doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2015.09.010
Khoo, M., Rozaklis, L., Hall, C.: A survey of the use of ethnographic methods in the study of libraries and library users. Libr. Inf. Sci. Res. 34, 82–91 (2012). doi:10.1016/j.lisr.2011.07.010
Seadle, M.: Research rules for library ethnography. Libr. Hi Tech 29(3), 409–411 (2011). doi:10.1108/07378831111174378
Seadle, M.: Project ethnography: an anthropological approach to assessing digital library services. Libr. Trends 49(2), 370–385 (2000). https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/8342/librarytrendsv49i2_opt.pdf?sequence=3#page=157
Emary, L.R.: Librarians are already in the field: how and why to begin ethnographic fieldwork. BIBL. Forschung und Praxis 30(2), 138–142 (2015). doi:10.1515/bfp-2015-0016
Goodman, V.D.: Applying ethnographic research methods in library and ınformation settings. Libri 61, 1–11 (2011). doi:10.1515/libr.2011.00
Sandstrom, A.R., Sandstrom, P.E.: The use and misuse of anthropological methods in library and ınformation science research. Libr. Q. Inf. Commun. Policy 65(2), 161–199 (1995). http://www.jstor.org/stable/4309020
Krueger, S.: Beyond the paywall: a multi-sited ethnographic examination of the information-related behaviors of six scientists. Ph.D. dissertation, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (2016, forthcoming)
Spinney, J.: A chance to catch a breath: using mobile video ethnography in cycling research. Mobilities 6(2), 161–182 (2011). doi:10.1080/17450101.2011.552771
Walsh, J.: The highlight reel and the real me: how adolescents construct the facebook fable. Ph.D. dissertation Boston University, Boston (2014). http://gradworks.umi.com/36/45/3645870.html
Goodman, L.A.: Comment: on respondent-drıven samplıng and snowball sampling in hard-to-reach populations and snowball samplıng not in hard-to-reach populations. Sociol. Methodol. 41, 347–353 (2011). doi:10.2307/41336926
Eduroam. https://www.eduroam.org/
[Cisco] Exams – Training and Certification. http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/training-events/training-certifications/exams.html
Information Literacy Standards for Science and Engineering/Technology. http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/infolitscitech
Richards, J.C.: Curriculum approaches in language teaching: forward, central, and backward design. RELC J. 44(1), 5–33 (2013). doi:10.1177/0033688212473293
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Chodounská, A., Krueger, S. (2016). Assessing Awareness of Library Services: An Ethnographic Examination of Bachelor Students at Two Czech Technology Universities. In: Kurbanoğlu, S., et al. Information Literacy: Key to an Inclusive Society. ECIL 2016. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 676. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52162-6_71
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52162-6_71
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-52161-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-52162-6
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)