College Libraries and Student Culture: What We Now Know (review)

College Libraries and Student Culture: What We Now Know is an engaging description of the Ethnographic Research in Illinois Academic Libraries (ERIAL) Project, a 21-month study conducted at five university libraries that empowered librarians and resident anthropologists to ask critical questions about how college students engage – or choose not to engage – with their campus libraries.

Editor and lead research anthropologist for the ERIAL Project Andrew D. Asher, anthropologist Susan Miller, and ERIAL Project Manager David Green begin the volume by providing background on the Library Services and Technology Act grant-funded study and the five participating institutions (DePaul University, Illinois Wesleyan University, Northeastern Illinois University, University of Illinois-Chicago, and University of Illinois-Springfield). The ethnographic methodologies used include student research journals and cognitive maps, space design workshops, and interviews, among others.

Authors representing each of the ERIAL research teams then describe their methodology, focus for analysis, particularly striking findings, and the changes under way to meet their study participants’ expressed needs. Some authors explain in more detail the unique attributes of their institutions that drive their interest in particular research questions or student populations. For instance, Firouzeh Logan and Elizabeth Pickard focus their analysis on the needs of first-year, first-generation college students at the University of Illinois-Chicago, while David Green centers his research around better understanding the needs of Hispanic students at Northeastern Illinois University. Others focus on particular themes, analyzing data from interviews conducted across institutions. Annie Armstrong considers ethnographic interviews of 75 faculty conducted at all five universities, offering insights into faculty members’ views of and interest in instructional services and providing strategies to increase faculty support for library instruction. Susan Miller and Nancy Murillo analyze nearly 150 interviews of undergraduates and teaching faculty at Northeastern, DePaul, and University of Illinois-Chicago in order to learn more about the individuals students contact for assistance and how they choose whom to ask for help.

Despite differences in student populations, locations, and sizes of institution, ERIAL researchers describe a number of common themes. For instance, multiple studies uncovered the importance of establishing strong relationships with faculty and other stakeholders, noting that students tend to turn to their instructors and TAs for assistance, not even considering that a librarian could assist them with their research. In fact, a number of interviews conducted across the five participating institutions revealed that students simply do not know or understand what a librarian’s job is or why they might contact a librarian for assistance beyond locating a physical item or identifying a call number. Lynda M. Duke and Andrew D. Asher of Illinois Wesleyan University (IWU) confirm that the ERIAL Project was extremely effective in unearthing institution-specific issues as well as more generalizable findings. Ultimately, however, they note that it is important for librarians to develop a thorough understanding of their particular user populations, underscored by chapters on Hispanic and first-generation college students, as well as IWU undergraduates’ research behavior.

While readers might be drawn initially to the salient findings described in chapters two through nine, a more lasting effect of this book is perhaps its impact on librarians’ interest in conducting ethnographic studies at their own institutions. Editors Duke and Asher provide an informative yet manageable appendix of questions librarians might use to structure their interviews, divided into thematic sections. They state that this list of sample questions, including “If you could change one or two things about the library, what would they be?” and “What problems or obstacles did you encounter while working on [the last research paper or project you completed]?” is not intended to serve as a script but rather a guide to help structure open-ended interviews, just as it did for ERIAL researchers, who were encouraged to add questions to meet the needs of their particular constituents. In addition to the appendix, readers will benefit from an extensive bibliography, including a number of studies initiated...