What are students doing in your library?

Our district is participating in the Texas Library Snapshot Day, part of ALA’s Snapshot Day, an effort to gather data on libraries around the country.  

We used both a paper survey and an online poll to gather student data this past Monday(and our questions were based on the statewide poll) . The responses were somewhat what I expected at the high school level.  (One caveat:  We did have fewer classes scheduled that day than we normally do, because state standardized  testing started the next day.)

At a high school the library functions as a student union, providing services from reading and relaxing to research and instruction.   Our survey figures reflect that multi-purpose use of our space, and it coincides with how we designed our new library, with spaces for relaxing(our cafe where students can eat their lunches while studying), and spaces for research(computer areas, reference areas).   A good reason to do a survey like this when you are redesigning a space–to be sure you understand how students are using your space!

Doing this provided a valuable interaction with students(as doing the survey shows them we care about what they are using the library for) and valuable information for us in terms of purchasing, planning, policies, etc.  

We had 450 respondents during the one day period, which I estimate is about 65%-70% of students who actually walked in the door(and some were here several times).

Here is our “snapshot!”

snapshotday

One thought on “What are students doing in your library?

  1. Hi,
    It’s time for The Top 100 Language Blogs 2010 competition and the good news is your blog has been nominated. Congratulations!
    After previous years’ success the bab.la language portal and Lexiophiles language blog are hosting our worldwide language blog competition once again.
    We are looking for the top 100 language blogs in four categories: Language Learning, Language Teaching, Language Technology and Language Professionals.
    You have been nominated to the following category: Language Technology.
    The nomination period goes from April 27th to May 11th. Each blog will have a one-sentence-description for the voting. If you would like a special description to go along with your blog, just send me an email (priscila [at] bab.la). The voting period goes from May 12th to May 24th. The winners will be announced on May 28th. Feel free to spread the word among bloggers writing about languages.
    For more information on The Top 100 Language Blogs 2010 visit:

    http://www.lexiophiles.com/featured-article/top-100-language-blogs-2010-starts-today

    Kind regards,
    Priscila
    On behalf of the bab.la and Lexiophiles team

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