medinfo

Contemplative space for undergraduates/millennials

8. May 2008 by ob | Kategorien: Refs, Studenten

Im neuen Issue des Library Connect Newsletters von Elsevier wird die Frage nach den Millennials/Undergraduates und deren Bedürfnissen gestellt (auch ein wichtiges Thema bei uns). Auf Seite 4 werden von der Univ Florida Libraries viele Fragen gestellt und “Initial findings” präsentiert (Fettdruck durch mich):

No matter what level of resources — electronic especially — might be accessible, undergraduates’ perception is that it is not enough.
Undergraduates recognize that perhaps what is needed is better preparation in how to use what is already available.
If more material is added, it will only be used if it is digital.
Space within the library remains a paramount desideratum — not for checking email and not only for social interaction and coffee, but for individual “pods of peace and quiet,” for contemplative space that a student can call her or his own for at least an hour.

weitere Untersuchungen durch “phone and onsite interviews with undergrads in Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and the USA” zeigen (auf Seite 6):

… search engines have become the primary brand Millennials associate with the Internet and are ubiquitously used by thisgeneration. But all students interviewed by Elsevier also used their university library websites or catalogs, and they didn’t feel overly positive towards Google. Though interviewees said university websites were harder to use and unintuitive, they noted Google generated too many results and required more trawling time.
Hence it may be inferred that learning to use the library and its resources has for most students been self-taught or gained from classmates.
When asked what constitutes a good source of information, students interviewed in 2006 gave the following answers, listed by popularity: 1. Recommended by friends, 2. Its reputation, 3. Prior personal experience, 4. Ease of use, 5. Provides links to other reliable sources
The majority reported consulting librarians but “only to retrieve books or for interlibrary loans” and did not consider them a source of recommendations for information sources. However, one admitted he’d recently consulted a librarian and had been directed to a journal that solved his problem. (Ausnahmen bestätigen die Regel )
60% (of students) preferred to do research from home. When asked to rank their reasons for being on campus, after “to attend a seminar or lecture and studying for exams,” the second and third most popular reasons given were socializing with friends and playing sports.

Ich bin überzeugt, dass wir a) ein tiefgreifendes Verständnis von Nutzerbedürfnissen brauchen, b) diese unvoreingenommen prüfen müssen und c) nur diejenigen Bedürfnisse abweisen dürfen, die ganz sicher nicht in die Bibliothek gehören. Das wird den Erfolg der Bibliothek in den nächsten Jahren ausmachen. Gerade eine Medizinbibliothek ist auf Nutzung, Zufriedenheit und Unterstützung durch Studenten (seien es Under- oder Graduates) angewiesen.