Discussion
The results of this study indicate that student use of the library has changed over
time. This is not surprising given the now near-universal access college students have
to computing and information technology. Nonetheless, these data corroborate anecdotal
reports and other studies.39 More important, student contact with librarians has
increased somewhat during this period, suggesting that librarians may be becoming
more visible and accessible to larger numbers of students. Perhaps students need help
to find good information and to make judgments about the quality of the information
they do find.40 It is supported by the relatively high correlations produced in this study
between “asked a librarian” and other behaviors such as “used index or database,”
“found something interesting while browsing,” and “developed a bibliography for a
term paper.” At the same time, almost one-fifth of all seniors say they never made judgments
about the quality of the information they obtain for use in the academic work.
This is an unacceptably high number of students about to graduate from college who,
by their own report, are underprepared to live and work in an information-rich world.
Smallness begets distinctiveness in American higher education.41 This appears to be
the case for the library as well, as the character of experiences with academic libraries
at small, academically challenging baccalaureate liberal arts colleges sets them apart
from other types of institutions. For example, more students at baccalaureate liberal arts
colleges (40%) say they frequently make judgments about the quality of the material
than at any other type of institution (33% at doctoral/research-extensive universities;
37% at doctoral/research intensive universities; 34% at master’s institutions, and 33%
at baccalaureate general colleges) (appendix E). In addition, library experiences at
the baccalaureate liberal arts colleges strongly correlated with one another and with
other educationally purposeful activities, such as working with a faculty member on
research or discussing papers with faculty members. One obvious explanation for this
is that because most of these institutions are residential in nature, the library is in close
proximity to where students live, making access much easier. In contrast, library use
is least frequent at larger doctoral/research-extensive universities. In part, this may be
because of the array of alternate academic support venues such institutions provide,
such as computer labs and academic skills centers. Having these options possibly mutes
the impact of the academic library on many of the outcomes measures and reduces
the necessity that a student must use the library for these vital academic services. In
addition, research institutions are more likely to claim better wiring for technology—
with broadband access to computer networks, excellent library search engines online,
network access in residence hall rooms, and so on.