Karen Sobel
Reference and Instruction Librarian
Auraria Library, University of Colorado Denver

My presentation

Please feel free to view my presentation from the CALC Summit 2008,"Why Do Freshmen Visit the Reference Desk?" again. I will be happy to answer any questions you have. Please E-Mail me at:
karen [dot] sobel [at] cudenver [dot] edu

Why we ask this question

We work hard to bring students to the reference desk. Yet do we really know what encourages a student to take the plunge and take their questions to a reference librarian?

Understanding how students become aware of reference services, as well as which methods of promotion really influence them, helps us reach students earlier in their college careers.

I chose to perform my research on freshmen for two main reasons. First, I believe that encouraging freshmen to work with reference librarians helps shape strong research skills that will benefit students for four years of school--and then for a lifetime. Second, at many colleges and universities, librarians have the opportunity to reach nearly all students during freshman composition courses.

My study

During mid- to late September 2007, while a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, I surveyed 237 UNC-Chapel Hill freshmen on awareness of reference services, preferences for modes of communication with librarians, attitudes toward interaction with librarians, and numerous other related factors. I focused my analysis of the data on students' awareness of reference services and self-reported motivations for reference interactions.

Please contact me if you have detailed questions about my research, or if you would like to see the data. My survey is available through this site.

Does gender matter?

Interestingly, early in my research I began to see that young men and women did not have significantly different attitudes toward librarians or reference services. For example, this chart shows students' basic preferences in communication media, broken down by gender.

 

Male

Female

Total

Definitely not/ Probably not

15.7%
N=19

9.6%
N=11

12.7%
N=30

Maybe

19.0%
N=23

16.5%
N=19

17.8%
N=42

Probably

35.5%
N=43

39.1%
N=45

37.3%
N=88

Definitely

29.8%
N=36

34.8%
N=40

32.2%
N=76

Question: "Are you more comfortable communicating with a librarian in person than by chat, e-mail, or phone?," analyzed by gender.
x2=2.619, p>.05, df=3

After encountering numerous categories of data where gender proved an insignificant factor, I chose not to separate data in this way.

Further reading

Numerous recent and classic works on reference services, library anxiety, Generation Y, and other topics informed my study. Here are a few pieces that proved most informative to me:


Bell, Steven J. "What's Your Library Brand? Using OCLC's Perceptions Report to Increase Student Awareness of Library Services and Resources." Library Issues: Briefings for Faculty and Adminstrators 1.1(Sept. 2006). 1-4.

Bostick, Sharon L. The development and validation of the library anxiety scale. Diss. Wayne State University, 1992. Dissertation Abstracts International, 53-12, A4116.

Brewerton, Antony. "Inspired! Award-Winning Library Marketing." New Library World 104.7-8(2003). 267-277.

Callinan, Joanne E. "Information-seeking behaviour of undergraduate biology students: a comparative analysis of first year and final year students in University College Dublin." Library Review 54.2(2005): 86-99.

McNeely, Ben. VUsing Technology as a Learning Tool, Not Just the Cool New Thing.V In Educating the Net Generation. Ed. Diana G. Oblinger and James L. Oblinger. Washington DC: EDUCAUSE, 2005. p. 4.1-4.10.

Oblinger, Diana and James Oblinger. "Is it the Age or IT: First Steps Toward Understanding the Net Generation." Educating the Net Generation. Ed. Diana Oblinger and James Oblinger. Washington, DC: EDUCAUSE, 2005.

Ramlogan, Rabia, and Lucy A. Tedd. "Use and Non-Use of Electronic Information Sources by Undergraduates at the University of the West Indies." Online Information Review 30.1(2006). 24-42.

Welch, Jeannie M. "The Electronic Welcome Mat: The Academic Library Web Site as a Marketing and Public Relations Tool." Journal of Academic Librarianship 31.3(May 2005). 225-228.