On the road to service improvement: Exploring student understandings of the library Sophie Farrar The University of Notre Dame Australia

Beginnings  Sparked by an overall desire to highlight library value in meaningful ways  Why is the library valued or not valued by students?  Are limited understandings of our services a barrier to students appreciating the library’s value?  I set out to uncover:  How awareness and understanding of library services impact on students’ perceptions of the value of the academic library, in the context of their university experience

Challenges  Limited experience applying research methods  Engaging participants  Analysing quantitative data

Discoveries  Lack of awareness and understanding of services and facilities are factors affecting how students both use and perceive the library  Knowledge gaps around library building facilities and reserve collection  Students commonly identified tier one (basic level) services when asked what a librarian could assist them with  The library is an important part of students’ university experience and students do understand the library is focused on them, despite not having a comprehensive understanding of what it can do for them  Purposeful use of the library space was part of a typical day  “They definitely put students as number one priority”

Wanderlust  Responsive and user-driven service improvements  Targeted promotion of lesser known services  Contribute to understanding Insync survey findings  Keep exploring!