Calling All Academic Music Library Reference Desks: A Follow-Up Study

The East Carolina University Music Library established regularly staffed reference desk service and studied whether the presence of a reference desk increased patron comfort level in seeking assistance even when the reference desk was unstaffed. Reference activity statistics and results from a patron survey indicate that the reference desk strengthened reference service during hours the desk was staffed but did not increase patron comfort level at times the desk was unstaffed. This article presents key components of music library reference service highlighted by the survey and makes recommendations for other music libraries considering implementing or continuing reference desk service

Removing the invisibility cloak: Using space design to influence patron behavior and increase service desk usage

In small branch libraries, patrons seeking assistance from library staff outside of the dedicated single-service desk often results in large staffing inefficiencies. This paper presents a case study in which the authors applied behavioral psychology models to a branch library’s space arrangement to identify possible factors influencing patron service point choices. A subsequent full space rearrangement was instituted which utilized human behavior research, service desk design principles, and low-cost methods to create a space that reduced barriers and influenced patrons back to the main service desk. The paper reports on the 11-month study that followed and the impact the rearrangement had on patron behavior. Results indicate that simple rearrangement of existing furniture and equipment into new configurations have direct influence on service desk usage and can encourage new patron behaviors. Space and human behavior are inherently connected and library managers should establish goals for how they envision their spaces to be used and arrange them in ways that encourage wanted behaviors.Ye

The phenomenon of collective action: Modeling institutions as structures of care

This essay develops a theory of how institutions can work through the web of social relationships that exist in a place rather than through formal, bureaucratic lines of authority. In contrast to models that characterize institutions as organizational structures, roles, and patterns of exchange, this model depicts institutions as constituted primarily through the active working and reworking of relationships. Rather than adopt the network literature's focus on the overall pattern of relationships and exchanges carried out between policy actors, the author focuses directly on the nature of the relationships themselves and portrays the institution as the playing out of these relationships, employing Carol Gilligan's notion of care. The model of care is used to analyze the evolution, unraveling, and restoration of resource management systems on the Turtle Islands in Southeast Asia. The model provides lessons for institution building, especially for community-centered governance. © 2008 The American Society for Public Administration.link_to_subscribed_fulltex