Serving the Commuter College Student in Urban Academic Libraries

Cities often host many colleges and universities; while the commuter student in suburban or rural areas may drive or be driven to school, students at colleges and universities in dense, urban settings rely predominantly on mass transit for their commute to class. The act of commuting to campus has been found by a number of researchers to define and shape the experiences of commuter students in college, though the literature on college students who commute is not extensive. A qualitative study of the academic culture and scholarly habits of undergraduate students at the City University of New York (CUNY) revealed much about the experiences of urban commuter students, and the impact of the commute on each student’s ability to accomplish her academic work. In this article we will share the results of our study, and suggest strategies to help urban academic libraries direct resources, services, and policies to best serve their commuter student

Editorial: Shape Shifters: Librarians Evolve Yet Again in the Age of Google

Like all organisms and organizations, librarians and libraries evolve by adapting to changes and pressures in their environments. From scroll to codex to online text: every upgrade in technology is matched by an adaptation in librarianship. Nevertheless, despite centuries of evolution, the activities of librarians and the mission of libraries have remained essentially constant and are still recognizable. The pace of change in libraries has been especially rapid since the introduction of computers, and an important recent change is the advent of the “age of Google.” Heralded by the arrival in 1998 of the Google search engine, with its clean interface and superior results ranking, the age of Google is defined by the growth of Google beyond its basic search engine and the explosion of online tools that, like Google, delight users, deliver services quickly, and reflect and respond to user behavior. As the tools of the age of Google have become integral to research and other activities, librarians have adapted in three key ways: using the tools, creating and improving library tools, and grappling with the social and pedagogical implications of the tools. This special issue invites readers to consider specific instances of these modes of adaptation

“I’m Just Really Comfortable:” Learning at Home, Learning in Libraries

While commuter students may use their college or university libraries, student centers, or other campus locations for academic work, as commuters they will likely also create and negotiate learning spaces in their homes. Our research with urban commuter undergraduates revealed that finding space for their academic work at home was difficult for many students whose needs collided with the needs of other residents using those locations for non-academic purposes. Understanding the details of students’ off-campus academic workspaces can inform the design of learning spaces in academic libraries

“I could study anywhere, as long as I could sit I’ll study:” Student Spaces and Pathways at the City University of New York

Undergraduate students at the City University of New York navigate multiply occupied places as they attend college on the urban campuses of this commuter institution. CUNY students often negotiate competing diversions from their scholarly experiences, including family obligations and job responsibilities, that constrain them both temporally and financially. Additionally, space considerations at home, school, and the commute influence and shape student activities and opportunities. In this paper we examine how college students interact with school spaces, from where they store their books to where they study and write their papers, and to what degree they succeed at constituting these areas as meaningful places. Drawing on interview and visual data collected in an ethnographic study of the scholarly habits of CUNY students, we will explore how undergraduates navigate and create their own significant spaces, and the effects on their engagement with their college experience

I like being under those rules here : Students Using the College Library

This presentation was offered as part of the CUNY Library Assessment Conference, Reinventing Libraries: Reinventing Assessment, held at the City University of New York in June 2014

“I am more productive in the library because it’s quiet”: Commuter students in the college library

This article discusses commuter students’ experiences with the academic library, drawn from a qualitative study at the City University of New York. Undergraduates at six community and baccalaureate colleges were interviewed to explore how they fit schoolwork into their days, and the challenges and opportunities they encountered. Students identified physical and environmental features that informed their ability to successfully engage in academic work in the library. They valued the library as a distraction-free place for academic work, in contrast to the constraints they experienced in other places—including in their homes and on the commute

Faculty Online Questionnaire Protocol, Undergraduate Scholarly Habits Ethnography Project

This research protocol describes a questionnaire used for data collection in the Undergraduate Scholarly Habits Ethnography Project to explore the lived experiences of faculty use of technology in the hybrid and online courses they teach

Anecdotes, Barriers, Cooperation: The ABC\u27s of a Library/IT Collaboration

Aim Our library’s three main computing areas are the primary computer labs on campus, with two of them managed by librarians. Our staff mediated sign-in system made for long lines, delays, and more than a few misplaced student ID cards. After several semesters of monitoring issues and securing funding, the library implemented a new sign-in system for computers in the library’s labs. This presentation discusses the types of evidence we collected and used over several stages of this transition to launch and continually improve the self sign-in process. Methods After selecting and deploying the new self sign-in software, library staff at computer labs collected evidence to help improve the process: logging student complaints and comments, observing traffic at sign-in stations, inviting IT staff to troubleshoot on the spot during busy times, collecting articles from student-run campus newspapers, surveying students, and using our own gut instincts to make decisions for quick fixes. Results By collecting data and documenting issues immediately, librarians and staff in the labs promptly engaged IT staff in ongoing monitoring and identification of problems during the first semester rollout. By being nimble in using evidence for making changes we could handle without IT intervention, the self-sign-in process became more efficient. For more complex issues, we used our evidence for communication with IT staff for resolution. The improvements we made in time for the beginning of the second semester of the roll out were met with approval from students and staff. Discussion/Conclusion By collecting several types of evidence, the librarians and staff were able to better communicate issues to IT staff for identification and resolution. Some decisions could be made quickly, but others required ongoing collection of evidence. By involving IT staff in our evidence collection, we developed a better understanding of how to communicate between our two departments in weekly meetings and in the moment in order to make the computer labs more efficient for students. As a result of this experience, we developed an online reporting form and established a triage hierarchy for reporting critical computer lab issues

An effective intervention can contribute to enhancing social integration while reducing perceived stress in children

La presente investigación evalúa si una intervención que involucra prácticas basadas en la atención plena, actividades socio afectivas e instancias sociocognitivas puede fomentar actitudes prosociales y relaciones sociales positivas y reducir el estrés percibido en los niños. El estudio se realizó con 44 niños (20 niñas and 24 niños) de entre 6 y 8 años (M= 7.25 años, DS= 0.43), y siguió un diseño cuasi experimental con dos momentos de medición (antes y después de la intervención). Analizamos los cambios relativos en los niveles de integración social, altruismo universal y estrés percibido. Nuestros resultados revelaron que los niños que participaron en la intervención mostraron una mejora en las pruebas de integración social y altruismo universal; es decir, los niños eligieron más compañeros como compañeros de juego y rechazaron a menos de ellos, al tiempo que evidenciaron mayores actitudes prosociales. Asimismo, se observó una disminución en los índices de estrés percibido luego de la intervención.This investigation evaluates whether an intervention involving mindfulness-based practices, socio-affective activities, and socio-cognitive instances can foster prosocial attitudes and positive social relationships and reduce perceived stress in The study was conducted with 44 children (20 girls and 24 boys) aged between 6 and 8 (M= 7.25 years, SD= 0.43), and followed a quasi experimental wait list design with two measurement time points (pre and post intervention). We analyzed relative changes in social integration, universal altruism and perceived stress levels. Our results revealed that children who participated in the intervention showed an enhancement in social integration and universal altruism tests, and a decrease in the perceived stress indices. That is, children chose more peers as playmates and rejected fewer of them, while evidencing more prosocial attitudes. Our findings suggest that this kind of intervention can contribute to fostering social integration and prosociality while promoting children’s health and wellbeing from an early age.Fil: Carro Regalado, Natalia Denisse. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Centro Regional Universidad Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; ArgentinaFil: D'adamo, Paola. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Instituto Patagónico de Estudios de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto Patagónico de Estudios de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales; ArgentinaFil: Lozada, Mariana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Centro Regional Universidad Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; Argentin

Editorial: Shape Shifters: Librarians Evolve Yet Again in the Age of Google

Like all organisms and organizations, librarians and libraries evolve by adapting to changes and pressures in their environments. From scroll to codex to online text: every upgrade in technology is matched by an adaptation in librarianship. Nevertheless, despite centuries of evolution, the activities of librarians and the mission of libraries have remained essentially constant and are still recognizable. The pace of change in libraries has been especially rapid since the introduction of computers, and an important recent change is the advent of the “age of Google.” Heralded by the arrival in 1998 of the Google search engine, with its clean interface and superior results ranking, the age of Google is defined by the growth of Google beyond its basic search engine and the explosion of online tools that, like Google, delight users, deliver services quickly, and reflect and respond to user behavior. As the tools of the age of Google have become integral to research and other activities, librarians have adapted in three key ways: using the tools, creating and improving library tools, and grappling with the social and pedagogical implications of the tools. This special issue invites readers to consider specific instances of these modes of adaptation