Snapshots of laptop use in an academic library
| Date | 07 September 2010 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/07378831011076684 |
| Pages | 447-453 |
| Published date | 07 September 2010 |
| Author | Judi Briden,Ann Marshall |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Snapshots of laptop use
in an academic library
Judi Briden and Ann Marshall
River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester, Rochester,
New York, USA
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to quantify recent changes in students’ use of laptops in one
academic library and to consider the potential role of new high-tech library spaces on laptop use.
Design/methodology/approach – Instead of relying on standard library exit and entrance counts,
this study was based on brief, structured observations of library spaces, including counts oflaptop use.
By conducting such observations over regular intervals in both new and pre-existing library spaces,
the authors were able to observe changes in laptop use across both time and type of library space.
Findings – The growth in laptop use dramatically exceeded expectations: 28 percent of students
used laptops in existing spaces in 2005, while 62 percent of students used laptops in the same spaces in
2008. While a new, adjoining high-tech space also had high laptop use, the opening of this new space
coincided with growth in both laptop use and overall student presence in the pre-existing library
spaces. In addition, the paper posits a variety of potential causes for these changes, including available
technology and hardware, university-wide policy, and student behavior.
Originality/value – The changing use of laptops in libraries is important for administrative decision
making at both the library and institutional level, including decisions about facilities, technology
infrastructure and support, and security.
Keywords Academic libraries,Laptops, Information facilities,Technology led strategy
Paper type Case study
Introduction
As laptops and other portable devices gain prominence in academic environments, two
potentially important factors need to be considered: first, changes in the actual portable
device and, second, changes in the spaces in which these devices are used, including
technology infrastructure, aesthetics, policies, and other amenities about the physical
location. In this study, we investigate this combination of:
.laptops as the device; and
.place (i.e. library study spaces) by empirically measuring the number of laptops
used in library spaces for multiple time periods in a single academic library.
Over a relatively short period, we observed an increase in laptop use in library study
spaces that greatly exceeded our expectations. While we suspect that this increase is
due to changes in both devices our students use and the library’s physical space, we are
able to make only tentative claims about what may have caused these changes to
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0737-8831.htm
The authors would like to thank Dr Nancy Fried Foster, Dr Susan Gibbons, members of the River
Campus Libraries’ Undergraduate Research Committee and the Rush Rhees Reference
Department for their contributions to, and support of, this paper.
Snapshots of
laptop use
447
Received 8 November 2009
Revised 30 January 2010
Accepted 31 January 2010
Library Hi Tech
Vol. 28 No. 3, 2010
pp. 447-453
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0737-8831
DOI 10.1108/07378831011076684
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