I facilitated a group discussion of 21 students earlier this week as part of a current project (08-01) to examine students' use of libraries in the learning process.

I opened the discussion by asking the students to consider three questions in turn: what is the Library doing well to support their studies, what could we do better, and what changes they would like us to make. The students came from a range of disciplines and were regular visitors to our libraries: many visit us every day and, during busy assignment periods, they reported spending between six and eight hours a day in the Library. They had lots of good things to say about what we offer - they particularly appreciate the variety of learning spaces, our training classes and the wide range of electronic resources. Two recent initiatives received particular mention - RefWorks and late night opening at the Biological Sciences Library.

They were particularly concerned about insufficient provision of multiple copies of books. This applied across all courses and programmes and seemed to cause significant barriers to assignment completion. The student internet quota and patchy wireless network performance were also seen as barriers. Air conditioning in libraries also featured, with students split evenly between considering the temperature too hot and too cold!

In terms of future improvements, it is clear that more needs to be done to support the transition from school library use to university library use. Our classification system is perceived to be complex and more information skills workshops are requested. Whilst our current offering was appreciated, students looked for more advanced classes, and sessions to be scheduled later in the semester when they are beginning to tackle early assignments.

I am grateful to the students for their willing and active participation. They have all been invited to participate in a more detailed study, which has received university ethical clearance, during semseter two. Liz and Tanya were efficient organisers of this event and they are compiling a detailed report which will be made available in the near future.