Library and Information Science Commons^™

When The "Library As Place" Matters: A Case Study Of An Academic Library, Retno Sayekti, Abdul Karim Batubara, Achiriah Achiriah, Muhammad Aditya, Franindya Purwaningtyas, Abdi Mubarak Syam, Nur’Aini Nur’Aini

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Changes in learning pattern, collection, technology and use have encouraged academic libraries to be reinvented in accordance with users’ needs. Therefore, an assessment of how users perceive and expect for library as place to accommodate learning is necessary. This study aims at measuring the gap between the minimum perception, and desired levels of library as place dimension. This is a quantitative research with data obtained from the library of the State Islamic University of North Sumatra (UINSU), through descriptive survey techniques. The result showed that the utilitarian space and symbol aspects of the library met the minimum expectations of users, …

The Public Library As Past Become Space, Greg Nightingale

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

I use Walter Benjamin’s historical materialism in The Arcades Project to critique contemporary notions related to the understanding of the public library as a place. My critical theoretical approach, grounded in historical research and Benjamin’s theories of modernity, highlights contemporary aspects of the public library and broadens and deepens our understanding of the library’s physical role, both within and outside its walls. My research is based on the concurrent yet divergent social and cultural development of modern public libraries and Benjamin’s symbolic shopping arcades. Like Benjamin with the arcade, I believe that the public library contains innovative potentiality, in its …

Finding The Sonic Sweet Spot: Implementing A Noise Management Program In A Library Learning Commons, Cindy Pierard, Olivia Baca

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Noise in academic libraries has been a consistent concern of library staff and library users. This concern has intensified as libraries have emphasized their role in supporting student learning, including learning that occurs in a busy, collaborative environment. Studies of acceptable library noise levels have traditionally been conducted in areas where quiet was expected. This study adds to the literature by studying ideal noise levels for a busy, collaborative study space: the library learning commons.

Separate Places, Shared Spaces: Segregated Carnegie Libraries As Community Institutions In The Age Of Jim Crow (Presentation For The Southern History Association Annual Meeting, November 2018), Matthew R. Griffis

Publications and Other Resources

From the conference program: "This presentation explores how segregated Carnegie libraries in the south served as places of interaction, learning, and community-making for African Americans in the days of Jim Crow. Known then as “colored Carnegie libraries,” these institutions opened in eight southern states between 1904 and 1924 and were funded by Andrew Carnegie’s library development program of the early twentieth century. Some segregated Carnegie libraries operated for as many as six decades until, by the 1970s, most had been desegregated or permanently closed.

"Based on archival methods as well as newly completed oral history interviews, this presentation begins with …

2018-07-16 Oral History With Myrtle Ross, Matthew R. Griffis

Oral History Archive

Myrtle Jackson Ross was born in 1929 in Austin County, Texas, where her father worked as a cotton-picker. When she was about eight years-old, Ross’s family moved to Houston, settling on Mason Street in the city’s Fourth Ward. There, her father worked at a hospital and her mother worked as a homemaker. Ross graduated from the Gregory School on Victor Street before attending Booker T. Washington High School on West Dallas Street.

Ross was in high school when she began visiting Houston’s Colored Carnegie Library, which was situated directly behind Booker T. Washington High School. For Ross, the library served …

2018-06-02 Oral History With Willie Hartwell, Matthew R. Griffis

Oral History Archive

Willie Hartwell was born in 1942 Glenn, Texas and grew up in Houston, where she lived on Andrews Street in the city’s Fourth Ward. There, she graduated from the Gregory School before attending Booker T. Washington High School. Later moving to the Third Ward with her mother, Hartwell attended Miller Junior and Yates (now Jack Yates) Senior high schools.

Hartwell was about seven years-old when she and her younger brother happened upon the segregated Carnegie Branch library one afternoon on Frederick Street. Neither had visited a public library before. Located about seven city blocks from her home, the Carnegie Branch …

A Cornerstone Of Community: Houston's Colored Library, 1913 To 1961 (Presentation For Donor Appreciation Day, African American Library At The Gregory School, Houston Public Library, June 2018), Matthew R. Griffis

Publications and Other Resources

Presentation about the former "Colored Library" of Houston. Made June 2018 at the Houston Public Library's African American Library at the Gregory School.

News You Can Use: Highlights Of Imls-Funded Research And Early Career Development Projects (Presentation For The American Library Association Annual Conference, June 2018), Matthew R. Griffis

Publications and Other Resources

From the conference program: "In this session, recent award recipients will highlight successful IMLS research projects to educate and encourage others to apply. IMLS program officers will share information about how to develop competitive proposals and get helpful feedback during the application process." (Note: These presentation slides are for Dr. Matthew R. Griffis's portion of the presentation only.)

Cornerstones Of Community: Segregated Public Libraries And Carnegie Philanthropy (Presentation For The African American Library At The Gregory School Speaker Series, Houston Public Library, April 2018), Matthew R. Griffis

Publications and Other Resources

Presentation made for a speaker series at the African American Library at the Gregory School, Houston Public Library, April 2018.

Expectations On Library Services, Library Quality (Libqual) Dimension And Library Customer Satisfaction: Relationship To Customer Loyalty, Arlyn Selga Cristobal

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study examined the library users’ minimum acceptable, desired, and actual observed service performance level of the University of Saint Louis (USL) College Library along the four service quality dimensions: access to information (AI), affect of service (AS), library as place (LP) and information control (IC). It also sought to determine the interrelationships of library service quality, satisfaction with library services, and loyalty to library and its services. This study utilized a questionnaire ased on (a) the LIbQUAL™ 2003 by the Academic and Research Libraries (ARL) and Texas A&M University Libraries; (b) satisfaction on library services; and (c) loyalty measures. …

Making Voices Heard: Collecting And Sharing Oral Histories From Users Of Segregated Libraries In The South (Presentation For The Oral History Association Annual Meeting, October 2017), Matthew R. Griffis

Publications and Other Resources

From the conference program: "This presentation reviews the progress and objectives of a federally-funded, 3-year oral history project that explores how segregated Carnegie libraries were used as places of community-making, interaction, and learning for African Americans before integration in the 1960s. Known then as “Carnegie colored libraries,” these public libraries opened in eight southern states between 1900 and 1925 and were an extension of the well-known library development program funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Some operated for as many as six decades until, by the 1970s, most had closed or were integrated into the library systems of …

Buildings And Books: Segregated Libraries As Places For Community-Making, Interaction And Learning In The Age Of Jim Crow (Presentation For The Society For The History Of Authorship, Reading, And Publishing Annual Conference, June 2017), Matthew R. Griffis

Publications and Other Resources

From the conference program: "This presentation reviews the preliminary findings of a federally funded, 3-year historical study that explores how segregated Carnegie libraries were used as places of community-making, interaction, and learning for African Americans in the age of Jim Crow. Known then as "Carnegie Negro libraries," these public libraries opened in eight southern states between 1900 and 1925 and were an extension of the well-known library development program funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

"Drawing on archival sources, including newly completed oral history interviews with surviving library users, this presentation explores how these libraries helped foster a …

Capturing Their Stories: Collecting Oral Histories From Users Of Segregated Libraries In The South (Presentation For The Southern History Of Education Society Annual Meeting, March 2017), Matthew R. Griffis

Publications and Other Resources

From the conference program: "This presentation reviews the progress of a federally-funded, 3-year historical study that explores how segregated Carnegie libraries were used as places of community-making, interaction, and learning for African Americans in the days of Jim Crow. Known then as “Carnegie colored libraries,” these public libraries opened in eight southern states between 1900 and 1925 and were an extension of the well-known library development program funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Some operated for as many as six decades until, by the 1970s, most had closed or were integrated into the library systems of their larger …

Space, Power And The Public Library: A Multicase Examination Of The Public Library As Organization Space, Matthew R. Griffis

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study investigates the materially-embedded relations of power between library users and staff within public library buildings and how building design regulates spatial behavior according to library organizational objectives. Most specifically it considers three public library buildings as organization spaces and determines the extent to which their respective spatial organizations reproduce the relations of power between the library and its public that originated with the modern public library building “type” ca. 1900.

I adopted a multiple case study design, employing several qualitative data collection methods and analysis. I conducted site visits to three, purposefully-selected public library buildings (i.e., “cases”) of …

Fun Precedes Function: Fostering A Creative Workplace In The Public Library, Tony Tallent

Urban Library Journal

The public library is full of creative people. Many library employees flourish in library systems that encourage them to move forward with their creative muses. A scan of the blogosphere quickly proves the public library attracts many creative minds and innovative thinkers to join its ranks. Once they have signed on to serve, what do we do to keep these creative types inspired, dreaming and channeling this creative energy into crafting experiences that benefit our users? What are we doing to consciously create a workplace that keeps fresh thinkers and risk-takers encouraged and empowered? Gleaned from conversations, interviews (both in …