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Listening to Unaffiliated Users of the Academic Library:

Listening to Unaffiliated Users of the Academic Library: We know that unaffiliated users access books, reference services, and databases at our libraries, but how do they experience this access? The library science literature reveals a range of ethical concerns around how we serve unaffiliated users, meaning those who are not current students, faculty, or staff. Yet this literature is often based on librarian perspectives rather than on conversations with the unaffiliated users themselves. In this pilot study we interviewed 10 unaffiliated users to better understand their perceptions of a large academic library and how the library fits into their daily habits. Emerging patterns include a respect for the depth of academic collections, an appreciation of how physical spaces shape their campus experience, and a persistent sense of nonbelonging as people who are not students at our university—even if they are affiliated to another institution. In conclusion, we suggest ways that librarians can invite unaffiliated users onto campus as guests in the academic library community. Keywords academic libraries, community users, unaffiliated users, community outreach, qualitative methodology, recruitment, nonbelonging, library spaces Introduction The Berkeley Context Our Library at the University of California (UC), Berkeley, Our library, the UC Berkeley Library, is the largest in the balances a core focus on campus research and teaching with state of California and the seventh largest in the nation. a broader public service mission, reflected in its strategic University alumni as well as any California resident with a plan to “better serve the public as an academic and cultural state ID may purchase a community library card for US$100 heritage institution by providing the community with a rich a year. This community library card allows unaffiliated users array of opportunities for learning, research and enrich- to enter the large underground stacks in the Main library and ment.” We fulfill this mission through providing public borrow books, but does not permit off-campus access to access to our libraries and galleries, events and exhibits, spe- databases or ebooks. Unaffiliated users who are not aware of, cial collections, and freely accessible online repositories of or who choose not to purchase a card, can still browse and academic articles and digital archival materials. use most databases and e-books at public use computers in Yet how do users from our community actually experi- most subject specialty libraries, but need a day pass from a ence this access to an academic library? As subject liai- reference librarian to enter and browse the Main Library col- sons we wanted to understand how people who are not lection and cannot access the undergraduate library which is current students, faculty, or staff use our libraries in a way for the campus community only. that goes deeper than a survey. We take seriously our Given our position as subject librarians within the cam- library’s mission to connect with the community and share pus’ 24 subject specialty libraries, we hoped to interview the fruits of scholarly research—and yet we wondered users at three specialty libraries selected for the range of ser- how to accomplish this in the face of budget cuts, attrition vices they offer on campus: in staffing, and loss of purchasing power that many aca- demic libraries face. By interviewing community users we University of California, Berkeley, USA hoped to better understand and respond to their needs, Corresponding Author: learn how they integrate library visits into their personal Monica Singh, Business Library, University of California, S350 Haas School and work lives, and offer better outreach on the part of our of Business, 2220 Piedmont Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94720-6000, USA. libraries. Email: msingh@berkeley.edu Creative Commons CC BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). 2 SAGE Open •• The Business Library, within the Business School, their communities (Shires, 2006), and article titles like has the busiest reference service point of subject Courtney’s (2001) Barbarians at the Gate reflected the ten- libraries on campus and an all-online collection with sion felt by some academic libraries toward this user group. no print books. Unaffiliated users assume it has better Perhaps because unaffiliated users have fewer other peo- resources than public libraries, but many licenses are ple (such as classmates or professors) to approach for help, restricted to the currently affiliated campus commu- some do require more information support from librarians. nity only. Verhoeven, Cooksey, and Hand (1996) found that while •• The Anthropology Library has a large print collection, unaffiliated users were only 10% of their patrons, they asked is close to main streets on the south side of campus, a quarter of the questions at the reference desk. They also and holds site reports for California archaeology often found that unaffiliated use of the academic library can lead to used by local organizations. longer lines, fewer free seats, and “more wear and tear on •• The Ethnic Studies Library hosts archives in Asian librarians, machines and materials” (Verhoeven et al., 1996, American, Chicano, and Native American studies, p. 392). Jansen (1993) found unaffiliated patrons were ask- and holds events for scholars and community mem- ing 40% of reference questions at UC Los Angeles, and 51% bers who have helped keep the library alive since its at University of Illinois at Chicago. This may be because inception 20 years ago. unaffiliated patrons know less about the library and therefore need more support (Jansen, 1993; Shires, 2006). Another challenge in serving unaffiliated users is the cost Literature Review to primary users in ways that may not be calculated into the In starting this study, we struggled with what to call our tar- library’s budget allocation. Montana State University found get population. Weare and Stevenson (2012) suggested that in 1978 that unaffiliated borrowers borrowed 5% of items, nonaffiliated or unaffiliated users may be inaccurate terms as but absorbed a third of the replacement budget through fail- community users may affiliate with a university through past ure to return items (Jansen, 1993), and students at the attendance or family connections even if they are not current University of Minnesota paid US$500 toward the libraries students or employees. Other librarians called this group each year, a fee not levied on unaffiliated users with similar external users, secondary users, outside users, and commu- access (Shires, 2006). Even attempts to fundraise from unaf- nity users. After strong debate among ourselves, we settled filiated users may not be especially successful, as Dole and on Johnson’s (1988) definition of unaffiliated users for sim- Hill (2011, 2014) found when requesting donations from 701 plicity: all users who are not our University’s current stu- unaffiliated users. Only US$145 was donated, suggesting to dents, staff, or faculty. them than community goodwill rather than cash flow may be Most of the library literature considered this user group the result of more unaffiliated access to academic libraries. from a management, cost-benefit, or service-provision per- Urban academic libraries also face heightened security spective. Courtney (2003) surveyed 527 academic library issues. Weare and Stevenson (2012) noted instances of dis- directors and found that many academic libraries charged ruptive behavior creating an unsafe space for core users, and fees to unaffiliated users for time-consuming services but Muir (2011) detailed how Arizona State University has wel- allowed them access either to foster community relations or comed unaffiliated users while addressing problem in response to local tax support. While public institutions behavior. often felt an obligation to provide public access as part of Because of these issues and reductions in most budgets their tax supported public education mission, most private and staffing, many academic libraries have tightened policies institutions also provided walk-in access. Weare and toward unaffiliated users. UC Berkeley Library limited Stevenson (2012) found that Indiana academic libraries access for unaffiliated users in 1991 due to overcrowding allowed unaffiliated access but limited borrowing by user and “frustration over lack of services” (Jansen, 1993, type (alumni, donor, teacher, visiting scholar, etc.) and p. 12) for their students, which a librarian reported resulted restricted hours for security reasons at times. All institutions in “the most significant improvement in services to primary charged a fee to unaffiliated borrowers, some as much as users” (Jansen, 1993, p. 13) in several decades. US$1,000 per year. Yet, academic librarians continue to welcome the broader The literature on unaffiliated users is rife with the tension community and seek to integrate their libraries into the com- between serving the institution’s primary academic users and munity. Essays in Courtney (2009) highlighted productive, an obligation to serve broader community needs in a knowl- unexpected, and collaborative community relationships, edge economy where access to information is limited by while Rolloff (2013) detailed a shared city/university library income. Unaffiliated users are both welcomed and feared by service, and Sutherland, Hill, and Cox (2013) listed further academic librarians as they feel the weight of added labor, reading about community engagement in academic libraries. time constraints, public underfunding, and potential overuse As they engage in the fight for open access, many academic by a minority of unaffiliated patrons. Staff who fear or dis- librarians draw on moral arguments that emphasize public like unaffiliated users may avoid promoting the library in access to research, government documents, and special Singh and Emmelhainz 3 collections as a service to the common good. Lenker and deleted the audio files. The project team members each read Kocevar-Weidinger (2010) drew on ideas of duty, justice, and annotated the transcripts (manually or in Atlas.ti qualita- and self-improvement in supporting nonaffiliated users, and tive analysis software), met to discuss and define emerging Courtney (2001) asked librarians to negotiate for unaffiliated themes, and then returned back to the data to check our anal- users in their licensing agreements and to make “conscious yses and write up results. choices about allowing or denying access to unaffiliated users, rather than allowing those choices to be made by” Recruitment Challenges (Courtney, 2001, p. 478) publishing companies and database vendors. As Bell (2013) noted, the public comes to us a way Before discussing results, we would like to briefly note our around a growing digital divide and for access to cultural challenges in recruitment as academic librarian readers may programs, lifelong learning, and quiet spaces for study. In face similar challenges in recruiting unaffiliated users. We this way, he suggested, the academic library can support pub- submitted our research plan to our campus IRB in January lic libraries and can enhance local perceptions of library 2017 and received approval two months later. We started value and relevance. recruitment just as the semester ended in early May, hoping Similarly, Wilson (2005) cautioned against taking a nega- that the end of the school year would be a good time to catch tive tone toward unaffiliated users, noting that these users unaffiliated users who come on campus while students and feel connected to academic libraries and “share their pride in faculty take a break. the beauty of the campuses by bringing visitors to see the We considered mailing or emailing invitations to unaffili- university” (p. 42). In Wilson’s art library, unaffiliated mem- ated library card holders, but were concerned about bias bers are also donors, alumni, members of the artistic com- (selecting only those unaffiliated users who held a library munity, or prospective students—people who directly add card), and also found that our library card agreements with value to the university and the academic library. unaffiliated users promise that we will only contact them for In sum, the library literature contained wide-ranging dis- account-related correspondence—an agreement that pre- cussions on library responses to nonaffiliated users, argu- cludes research. We also decided against requesting an inter- ments for serving them or for limiting serving to unaffiliated view after reference interactions, not wanting to create undue users in favor of greater service to primary users, and discus- pressure on unaffiliated users. sions of practical concerns around workload, financing, and Instead we used passive recruitment techniques, posting security issues. Yet, we found few empirical studies of unaf- flyers with tear-off tabs around campus libraries requesting filiated users, and none that drew on patron perspectives to that unaffiliated users volunteer to be interviewed in help librarians better understand the experience of this com- exchange for an Amazon gift card. While convenience sam- munity of users. pling is not an ideal qualitative sampling strategy, we had no known population to draw from (many unaffiliated users do not pay for a library card) and hoped to reach a broad range Method of users. When posters in four subject libraries did not result In light of this, we decided to interview unaffiliated users of in responses, we posted on library Facebook pages and added our “subject specialty” (branch) libraries, to discuss their a recruitment notice to our email signatures. We also posted experiences with our libraries in one hour interviews. on the neighborhood-based Nextdoor website, hoping that Because librarians on our campus do not automatically have users active in the community might also be users of our PI (primary investigator) status for interviewing human sub- libraries. This brought in seven queries although most of jects, our lead researcher applied for and received an excep- them mistook us for the public libraries—but it resulted in tion to campus policy, giving them ongoing approval to serve one qualified interview. We reached out to unaffiliated as a PI. We then developed a project proposal, applied for patrons we knew well, resulting in another interview. institutional review board (IRB) approval, and recruited In our third month of recruitment, a public librarian posted users for this study. fliers for us at their library. Eight people contacted us, but Our semi-structured interview questions (see Appendix) none used the academic library. (We expected more cross- focused on users’ experiences and usage needs from our aca- over, given how often we refer patrons to the public library.) demic library. Each interview lasted one hour and was con- We selected only one recent alumna because of her extensive ducted by two librarians in a private study room. In return, experience as an unaffiliated patron prior to enrollment at patrons got a US$40 Amazon gift card (we advertised the our university. (We did not want recent alumni for our study card, but not the relatively high dollar amount, prior to the because they wouldn’t have had sufficient experience of the interview). library as an unaffiliated patron.) In the following months, During the interview, one librarian took notes and man- we posted flyers at several more libraries, with several more aged mobile devices for recording, while the other led the responses. interview. We transcribed all interviews; anonymized loca- In sum, we interviewed 10 qualified users over six months, tions, research topics, and identifying information; and then which was less interest than we expected in a paid interview 4 SAGE Open of users of a major urban public university. The lessons we public terminal. In fact, given these repeated gaps in aware- take away from this are that we should have ramped up ness about the materials available to unaffiliated users, our recruitment much earlier—and that recruiting this population research interviews often ended with a reference consulta- may be difficult as they use the library intermittently. As we tion—and expanded access for users. began to see recurring themes and hit our target sample size of 10, we elected to end formal recruitment and begin analy- The Risk of Disconnection and the Fear sis. While recruitment was challenging, we believe this is a crucial group to understand and worth reaching out to meet of Nonbelonging with and listen to. We wondered why our unaffiliated users were unaware of the resources available to them. In part it could be that librarians Results and Discussion do not advertise enough because they may fear being inun- dated with more unaffiliated requests than they can handle. It Of the 10 people interviewed, three were teachers, three were may also be that unaffiliated users feel a sense of nonbelong- graduate students at other institutions, three were profession- ing or not being a rightful user of the library. als, and one was retired. Participants ranged in age from 29 While we view unaffiliated users as rightful users, our to 72, with half below 40 years and half above 50 years. Half research participants repeatedly indicated that they didn’t were alumni who had graduated some time ago. feel like legitimate users of the library. Jessie had some of the In our discussions, three core patterns emerged again and strongest feelings in this area. As a student of a nearby pri- again: a sense of not belonging to the library as an unaffili- vate university with a small library, she could really benefit ated user, reverence for the library as a depository of scholar- from unfettered access to our large research libraries. Yet, ship, and strong opinions about libraries as places with she understood the library as belonging to Berkeley students, specific architecture and social positioning on campus. saying, Uses of the Library But then again, it’s a school library. If I was a Cal student, I wouldn’t want my library to be serving the public. I would want Most unaffiliated users came to our research library to use them to serve me as a student, and you guys have so many books and databases, or for a focused study space. While students. most had asked a question at the circulation desk, only two had asked for research assistance—even though this is a Justice similarly wrestling with how much she should use the group invested enough to answer a call for interviews! library, commented, In fact, patrons were often unaware of who was a librar- ian, or of the resources available to them. Kerry, a graduate Because I’m a student, but I’m not a student here, sometimes I student at a nearby university, used the library catalog at the feel a little weird about being here . . . it’s not that I feel like I Anthropology Library to find sources for her thesis. Yet, she don’t belong, but sometimes I just feel like an outsider coming didn’t know if there was a librarian at the library, and wasn’t in [to a] different environment. It’s a university so it feels like I’m home, but it’s not really. But I’m really grateful that it is sure if she could get access to ebooks (she can). Justice, open to the community and we’re able to access all these another graduate student, was writing her doctoral disserta- resources. tion. After compiling a bibliography of sources, she searched our catalog for printed books. When we asked if she used ebooks on the public computers, Justice replied that she While at home in the university environment as a scholar, thought as an “outside patron” she couldn’t have online Justice still felt distance because she does not belong to this access. “I thought when I read the rules for my library card, university library. Similarly, Kerry, the external graduate stu- it wasn’t accessible to me,” she said, thinking back to our dent, wishing she could get a short-term library card for the unaffiliated user documentation. Jody, an alumna, came to few months she is in town, commented, “a monthly pass the libraries to work on continuing education, but also didn’t would be nice because right now I feel like I am a thief.” realize she could use e-resources, and didn’t ask anyone. Even though resources are readily available, by lacking a Casey, an alumna, came to the library with a business pass that recognizes her as a temporary member of the information need. While the campus is close to where she University Library community, Kerry felt like she was sneak- lives, she hadn’t realized she could use the library, saying, “I ing into this scholarly space. Casey similarly tried to be didn’t know that you could sort of come in as a public person unobtrusive, commenting that she felt, “I may get kicked out and sit in a library here.” It was only when she toured campus because I’m not supposed to be here so I’m just not going to with her son, a prospective student, that she learned about make any waves.” public access—and her own alumni access. And it wasn’t We were surprised by the strong emotions in these state- until she signed up for our interview that she learned she ments. Our Main library, archives, and undergraduate library could access scholarly articles even after graduation, at a have limited access or require IDs to be shown, but our Singh and Emmelhainz 5 branch libraries all allow free entry and exit. Yet these users materials which were essential for her personal research. still felt a sense of nonbelonging in the academic library. While exploring decades-old records which are hard to After attending a public event in the Main library, Skyler access in her home country, she was able to address a per- noticed the library’s public computers, and started using sonal ancestral puzzle for one of her friends. Flipping through them for personal health research. But she felt bad, recalling, the newspapers, she reflected, “The whole time I’ve been there I’ve felt guilty like I’m not supposed to be here, I’m not a current student.” somebody saved this paper and probably they thought it would But it was when she saw the flyers for our research project never be used, but here it comes. A hundred years later, in a different part of the world somebody makes a request, and that her perception shifted: they’re trying to find it in a physical library and it’s amazing. It’s funny, the whole time I’ve been here I’ve felt a little guilty, like am I really supposed to be here and then I saw your research As Pat looked through old Slavic newspapers, she sought and I was like they actually want to talk to me . . . it’s good to physical proof of relatives whom history and politics have know I’m welcome even if I just come in and meditate. obscured. Because she was an unaffiliated user viewing, but not borrowing, physical materials, she may not show up in Another user, Pat, brought her middle school students to usage counts. Yet the material was uniquely valuable to her, campus to show them a research library. Yet, she still felt that whether accessible in physical or digital form. “You don’t feel like you could be part of this library because Others also come for foreign language materials, as it’s on campus and it’s a luxury to be here.” Because campus with Jessie, who comes to download articles in Chinese for feels set apart and the libraries feel grand, the libraries don’t her dissertation at a smaller institution nearby. With the feel like they belong to her. Harley similarly remembered help of a librarian, she found articles on Google Scholar how awed she felt when first seeing the architecture of the and saved them to a thumb drive for later reading at home. imposing Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley. To help his stu- Similarly, Jamie was glad to find rare foreign newspapers dents around this intimidation, her professor sent Harley and here, and recalled coming to the news collection in earlier her community college classmates to campus as a group, years to find encouraging them to help each other ask questions: the only publication coming out of Bhutan at the time. This was We found how easy it was to actually get research materials, to before the internet. . . . there were books about Bhutan but the be able to access them, it was wonderful. That experience was only news you could get about Bhutan was from this weekly or great, because it gave me the confidence to be able to go into any monthly newspaper that came out and it was stored [in the library. I saw the standard of how interested the people there library] and so I would go there to look at it. were in helping me get the information that I needed . . . that as a first experience definitely set the bar for the rest. Unaffiliated users also singled out the libraries as providing a sense of community especially for independent young Harley’s experience showed us how much first impressions scholars attempting to stay connected to their disciplines in count, and how helpful the friendly librarians at the Bancroft the absence of a formal affiliation. In particular, the Ethnic were for establishing her experience in academic libraries as Studies and Anthropology libraries were called out as spaces a whole. Yet the experience of our other unaffiliated users that let users connect with prior generations. Kerry believed reminds us how persistent a sense of nonbelonging can be the Anthropology Library helped connect her to the scholarly unless we deliberately tear down barriers to integration. We community as well as to research in her field, while Justice believe it is important to reach out to the users hidden in found the warm nooks of the Ethnic Studies Library to be an plain sight, those who are polite but uncertain. Through clear inspiring space, saying, written materials and personal introductions we increase the chance they will feel like they belong and will make better I’ve learned a little about history of social movements at UC use of our resources. And lest we think they will not appreci- Berkeley and the birth of the Ethnic Studies program and ate it, we found an enduring sense of respect for the value of department, the creation of the library. I feel like it’s important academic libraries among these users. to be in that space and use it. It’s almost like an act of activism to be there to some extent. I think it’s a kind of bi-directional active support: that it has resources that help me write my Academic Libraries Provide Connection dissertation, and at the same time I want to make sure that this Through Books and Events space is still supported. While unaffiliated users felt tension around the question of whether they belonged on campus, they glowed when speak- Here, the library’s history and collections drew Justice into ing of the treasures an academic library may contain. Pat, for the history of social justice on campus, as well as into a web instance, appreciated our archival and foreign language of current scholarship and events. 6 SAGE Open Finally, unaffiliated users used library events and exhibits For Justice, it’s not just the focus of libraries but also the to connect to the people and ideas circulating through the experience of browsing during breaks that helps her to write, University. Jamie recalled a film series in the Environmental as “I look for one book and right next to it is another one Design Library as a “magical event” where the librarian with a title that is really inspiring, and so I just pick it up and screened a film for discussion—and gave away books he had it’s just kind of easy and inspiring.” She experiences the privately acquired for free. Justice found the audience at Ethnic Studies library in particular as “an intimate space, a Ethnic Studies Library events “more intimate and valuable good cross between, it feels like home but it also feels than going to a conference.” Taylor visited the lunch poem studious.” events at the Morrison Library as well as author talks and Perhaps because we recruited in smaller subject libraries, conferences on Buddhism. And after Skyler attended a cam- our unaffiliated users appreciated the grandeur of the larger pus event in the Morrison Library, she reflected, Main library but found it hard to study in, describing the Main stacks as “too big,” “impersonal,” “scary,” a stressful, I didn’t actually realize that community was so welcome at UC labyrinthine place where “one gets lost,” with “no one to Berkeley, I thought it was just students and faculty . . . I just help,” “stressed out staff,” and “intimidating” security at the loved that Anthropology on the Front Lines was held in the entrances. In the underground stacks, Harley recalled, Morrison. It was amazing, it was beautiful. It was a series celebrating the life and work of Nancy Scheper Hughes. That there’s rows that I can’t even pull out, and there’s student was my most memorable experience in the UC Berkeley workers but they can’t really help you with going to find books, libraries. and you have to know what you’re doing . . . and if you don’t know what you’re doing, you’re lost, and it discourages you As librarians, we think of libraries as connecting people with from coming back. information. Yet these users helped us to reframe our librar- ies and highlighted how library events build connections Given the urban location of the campus, signs warn patrons between people in the broader community and overcome that to watch their belongings, which can unsettle patrons who sense of nonbelonging, and deepen a shared heritage and cul- lack a locker or other means of storing personal items during ture of learning on campus. a bathroom or snack break. Kerry requested a “little box or cart” to set books on so she can go to lunch and return, “because I wouldn’t take 10 books home anyway. But if Academic Libraries Teach Us Through Their someone sees the book and takes it [while I’m on break], Sense of Space then it’s gone.” Several unaffiliated interviewees requested lockers or short-term secure storage because they lack an Finally, our unaffiliated users connected not just to our col- office or carrel and are less likely than students to have lections and to other users but to the library spaces them- someone to watch their things while they take a break. selves as intellectual, reflective, and social spaces. As a Another challenge for many unaffiliated patrons are the teacher and mother, Pat brought her younger students to the limited hours of campus branch libraries. Unaffiliated users grand public reading rooms of Doe Library, which they often have complex work and commute schedules and find found to look like Hogwarts, “surprised to see these huge shortened summer and weekend schedules make it hard to libraries because most of the kids haven’t seen libraries with use academic libraries after a workday. Other unaffiliated these tables, big lamps and all this glory.” She sought to users visit town for only a few months and would like a sea- make an impression not only with the grand reading rooms sonal or monthly pass instead of having to pay for a yearly but also with the physicality of rare books, encouraging teen- alumni or community user card. agers to encounter their beautiful illustrations and the differ- Finally, some unaffiliated users observed sharp differ- ent feeling of reading a physical book. ences in the funding available to different libraries based in Other unaffiliated users come to the academic library to unequal endowments in the associated disciplines. Harley focus. Like other third places such as cafes or coworking saw the varying investment in libraries as indicative of a uni- spaces, academic libraries are well-lit, have minimal distrac- versity that values some fields more than others, where the tions, are freely accessible, and create a subtle social pres- funds available to each library signal “what the university sure to study or write, as that’s what everyone else is doing. believes is important.” When the gym is well-stocked with This environment can produce a sense of flow, a feeling of staff, food, and space until the early hours of the morning, intellectual sharpness and depth that comes through sus- and small specialty libraries are not, she asked, what does tained concentration. As Justice remarked, that say about campus? Similarly, Justice compared the well-endowed and ornate It’s so hard to write . . . but when you’re there and things are professional libraries like Law and Business to the more hid- flowing, and you just feel like all this creation is happening and den Ethnic Studies Library. When Justice found it, she is being channeled through you . . . I feel like it’s the best moments I have to write, it’s not at home, it’s not in other places. thought, Singh and Emmelhainz 7 I really love the Ethnic Studies Library . . . and I’ve been Given the value they place on library spaces, events, and thinking about the discrepancy between the luxury of Doe resources, and yet the distance that kept them from asking for Library and how everything is set in marble, and how the Ethnic help, we believe it is important for academic librarians to Studies Library is stashed away and there’s a very small plaque actively draw quiet unaffiliated users into better use of library at entrance. I don’t want to say it’s almost anonymous on resources and spaces. campus, but I bet if you asked a lot of students if they knew We have all experienced the unaffiliated member who about it, they wouldn’t. overuses resources, acts entitled, and pushes others out of the way. Other times, we’re too busy to reach out. Yet leaving Yet, large or small, our unaffiliated users kept returning to policies vague often hurts those who need us the most. It the spaces of the academic library for its browsable wasn’t until someone told Kerry that the library was open to shelves and personal space to settle in and study. In a dis- all that she visited, and “had I known that before, I would tracting world, libraries allow for focus over time. As have used it much more.” And as Casey commented, our Jody reflected, alumni brochure talked about “privileges” but not “what world are you opening up that I’d be able to use these privi- Cafes are more bustling, I may like the music, I may not, but I leges for.” While we thought we were welcoming, then, our feel guilty that I stay there for 5 hours. Here I don’t feel that. I unaffiliated users weren’t sure if we really were open to them can be here for 5 hours. I can study. So I don’t go to cafes that or what we were welcoming them into. much anymore. Perhaps for this reason, we found that qualitative research with unaffiliated users not only helped our own understand- Conclusion ing but directly helped these users. As we talked, our research interviews turned into reference interviews where we helped As we listened to unaffiliated users of our campus libraries, patrons gain greater access to the resources already available we gained a deeper appreciation for their experiences and to them. As we listened, our users experienced a greater our gaps in service to them. We learned that they come to the sense of belonging to the library and to the life of the univer- academic library for a focused space to work, for unique sity. And as a result of this listening, we have begun to adver- resources, for cultural and learning opportunities at library tise our events more widely, to improve signage and events, and for a sense of community with the scholarly brochures, and to make ourselves more present in our librar- world, yet often feel alienated by a sense of nonbelonging, as ies—and most of all, to respect and advocate for the experi- interlopers who subtly lack a right to the resources we make ence of our unaffiliated users. available to them. Appendix Semi-Structured Interview Questions 1. To start, tell me how you came to use the Universityof California, Berkeley Libraries. 2. What typically bring you to the libraries? Prompt: business use, genealogy, local history, events, research, personal interest. 3. Which services or resources do you use most often? Prompt: books, databases, archives, events, book talks, consultations. 4. How do you find out about services, events, or other resources at the libraries? Prompt: social media, library guides, websites. 5. How do you decide when to use a public library versus an academic library? 6. Why do you come to this library on campus in particular? 7. Have you had formal connections with University of California, Berkeley in the past? Prompt: alumni, emerita, past employee, family member. 8. What has been your best experience with the University of California, Berkeley Libraries? 9. Can you tell us about a time when you had difficulty getting resources or help from the library? Prompt: physical accessibility (wheelchair-accessible, etc.), limited hours, library privileges, not sure who to ask, transportation/parking, language. 10. What would make the libraries, website, or librarians more useful or accessible for you? 8 SAGE Open Acknowledgments Courtney, N. (Ed.). (2009). The 2009 academic library outreach: Beyond the campus walls. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. We would like to acknowledge the substantial research assistance Dole, W. V., & Hill, J. B. (2011). Community users in North that Sine Hwang Jensen, Asian American and Comparative Ethnic American academic libraries. New Library World, 112(3/4), Studies Librarian at University of California, Berkeley provided 141-149. with formulating the research question and with interviews. We Dole, W. V., & Hill, J. B. (2014). Community users in academic would also like to acknowledge and thank the Librarians Association libraries: Data-mining for fund-raising [Special issue]. of the University of California (LAUC) for a research grant that Qualitative & Quantitative Methods in Libraries, 3(Special allowed us to give gift cards to our interviewees. Issue), 105-110. Jansen, L. M. (1993). Welcome or not, here they come: Unaffiliated Declaration of Conflicting Interests users of academic libraries. Reference Services Review, 21(1), The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect 7-14. to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Johnson, P. (1988). Serving unaffiliated users in publicly funded academic libraries. Technicalities, 18, 8-11. Lenker, M., & Kocevar-Weidinger, E. (2010). Nonaffiliated users Funding in academic libraries: Using W.D. Ross’s ethical pluralism The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support to make sense of the tough questions. College & Research for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The Libraries, 71(5), 421-433. author(s) received financial support from Librarians Association of Muir, S. E. (2011). Security issues with community users in an the University of California for a portion of the research and/or urban university library. Library Leadership & Management, authorship of this article. 25(2), 1-12. Rolloff, E. K. (2013). We’re engaged! A community-university Notes library collaboration. Metropolitan Universities, 24(3), 20-35. Shires, J. M. (2006). A library of one’s own: A survey of pub- 1. See https://stories.lib.berkeley.edu/direction4/ lic access in Florida academic libraries. Reference & User 2. See http://www.ala.org/tools/libfactsheets/alalibraryfactsheet Services Quarterly, 45(4), 316-326. Sutherland, T., Hill, J. B., & Cox, F. (2013). Libraries as partners in 3. See http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/using-the-libraries/library-cards community engagement at urban and metropolitan universities. for policies and privileges granted to unaffiliated library card Metropolitan Universities, 24(3), 5-9. holders. Verhoeven, S., Cooksey, E. B., & Hand, C. A. (1996). The dispro- 4. All names are pseudonyms. portionate use of reference desk service by external users at an urban university library. Reference Quarterly, 35(3), 392-397. ORCID iDs Weare, W. J., & Stevenson, M. (2012). Circulation policies for Monica Singh https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3796-7384 external users: A comparative study of public urban research Celia Emmelhainz https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8853-8574 institutions. Journal of Access Services, 9(3), 111-133. Wilson, T. L. (2005). The community user in the academic art library. Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries References Society of North America, 24(2), 38-42. Bell, S. J. (2013). Open to the public: Risks and rewards of serving the local community. Library Issues: Briefings for Faculty and Author Biographies Administrators, 34(1), 1-4. Monica Singh is a business librarian at University of California Courtney, N. (2001). Barbarians at the gate: A half century of unaf- Berkeley. Her interests are in reference and public services. filiated patrons in academic libraries. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 27(6), 473-480. Celia Emmelhainz is the anthropology and qualitative research Courtney, N. (2003). Unaffiliated users access to academic librar- librarian at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research ies: A survey. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 29(1), 3-7. focuses on ethnographic methods and archiving in libraries. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png SAGE Open SAGE

Listening to Unaffiliated Users of the Academic Library:

SAGE Open , Volume 9 (2): 1 – Jun 23, 2019

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Abstract

We know that unaffiliated users access books, reference services, and databases at our libraries, but how do they experience this access? The library science literature reveals a range of ethical concerns around how we serve unaffiliated users, meaning those who are not current students, faculty, or staff. Yet this literature is often based on librarian perspectives rather than on conversations with the unaffiliated users themselves. In this pilot study we interviewed 10 unaffiliated users to better understand their perceptions of a large academic library and how the library fits into their daily habits. Emerging patterns include a respect for the depth of academic collections, an appreciation of how physical spaces shape their campus experience, and a persistent sense of nonbelonging as people who are not students at our university—even if they are affiliated to another institution. In conclusion, we suggest ways that librarians can invite unaffiliated users onto campus as guests in the academic library community. Keywords academic libraries, community users, unaffiliated users, community outreach, qualitative methodology, recruitment, nonbelonging, library spaces Introduction The Berkeley Context Our Library at the University of California (UC), Berkeley, Our library, the UC Berkeley Library, is the largest in the balances a core focus on campus research and teaching with state of California and the seventh largest in the nation. a broader public service mission, reflected in its strategic University alumni as well as any California resident with a plan to “better serve the public as an academic and cultural state ID may purchase a community library card for US$100 heritage institution by providing the community with a rich a year. This community library card allows unaffiliated users array of opportunities for learning, research and enrich- to enter the large underground stacks in the Main library and ment.” We fulfill this mission through providing public borrow books, but does not permit off-campus access to access to our libraries and galleries, events and exhibits, spe- databases or ebooks. Unaffiliated users who are not aware of, cial collections, and freely accessible online repositories of or who choose not to purchase a card, can still browse and academic articles and digital archival materials. use most databases and e-books at public use computers in Yet how do users from our community actually experi- most subject specialty libraries, but need a day pass from a ence this access to an academic library? As subject liai- reference librarian to enter and browse the Main Library col- sons we wanted to understand how people who are not lection and cannot access the undergraduate library which is current students, faculty, or staff use our libraries in a way for the campus community only. that goes deeper than a survey. We take seriously our Given our position as subject librarians within the cam- library’s mission to connect with the community and share pus’ 24 subject specialty libraries, we hoped to interview the fruits of scholarly research—and yet we wondered users at three specialty libraries selected for the range of ser- how to accomplish this in the face of budget cuts, attrition vices they offer on campus: in staffing, and loss of purchasing power that many aca- demic libraries face. By interviewing community users we University of California, Berkeley, USA hoped to better understand and respond to their needs, Corresponding Author: learn how they integrate library visits into their personal Monica Singh, Business Library, University of California, S350 Haas School and work lives, and offer better outreach on the part of our of Business, 2220 Piedmont Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94720-6000, USA. libraries. Email: msingh@berkeley.edu Creative Commons CC BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). 2 SAGE Open •• The Business Library, within the Business School, their communities (Shires, 2006), and article titles like has the busiest reference service point of subject Courtney’s (2001) Barbarians at the Gate reflected the ten- libraries on campus and an all-online collection with sion felt by some academic libraries toward this user group. no print books. Unaffiliated users assume it has better Perhaps because unaffiliated users have fewer other peo- resources than public libraries, but many licenses are ple (such as classmates or professors) to approach for help, restricted to the currently affiliated campus commu- some do require more information support from librarians. nity only. Verhoeven, Cooksey, and Hand (1996) found that while •• The Anthropology Library has a large print collection, unaffiliated users were only 10% of their patrons, they asked is close to main streets on the south side of campus, a quarter of the questions at the reference desk. They also and holds site reports for California archaeology often found that unaffiliated use of the academic library can lead to used by local organizations. longer lines, fewer free seats, and “more wear and tear on •• The Ethnic Studies Library hosts archives in Asian librarians, machines and materials” (Verhoeven et al., 1996, American, Chicano, and Native American studies, p. 392). Jansen (1993) found unaffiliated patrons were ask- and holds events for scholars and community mem- ing 40% of reference questions at UC Los Angeles, and 51% bers who have helped keep the library alive since its at University of Illinois at Chicago. This may be because inception 20 years ago. unaffiliated patrons know less about the library and therefore need more support (Jansen, 1993; Shires, 2006). Another challenge in serving unaffiliated users is the cost Literature Review to primary users in ways that may not be calculated into the In starting this study, we struggled with what to call our tar- library’s budget allocation. Montana State University found get population. Weare and Stevenson (2012) suggested that in 1978 that unaffiliated borrowers borrowed 5% of items, nonaffiliated or unaffiliated users may be inaccurate terms as but absorbed a third of the replacement budget through fail- community users may affiliate with a university through past ure to return items (Jansen, 1993), and students at the attendance or family connections even if they are not current University of Minnesota paid US$500 toward the libraries students or employees. Other librarians called this group each year, a fee not levied on unaffiliated users with similar external users, secondary users, outside users, and commu- access (Shires, 2006). Even attempts to fundraise from unaf- nity users. After strong debate among ourselves, we settled filiated users may not be especially successful, as Dole and on Johnson’s (1988) definition of unaffiliated users for sim- Hill (2011, 2014) found when requesting donations from 701 plicity: all users who are not our University’s current stu- unaffiliated users. Only US$145 was donated, suggesting to dents, staff, or faculty. them than community goodwill rather than cash flow may be Most of the library literature considered this user group the result of more unaffiliated access to academic libraries. from a management, cost-benefit, or service-provision per- Urban academic libraries also face heightened security spective. Courtney (2003) surveyed 527 academic library issues. Weare and Stevenson (2012) noted instances of dis- directors and found that many academic libraries charged ruptive behavior creating an unsafe space for core users, and fees to unaffiliated users for time-consuming services but Muir (2011) detailed how Arizona State University has wel- allowed them access either to foster community relations or comed unaffiliated users while addressing problem in response to local tax support. While public institutions behavior. often felt an obligation to provide public access as part of Because of these issues and reductions in most budgets their tax supported public education mission, most private and staffing, many academic libraries have tightened policies institutions also provided walk-in access. Weare and toward unaffiliated users. UC Berkeley Library limited Stevenson (2012) found that Indiana academic libraries access for unaffiliated users in 1991 due to overcrowding allowed unaffiliated access but limited borrowing by user and “frustration over lack of services” (Jansen, 1993, type (alumni, donor, teacher, visiting scholar, etc.) and p. 12) for their students, which a librarian reported resulted restricted hours for security reasons at times. All institutions in “the most significant improvement in services to primary charged a fee to unaffiliated borrowers, some as much as users” (Jansen, 1993, p. 13) in several decades. US$1,000 per year. Yet, academic librarians continue to welcome the broader The literature on unaffiliated users is rife with the tension community and seek to integrate their libraries into the com- between serving the institution’s primary academic users and munity. Essays in Courtney (2009) highlighted productive, an obligation to serve broader community needs in a knowl- unexpected, and collaborative community relationships, edge economy where access to information is limited by while Rolloff (2013) detailed a shared city/university library income. Unaffiliated users are both welcomed and feared by service, and Sutherland, Hill, and Cox (2013) listed further academic librarians as they feel the weight of added labor, reading about community engagement in academic libraries. time constraints, public underfunding, and potential overuse As they engage in the fight for open access, many academic by a minority of unaffiliated patrons. Staff who fear or dis- librarians draw on moral arguments that emphasize public like unaffiliated users may avoid promoting the library in access to research, government documents, and special Singh and Emmelhainz 3 collections as a service to the common good. Lenker and deleted the audio files. The project team members each read Kocevar-Weidinger (2010) drew on ideas of duty, justice, and annotated the transcripts (manually or in Atlas.ti qualita- and self-improvement in supporting nonaffiliated users, and tive analysis software), met to discuss and define emerging Courtney (2001) asked librarians to negotiate for unaffiliated themes, and then returned back to the data to check our anal- users in their licensing agreements and to make “conscious yses and write up results. choices about allowing or denying access to unaffiliated users, rather than allowing those choices to be made by” Recruitment Challenges (Courtney, 2001, p. 478) publishing companies and database vendors. As Bell (2013) noted, the public comes to us a way Before discussing results, we would like to briefly note our around a growing digital divide and for access to cultural challenges in recruitment as academic librarian readers may programs, lifelong learning, and quiet spaces for study. In face similar challenges in recruiting unaffiliated users. We this way, he suggested, the academic library can support pub- submitted our research plan to our campus IRB in January lic libraries and can enhance local perceptions of library 2017 and received approval two months later. We started value and relevance. recruitment just as the semester ended in early May, hoping Similarly, Wilson (2005) cautioned against taking a nega- that the end of the school year would be a good time to catch tive tone toward unaffiliated users, noting that these users unaffiliated users who come on campus while students and feel connected to academic libraries and “share their pride in faculty take a break. the beauty of the campuses by bringing visitors to see the We considered mailing or emailing invitations to unaffili- university” (p. 42). In Wilson’s art library, unaffiliated mem- ated library card holders, but were concerned about bias bers are also donors, alumni, members of the artistic com- (selecting only those unaffiliated users who held a library munity, or prospective students—people who directly add card), and also found that our library card agreements with value to the university and the academic library. unaffiliated users promise that we will only contact them for In sum, the library literature contained wide-ranging dis- account-related correspondence—an agreement that pre- cussions on library responses to nonaffiliated users, argu- cludes research. We also decided against requesting an inter- ments for serving them or for limiting serving to unaffiliated view after reference interactions, not wanting to create undue users in favor of greater service to primary users, and discus- pressure on unaffiliated users. sions of practical concerns around workload, financing, and Instead we used passive recruitment techniques, posting security issues. Yet, we found few empirical studies of unaf- flyers with tear-off tabs around campus libraries requesting filiated users, and none that drew on patron perspectives to that unaffiliated users volunteer to be interviewed in help librarians better understand the experience of this com- exchange for an Amazon gift card. While convenience sam- munity of users. pling is not an ideal qualitative sampling strategy, we had no known population to draw from (many unaffiliated users do not pay for a library card) and hoped to reach a broad range Method of users. When posters in four subject libraries did not result In light of this, we decided to interview unaffiliated users of in responses, we posted on library Facebook pages and added our “subject specialty” (branch) libraries, to discuss their a recruitment notice to our email signatures. We also posted experiences with our libraries in one hour interviews. on the neighborhood-based Nextdoor website, hoping that Because librarians on our campus do not automatically have users active in the community might also be users of our PI (primary investigator) status for interviewing human sub- libraries. This brought in seven queries although most of jects, our lead researcher applied for and received an excep- them mistook us for the public libraries—but it resulted in tion to campus policy, giving them ongoing approval to serve one qualified interview. We reached out to unaffiliated as a PI. We then developed a project proposal, applied for patrons we knew well, resulting in another interview. institutional review board (IRB) approval, and recruited In our third month of recruitment, a public librarian posted users for this study. fliers for us at their library. Eight people contacted us, but Our semi-structured interview questions (see Appendix) none used the academic library. (We expected more cross- focused on users’ experiences and usage needs from our aca- over, given how often we refer patrons to the public library.) demic library. Each interview lasted one hour and was con- We selected only one recent alumna because of her extensive ducted by two librarians in a private study room. In return, experience as an unaffiliated patron prior to enrollment at patrons got a US$40 Amazon gift card (we advertised the our university. (We did not want recent alumni for our study card, but not the relatively high dollar amount, prior to the because they wouldn’t have had sufficient experience of the interview). library as an unaffiliated patron.) In the following months, During the interview, one librarian took notes and man- we posted flyers at several more libraries, with several more aged mobile devices for recording, while the other led the responses. interview. We transcribed all interviews; anonymized loca- In sum, we interviewed 10 qualified users over six months, tions, research topics, and identifying information; and then which was less interest than we expected in a paid interview 4 SAGE Open of users of a major urban public university. The lessons we public terminal. In fact, given these repeated gaps in aware- take away from this are that we should have ramped up ness about the materials available to unaffiliated users, our recruitment much earlier—and that recruiting this population research interviews often ended with a reference consulta- may be difficult as they use the library intermittently. As we tion—and expanded access for users. began to see recurring themes and hit our target sample size of 10, we elected to end formal recruitment and begin analy- The Risk of Disconnection and the Fear sis. While recruitment was challenging, we believe this is a crucial group to understand and worth reaching out to meet of Nonbelonging with and listen to. We wondered why our unaffiliated users were unaware of the resources available to them. In part it could be that librarians Results and Discussion do not advertise enough because they may fear being inun- dated with more unaffiliated requests than they can handle. It Of the 10 people interviewed, three were teachers, three were may also be that unaffiliated users feel a sense of nonbelong- graduate students at other institutions, three were profession- ing or not being a rightful user of the library. als, and one was retired. Participants ranged in age from 29 While we view unaffiliated users as rightful users, our to 72, with half below 40 years and half above 50 years. Half research participants repeatedly indicated that they didn’t were alumni who had graduated some time ago. feel like legitimate users of the library. Jessie had some of the In our discussions, three core patterns emerged again and strongest feelings in this area. As a student of a nearby pri- again: a sense of not belonging to the library as an unaffili- vate university with a small library, she could really benefit ated user, reverence for the library as a depository of scholar- from unfettered access to our large research libraries. Yet, ship, and strong opinions about libraries as places with she understood the library as belonging to Berkeley students, specific architecture and social positioning on campus. saying, Uses of the Library But then again, it’s a school library. If I was a Cal student, I wouldn’t want my library to be serving the public. I would want Most unaffiliated users came to our research library to use them to serve me as a student, and you guys have so many books and databases, or for a focused study space. While students. most had asked a question at the circulation desk, only two had asked for research assistance—even though this is a Justice similarly wrestling with how much she should use the group invested enough to answer a call for interviews! library, commented, In fact, patrons were often unaware of who was a librar- ian, or of the resources available to them. Kerry, a graduate Because I’m a student, but I’m not a student here, sometimes I student at a nearby university, used the library catalog at the feel a little weird about being here . . . it’s not that I feel like I Anthropology Library to find sources for her thesis. Yet, she don’t belong, but sometimes I just feel like an outsider coming didn’t know if there was a librarian at the library, and wasn’t in [to a] different environment. It’s a university so it feels like I’m home, but it’s not really. But I’m really grateful that it is sure if she could get access to ebooks (she can). Justice, open to the community and we’re able to access all these another graduate student, was writing her doctoral disserta- resources. tion. After compiling a bibliography of sources, she searched our catalog for printed books. When we asked if she used ebooks on the public computers, Justice replied that she While at home in the university environment as a scholar, thought as an “outside patron” she couldn’t have online Justice still felt distance because she does not belong to this access. “I thought when I read the rules for my library card, university library. Similarly, Kerry, the external graduate stu- it wasn’t accessible to me,” she said, thinking back to our dent, wishing she could get a short-term library card for the unaffiliated user documentation. Jody, an alumna, came to few months she is in town, commented, “a monthly pass the libraries to work on continuing education, but also didn’t would be nice because right now I feel like I am a thief.” realize she could use e-resources, and didn’t ask anyone. Even though resources are readily available, by lacking a Casey, an alumna, came to the library with a business pass that recognizes her as a temporary member of the information need. While the campus is close to where she University Library community, Kerry felt like she was sneak- lives, she hadn’t realized she could use the library, saying, “I ing into this scholarly space. Casey similarly tried to be didn’t know that you could sort of come in as a public person unobtrusive, commenting that she felt, “I may get kicked out and sit in a library here.” It was only when she toured campus because I’m not supposed to be here so I’m just not going to with her son, a prospective student, that she learned about make any waves.” public access—and her own alumni access. And it wasn’t We were surprised by the strong emotions in these state- until she signed up for our interview that she learned she ments. Our Main library, archives, and undergraduate library could access scholarly articles even after graduation, at a have limited access or require IDs to be shown, but our Singh and Emmelhainz 5 branch libraries all allow free entry and exit. Yet these users materials which were essential for her personal research. still felt a sense of nonbelonging in the academic library. While exploring decades-old records which are hard to After attending a public event in the Main library, Skyler access in her home country, she was able to address a per- noticed the library’s public computers, and started using sonal ancestral puzzle for one of her friends. Flipping through them for personal health research. But she felt bad, recalling, the newspapers, she reflected, “The whole time I’ve been there I’ve felt guilty like I’m not supposed to be here, I’m not a current student.” somebody saved this paper and probably they thought it would But it was when she saw the flyers for our research project never be used, but here it comes. A hundred years later, in a different part of the world somebody makes a request, and that her perception shifted: they’re trying to find it in a physical library and it’s amazing. It’s funny, the whole time I’ve been here I’ve felt a little guilty, like am I really supposed to be here and then I saw your research As Pat looked through old Slavic newspapers, she sought and I was like they actually want to talk to me . . . it’s good to physical proof of relatives whom history and politics have know I’m welcome even if I just come in and meditate. obscured. Because she was an unaffiliated user viewing, but not borrowing, physical materials, she may not show up in Another user, Pat, brought her middle school students to usage counts. Yet the material was uniquely valuable to her, campus to show them a research library. Yet, she still felt that whether accessible in physical or digital form. “You don’t feel like you could be part of this library because Others also come for foreign language materials, as it’s on campus and it’s a luxury to be here.” Because campus with Jessie, who comes to download articles in Chinese for feels set apart and the libraries feel grand, the libraries don’t her dissertation at a smaller institution nearby. With the feel like they belong to her. Harley similarly remembered help of a librarian, she found articles on Google Scholar how awed she felt when first seeing the architecture of the and saved them to a thumb drive for later reading at home. imposing Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley. To help his stu- Similarly, Jamie was glad to find rare foreign newspapers dents around this intimidation, her professor sent Harley and here, and recalled coming to the news collection in earlier her community college classmates to campus as a group, years to find encouraging them to help each other ask questions: the only publication coming out of Bhutan at the time. This was We found how easy it was to actually get research materials, to before the internet. . . . there were books about Bhutan but the be able to access them, it was wonderful. That experience was only news you could get about Bhutan was from this weekly or great, because it gave me the confidence to be able to go into any monthly newspaper that came out and it was stored [in the library. I saw the standard of how interested the people there library] and so I would go there to look at it. were in helping me get the information that I needed . . . that as a first experience definitely set the bar for the rest. Unaffiliated users also singled out the libraries as providing a sense of community especially for independent young Harley’s experience showed us how much first impressions scholars attempting to stay connected to their disciplines in count, and how helpful the friendly librarians at the Bancroft the absence of a formal affiliation. In particular, the Ethnic were for establishing her experience in academic libraries as Studies and Anthropology libraries were called out as spaces a whole. Yet the experience of our other unaffiliated users that let users connect with prior generations. Kerry believed reminds us how persistent a sense of nonbelonging can be the Anthropology Library helped connect her to the scholarly unless we deliberately tear down barriers to integration. We community as well as to research in her field, while Justice believe it is important to reach out to the users hidden in found the warm nooks of the Ethnic Studies Library to be an plain sight, those who are polite but uncertain. Through clear inspiring space, saying, written materials and personal introductions we increase the chance they will feel like they belong and will make better I’ve learned a little about history of social movements at UC use of our resources. And lest we think they will not appreci- Berkeley and the birth of the Ethnic Studies program and ate it, we found an enduring sense of respect for the value of department, the creation of the library. I feel like it’s important academic libraries among these users. to be in that space and use it. It’s almost like an act of activism to be there to some extent. I think it’s a kind of bi-directional active support: that it has resources that help me write my Academic Libraries Provide Connection dissertation, and at the same time I want to make sure that this Through Books and Events space is still supported. While unaffiliated users felt tension around the question of whether they belonged on campus, they glowed when speak- Here, the library’s history and collections drew Justice into ing of the treasures an academic library may contain. Pat, for the history of social justice on campus, as well as into a web instance, appreciated our archival and foreign language of current scholarship and events. 6 SAGE Open Finally, unaffiliated users used library events and exhibits For Justice, it’s not just the focus of libraries but also the to connect to the people and ideas circulating through the experience of browsing during breaks that helps her to write, University. Jamie recalled a film series in the Environmental as “I look for one book and right next to it is another one Design Library as a “magical event” where the librarian with a title that is really inspiring, and so I just pick it up and screened a film for discussion—and gave away books he had it’s just kind of easy and inspiring.” She experiences the privately acquired for free. Justice found the audience at Ethnic Studies library in particular as “an intimate space, a Ethnic Studies Library events “more intimate and valuable good cross between, it feels like home but it also feels than going to a conference.” Taylor visited the lunch poem studious.” events at the Morrison Library as well as author talks and Perhaps because we recruited in smaller subject libraries, conferences on Buddhism. And after Skyler attended a cam- our unaffiliated users appreciated the grandeur of the larger pus event in the Morrison Library, she reflected, Main library but found it hard to study in, describing the Main stacks as “too big,” “impersonal,” “scary,” a stressful, I didn’t actually realize that community was so welcome at UC labyrinthine place where “one gets lost,” with “no one to Berkeley, I thought it was just students and faculty . . . I just help,” “stressed out staff,” and “intimidating” security at the loved that Anthropology on the Front Lines was held in the entrances. In the underground stacks, Harley recalled, Morrison. It was amazing, it was beautiful. It was a series celebrating the life and work of Nancy Scheper Hughes. That there’s rows that I can’t even pull out, and there’s student was my most memorable experience in the UC Berkeley workers but they can’t really help you with going to find books, libraries. and you have to know what you’re doing . . . and if you don’t know what you’re doing, you’re lost, and it discourages you As librarians, we think of libraries as connecting people with from coming back. information. Yet these users helped us to reframe our librar- ies and highlighted how library events build connections Given the urban location of the campus, signs warn patrons between people in the broader community and overcome that to watch their belongings, which can unsettle patrons who sense of nonbelonging, and deepen a shared heritage and cul- lack a locker or other means of storing personal items during ture of learning on campus. a bathroom or snack break. Kerry requested a “little box or cart” to set books on so she can go to lunch and return, “because I wouldn’t take 10 books home anyway. But if Academic Libraries Teach Us Through Their someone sees the book and takes it [while I’m on break], Sense of Space then it’s gone.” Several unaffiliated interviewees requested lockers or short-term secure storage because they lack an Finally, our unaffiliated users connected not just to our col- office or carrel and are less likely than students to have lections and to other users but to the library spaces them- someone to watch their things while they take a break. selves as intellectual, reflective, and social spaces. As a Another challenge for many unaffiliated patrons are the teacher and mother, Pat brought her younger students to the limited hours of campus branch libraries. Unaffiliated users grand public reading rooms of Doe Library, which they often have complex work and commute schedules and find found to look like Hogwarts, “surprised to see these huge shortened summer and weekend schedules make it hard to libraries because most of the kids haven’t seen libraries with use academic libraries after a workday. Other unaffiliated these tables, big lamps and all this glory.” She sought to users visit town for only a few months and would like a sea- make an impression not only with the grand reading rooms sonal or monthly pass instead of having to pay for a yearly but also with the physicality of rare books, encouraging teen- alumni or community user card. agers to encounter their beautiful illustrations and the differ- Finally, some unaffiliated users observed sharp differ- ent feeling of reading a physical book. ences in the funding available to different libraries based in Other unaffiliated users come to the academic library to unequal endowments in the associated disciplines. Harley focus. Like other third places such as cafes or coworking saw the varying investment in libraries as indicative of a uni- spaces, academic libraries are well-lit, have minimal distrac- versity that values some fields more than others, where the tions, are freely accessible, and create a subtle social pres- funds available to each library signal “what the university sure to study or write, as that’s what everyone else is doing. believes is important.” When the gym is well-stocked with This environment can produce a sense of flow, a feeling of staff, food, and space until the early hours of the morning, intellectual sharpness and depth that comes through sus- and small specialty libraries are not, she asked, what does tained concentration. As Justice remarked, that say about campus? Similarly, Justice compared the well-endowed and ornate It’s so hard to write . . . but when you’re there and things are professional libraries like Law and Business to the more hid- flowing, and you just feel like all this creation is happening and den Ethnic Studies Library. When Justice found it, she is being channeled through you . . . I feel like it’s the best moments I have to write, it’s not at home, it’s not in other places. thought, Singh and Emmelhainz 7 I really love the Ethnic Studies Library . . . and I’ve been Given the value they place on library spaces, events, and thinking about the discrepancy between the luxury of Doe resources, and yet the distance that kept them from asking for Library and how everything is set in marble, and how the Ethnic help, we believe it is important for academic librarians to Studies Library is stashed away and there’s a very small plaque actively draw quiet unaffiliated users into better use of library at entrance. I don’t want to say it’s almost anonymous on resources and spaces. campus, but I bet if you asked a lot of students if they knew We have all experienced the unaffiliated member who about it, they wouldn’t. overuses resources, acts entitled, and pushes others out of the way. Other times, we’re too busy to reach out. Yet leaving Yet, large or small, our unaffiliated users kept returning to policies vague often hurts those who need us the most. It the spaces of the academic library for its browsable wasn’t until someone told Kerry that the library was open to shelves and personal space to settle in and study. In a dis- all that she visited, and “had I known that before, I would tracting world, libraries allow for focus over time. As have used it much more.” And as Casey commented, our Jody reflected, alumni brochure talked about “privileges” but not “what world are you opening up that I’d be able to use these privi- Cafes are more bustling, I may like the music, I may not, but I leges for.” While we thought we were welcoming, then, our feel guilty that I stay there for 5 hours. Here I don’t feel that. I unaffiliated users weren’t sure if we really were open to them can be here for 5 hours. I can study. So I don’t go to cafes that or what we were welcoming them into. much anymore. Perhaps for this reason, we found that qualitative research with unaffiliated users not only helped our own understand- Conclusion ing but directly helped these users. As we talked, our research interviews turned into reference interviews where we helped As we listened to unaffiliated users of our campus libraries, patrons gain greater access to the resources already available we gained a deeper appreciation for their experiences and to them. As we listened, our users experienced a greater our gaps in service to them. We learned that they come to the sense of belonging to the library and to the life of the univer- academic library for a focused space to work, for unique sity. And as a result of this listening, we have begun to adver- resources, for cultural and learning opportunities at library tise our events more widely, to improve signage and events, and for a sense of community with the scholarly brochures, and to make ourselves more present in our librar- world, yet often feel alienated by a sense of nonbelonging, as ies—and most of all, to respect and advocate for the experi- interlopers who subtly lack a right to the resources we make ence of our unaffiliated users. available to them. Appendix Semi-Structured Interview Questions 1. To start, tell me how you came to use the Universityof California, Berkeley Libraries. 2. What typically bring you to the libraries? Prompt: business use, genealogy, local history, events, research, personal interest. 3. Which services or resources do you use most often? Prompt: books, databases, archives, events, book talks, consultations. 4. How do you find out about services, events, or other resources at the libraries? Prompt: social media, library guides, websites. 5. How do you decide when to use a public library versus an academic library? 6. Why do you come to this library on campus in particular? 7. Have you had formal connections with University of California, Berkeley in the past? Prompt: alumni, emerita, past employee, family member. 8. What has been your best experience with the University of California, Berkeley Libraries? 9. Can you tell us about a time when you had difficulty getting resources or help from the library? Prompt: physical accessibility (wheelchair-accessible, etc.), limited hours, library privileges, not sure who to ask, transportation/parking, language. 10. What would make the libraries, website, or librarians more useful or accessible for you? 8 SAGE Open Acknowledgments Courtney, N. (Ed.). (2009). The 2009 academic library outreach: Beyond the campus walls. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. We would like to acknowledge the substantial research assistance Dole, W. V., & Hill, J. B. (2011). Community users in North that Sine Hwang Jensen, Asian American and Comparative Ethnic American academic libraries. New Library World, 112(3/4), Studies Librarian at University of California, Berkeley provided 141-149. with formulating the research question and with interviews. We Dole, W. V., & Hill, J. B. (2014). Community users in academic would also like to acknowledge and thank the Librarians Association libraries: Data-mining for fund-raising [Special issue]. of the University of California (LAUC) for a research grant that Qualitative & Quantitative Methods in Libraries, 3(Special allowed us to give gift cards to our interviewees. Issue), 105-110. Jansen, L. M. (1993). Welcome or not, here they come: Unaffiliated Declaration of Conflicting Interests users of academic libraries. Reference Services Review, 21(1), The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect 7-14. to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Johnson, P. (1988). Serving unaffiliated users in publicly funded academic libraries. Technicalities, 18, 8-11. Lenker, M., & Kocevar-Weidinger, E. (2010). Nonaffiliated users Funding in academic libraries: Using W.D. Ross’s ethical pluralism The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support to make sense of the tough questions. College & Research for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The Libraries, 71(5), 421-433. author(s) received financial support from Librarians Association of Muir, S. E. (2011). Security issues with community users in an the University of California for a portion of the research and/or urban university library. Library Leadership & Management, authorship of this article. 25(2), 1-12. Rolloff, E. K. (2013). We’re engaged! A community-university Notes library collaboration. Metropolitan Universities, 24(3), 20-35. Shires, J. M. (2006). A library of one’s own: A survey of pub- 1. See https://stories.lib.berkeley.edu/direction4/ lic access in Florida academic libraries. Reference & User 2. See http://www.ala.org/tools/libfactsheets/alalibraryfactsheet Services Quarterly, 45(4), 316-326. Sutherland, T., Hill, J. B., & Cox, F. (2013). Libraries as partners in 3. See http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/using-the-libraries/library-cards community engagement at urban and metropolitan universities. for policies and privileges granted to unaffiliated library card Metropolitan Universities, 24(3), 5-9. holders. Verhoeven, S., Cooksey, E. B., & Hand, C. A. (1996). The dispro- 4. All names are pseudonyms. portionate use of reference desk service by external users at an urban university library. Reference Quarterly, 35(3), 392-397. ORCID iDs Weare, W. J., & Stevenson, M. (2012). Circulation policies for Monica Singh https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3796-7384 external users: A comparative study of public urban research Celia Emmelhainz https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8853-8574 institutions. Journal of Access Services, 9(3), 111-133. Wilson, T. L. (2005). The community user in the academic art library. Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries References Society of North America, 24(2), 38-42. Bell, S. J. (2013). Open to the public: Risks and rewards of serving the local community. Library Issues: Briefings for Faculty and Author Biographies Administrators, 34(1), 1-4. Monica Singh is a business librarian at University of California Courtney, N. (2001). Barbarians at the gate: A half century of unaf- Berkeley. Her interests are in reference and public services. filiated patrons in academic libraries. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 27(6), 473-480. Celia Emmelhainz is the anthropology and qualitative research Courtney, N. (2003). Unaffiliated users access to academic librar- librarian at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research ies: A survey. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 29(1), 3-7. focuses on ethnographic methods and archiving in libraries.

Journal

SAGE OpenSAGE

Published: Jun 23, 2019

Keywords: academic libraries; community users; unaffiliated users; community outreach; qualitative methodology; recruitment; nonbelonging; library spaces

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