Graduate Students’ Space and Service Needs Report
Uta Hussong-Christian, Margaret Mellinger, Hannah Gascho Rempel
OSU Libraries - March 15, 2010
Executive Summary
Graduate students from across all departments at OSU were invited to participate in focus groups to
share their insights about current and potential research spaces and services. Themes were created
based on the participants’ responses. The space theme clearly points to a desire for graduate studentspecific space at OSU, particularly among students in “have-not departments.” Students were
interested in a variety of spaces, including private, group study, social and virtual spaces. The services
theme revealed that participants desired a range of services and training options from both the library
and other departments on campus, as well as better communication about what is currently available.
Desired services and resources emphasized rapid delivery of library materials and easy access to a wide
range of databases and software programs. Participants wanted training opportunities that included
basic orientations to OSU and OSU Libraries (OSUL), software packages, citation management
workshops, and thesis writing and formatting. The support, communication and collaboration theme
emphasized the need OSU students have to connect with other researchers across disciplines, to be
supported within mentoring relationships, and to receive adequate support as GTAs so they can be
successful teachers.
Themes
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Recommendations
Short Term Recommendations
Using Existing Resources
Mid-term Recommendations
Using Potential Resources
Long Term Recommendations
Requiring Brand New Resources
• Improved communication of
services and spaces (p. 14)
• Improved training and
resources for graduate
teaching assistants (p. 15)
• Subsidize printing for GTAs
(p. 14)
• Provide a graduate studentspecific space (p. 17, 24)
• Form Library Graduate
Student Advisory Committee
(p. 13)
• Open up OSUL classrooms
for after-hours use by
graduate student work
groups (p. 13)
• Increase study room
checkout times to 6 hours
for graduate students (p. 12)
• Allow M.S. students access
to 90-day rooms for a
modified checkout period (p.
13)
• Allow for renewal of 90-day
rooms (p. 12)
• Better maps immediately in
the library (p. 14)
• Create a database of
campus research and
researchers (p. 16)
• Create a university-wide
plan for graduate student
training needs (p. 16)
• Create a graduate studentspecific virtual space (p. 16)
• Provide document delivery
services for graduate
students and faculty (p. 15)
Implementation Timeline
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Methodology
OSU graduate students from all departments were invited to participate in focus groups to share their
insights about current and potential research spaces and services via the all campus Administrative
Assistants’ email listserv, in addition the invitation was given in several Winter quarter graduate student
workshops. Fifty-five graduate students volunteered for the study and thirty-six students actually
attended the focus groups.
Participants were divided into four groups of a maximum of 12 people per group based on the
participants’ scheduling preferences. The focus groups were held throughout the second and third
weeks of February 2010, and met for 90 minutes each. The discussions were led in a semi-formal
manner and ground rules were introduced at the beginning of each focus group. Participants were
provided with a list of the guiding questions, so they could follow along. One researcher acted as the
moderator, one researcher took notes on a flip chart for all to see, and an additional researcher took
notes on a laptop.
Five main questions guided the focus group discussions.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
In the context of your work as a graduate student, what do you currently find useful in an OSU
space or OSU service?
a. Follow-up: If you were a graduate student at another institution before coming to OSU,
what useful space or service did you have access to there?
b. Follow-up: Are there campus services that you would like to see pulled together to better
serve your needs?
What would your ideal space look like (think in terms of services available, technology available,
and furnishings available) or if you were dreaming very big (money or space not an issue), what
would make your research or research space exceptional?
Do you think the Library is a good place to provide graduate student space and services or
programming?
In the context of your work as a graduate student, what additional library services or
programming would you find useful?
When would you make use of a dedicated graduate student space? When should the services
or programming and support in this space be available?
Focus group data were coded separately by each researcher, and the investigators looked for trends in
the responses to determine if overall themes could be determined regarding graduate students’ current
and future research space and service needs. The themes that emerged are reported below.
Participant Demographics
The focus group participants were made up of graduate students from twenty departments and eight
colleges, thereby providing a broad overview of graduate student perceptions and attitudes toward
spaces and services on the OSU campus, and more specifically at the OSU Libraries. The departments
represented by the focus group participants were Animal Science, Anthropology, Botany & Plant
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Pathology, College Student Services Administration, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, English,
Environmental Science, Food Science and Technology, Forest Ecosystems & Society and Forest
Engineering & Resource Management, Forest Resources, Human Development and Family Sciences,
Horticulture, Materials Science & Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Microbiology,
Molecular and Cellular Biology, Nuclear Engineering & Radiation Health Physics, Oceanic and
Atmospheric Sciences, Public Health, and Wood Science and Engineering. The colleges represented are
shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Colleges represented by the graduate student focus group participants.
Colleges Represented
Education
COAS
Forestry
College of Liberal Arts
Health & Human Sciences
Agriculture
Science
Engineering
Number of Participants
2
3
3
3
4
5
7
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Themes
Spaces Themes
We identified several themes within the broader category of “Spaces.” Participants clearly identified the
need for separate social spaces and private spaces for both studying and relaxing. They described
spaces with particular attributes that would make them comfortable and efficient. We have tagged
these attributes as ambience and technology.
Social Spaces – Something that seems to be lacking for the graduate students in many (but not all)
departments is a sense of community. Participants mentioned several ways that common spaces can
help build community – by encouraging group study, by providing “white noise”(but not the extreme
noise of undergraduates), and by accommodating socializing and relaxing opportunities.
Participants thought it would be beneficial to have a space where you know others will be going to work
on similar projects – a community built around common classes, research or teaching. Social spaces
could be used for meeting with study groups, for example with a cohort getting ready for qualifying
exams.
Some students like studying alone in a space where people talk and mingle as they would in a coffee
house. All four of the focus groups mentioned how nice it would be to have a place where they could
relax alone or with others and have a snack, drink (caffeinated, non-caffeinated or alcohol if possible), or
a meal. There could be places for stretching, video games, things to help people take a break and relax.
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A graduate student lounge, one group called it. One student said, “I like spaces that have people in them
and are less school centered. Sometimes I need to be alone, but sometimes I like the white noise.”
Additionally, students mentioned that it would be great to have social events for graduate students –
perhaps having something in the library that brings together graduate students from various disciplines.
Departments tend to keep to themselves. For example, English graduate students are “social to a fault,”
but they do not interact much with graduate students in other departments. Forestry also has an active
social life, but perhaps they could invite other students to participate in some of their activities, such as
the soccer games they organize. Food Science students have wine, beer and cheese tastings and other
activities. As mentioned above, some departments have very little in the way of organized activities for
students, and the students feel this. One student shared that she “… felt so isolated my first term . . .
and I thought I was crazy, because I didn’t know the other people were crazy too, and finding out they
had similar concerns. Besides [I miss] having a connection in another department, I don’t find there are
other forums to meet other grad students.”
Private Spaces—Graduate students also need private spaces to be productive researchers and writers.
Participants described private spaces as being quiet, having a computer and Wi-Fi, and possibly a place
for a nap. There was also a resounding need expressed for having a study space where a person could
leave all their stuff related to the research or writing they were doing.
Some of the need for private space is driven by what we might call the “have and have not
departments.” Especially in the College of Liberal Arts, in some departments, there are four or more
graduate students per office, and often they must share computers, telephones, printers, etc. One of
the CLA participants thought that “ . . . in an ideal world we could rent a little cubicle in the library to
escape everyone in our office and put our books there.” Engineering and Science students, especially
teaching assistants, are more likely to have an office, their own computer and at least a small space of
their own.
Teaching assistants in the Humanities and Social Sciences mentioned that they need privacy away from
their students to work on their own studies without interruption. This keeps some of them from coming
to the library, for fear of running into students when trying to do their own work. One said, “We need a
hiding place from our students.”
A number of participants noted that the library is not quiet, even on the designated quiet floors. Study
rooms lack soundproofing and students noted that they often “hear everybody through the walls”. One
idea was to provide a designated section of quiet study rooms. Another complaint about the three-hour
study rooms is that three hours is not quite enough time for graduate students to get set up, spread out
and settled down to write. Because the rooms cannot be renewed, the student must move just as she is
getting into the groove of her work. The focus group participant who brought up this point came to the
session specifically to talk about this issue. She felt that six-hour time slots would be better. Another
student said, “If I knew I could come and stay focused on my work, a grad only space would be really
appealing.”
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Ambience—Whether a proposed new graduate student space is social or private, there are certain
elements of ambience that would attract our students. One student said he would like an “invitational
atmosphere that says ‘we want you to be here’.” Every focus group mentioned the desirability of
comfort, color and light. They feel the library has this in abundance, with the possible exception of
enough comfortable chairs, specifically in the study rooms, where one student would exchange the
wooden chair for an ergonomic one, if she could. The mantra was couches, couches, couches, couches.
This apparently would be good in the private spaces, as napping was a prized activity.
Another aspect of the ambience that graduate students would find pleasing was to have food-friendly
areas where healthy food choices would be available, as well as the ability to make their own coffee and
food (using a coffee maker and microwave). Some of the students work very late at night, “. . . get to a
point that it’s so late that there’s no point in leaving but I’m hungry, it’s usually self-defeating. Hot and
cold options would be nice. I don’t always just want a direct line of coffee into my veins.”
Technology—Printing is a major issue for graduate students. They would love easy access to printers
and printing where ever they are on campus. Several conflicting factors keep this from happening. First,
students who are in Engineering and Science want to print to those accounts, because they have already
paid for a certain amount of printing through their fees. Second, students in the Humanities and Social
Sciences often face the situation where they cannot print in their departments, because printing has
been shut down for budget reasons. As one student told us, “sometimes we’re willing to pay for things,
but we can’t get anything printed in our main offices because everyone [at the department level] is out
of money.” Another way printing is complicated for students is that they can’t easily print from
anywhere on campus. For example, a student went to the computer lab in a department she is affiliated
with (but which is not her primary work area), needing to print one page. Other people were printing
so she knew the printers worked, but she was unable to print as she was using an account login not
supported by that department. She called technical support and they were “useless, they did not know
the room existed.” Ultimately, she found out that she was talking to the wrong support people. She said,
“It was a complete waste of my time. If we just had one login that worked everywhere, it would be
much simpler.”
Related to the printing issue of access across campus and a single sign on that would facilitate it,
students would like to be able to access computer programs they need from anywhere they are. Access
to particular programs is an issue for science and engineering students, as well as for those using
statistical and GIS applications. Some students are able to use remote desktop to access their software.
Others may lack the technical knowledge to do this, or cannot because of the way accounts and access is
structured. A few students were interested to know what software programs were available to them as
OSU students. They thought it would be a great thing to have a centralized list of those programs, to
know if they were licensed users for that particular software, and ultimately to find that all software was
available everywhere you go on campus.
Most of the technology that participants would like to see in a graduate student space was
straightforward. For example, computers with good speed, dual monitors, fast Wi-Fi performance,
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printers that will print double-sided, copiers or scanners nearby, enough outlets to plug in their laptops.
In addition, some students thought that having access to presentation equipment would be valuable.
(Some of those students were unaware of Student Multimedia Services).
On the “not exactly technology list,” students wanted lots of large whiteboards, staplers, three holepunches, highlighters, enough space to spread out and write, and a keyboard tray separate from the
writing space.
Other things that don’t work as well as they could in the technology realm are the slow Wi-Fi
connections experienced on campus at times, and the inadequate performance of Blackboard software,
especially when grading classes of 160 students. One student said that she dislikes using the e-scanners,
and tends to take pictures of the things she needs and prints them out later.
Services Themes
We identified several themes within the broader category of “Services.” Participants discussed both
library and campus services that were either helpful or detrimental in supporting their research process.
Under this broader theme, participants also described a wide range of library resources and training
options that could help further their work as scholars.
Library Services – When questioned about OSU Library services that are currently helpful for them,
participants most frequently mentioned interlibrary loan. However, many participants wanted
interlibrary loan to go an extra step and serve as a document delivery service for items in the Valley
Library. One participant noted, “it’s a pain if I want something from 1995 and I have to come into the
library to get it.” Another student noted, “if there’s a print copy, I’m not going to come from Richardson
to get it.” A participant summed up this sentiment, saying “we don’t want to leave our desks.” Other
OSUL services participants appreciated included the reference desk, the laptop rental program, and the
course reserves program, although students wanted more textbooks to be available through course
reserves. Students liked the availability of e-scanners, but wished that either there were more escanners or that there was an e-scanner dedicated for graduate student use only, as they sometimes
had to wait in long lines to complete their scanning.
Several participants had used the 90-day study rooms, but generally felt that the 90 days was not long
enough to serve their needs and would have liked the ability to renew these rooms. Participants
pursuing a masters’ degree expressed the desire to have something similar available to them, perhaps
on a reduced time scale, such as 30 or 60 days.
Campus Services – A wide range of campus services was discussed by the participants, including the
Mind Spa, poster printing via SMS, departmental libraries (especially when they contained enough
textbooks to guide them in activities like preparing for their qualifying exams) and free printing within
departments (or at least the appearance of free printing, as this service is typically paid for out of
student fees).
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The desire for tutoring services, especially in statistics was discussed, even though many students were
aware of the consultation services currently offered through the Statistics Department. Instead of a
consultation system, many of these students wanted to be trained in how to use the statistics concepts
and programs themselves, rather than just turning over their data to someone else to get a quick
analysis.
Students mentioned the Writing Center as a resource, but not everyone was aware of what the Writing
Center offered to them as graduate students. One student asked, “Where is the Writing Center? Do
they do both technical and more creative writing?” Although some students had found the Writing
Center helpful, especially for organizing their thoughts and the structure of their writing, they often
desired more writing feedback from someone in their own field who understood the writing
conventions and language of their particular discipline.
One participant talked about the need for a graduate student support group. The idea for this support
group was partially rooted in psychological needs, but also contained practical elements of how to
navigate the thesis-writing process. The student noted, “Maybe incorporated with ‘these are the steps
you need to finish up, this is a timeline, this is what it should look like, what the grad school expects,’
maybe the grad school should do this. You can go to your advisor, but they’re out of touch with what
you need to do for that anyway.” Another participant had experience with this type of focus group
while pursuing a previous degree and had found it very helpful.
Students expressed needs for services that may already exist in some form at OSU, but which they had
not heard about. Several students expressed interest in a presentation practice room, and were
unaware of the space already provided to them through Student Multimedia Services. Students also
expressed a need for student services, especially in the area of career services, for graduate students.
They recognized that much of the effort in this area was aimed at undergraduates, but in light of the
current economic climate, thought that increased job searching support at the graduate student level
was needed.
Library Resources – Participants widely acknowledged the usefulness of the databases, but sometimes
wanted more access, especially at the journal or article level. Several students expressed frustration
with the access to journals provided by OSUL, as expressed in this comment, “access to different
journals here is pretty bad, maybe it’s because of lack of budget.” As has been the trend in academic
libraries across the country, participants wanted more electronic access to journals and did not find
having a print copy in the library adequate. Some students also seemed unaware of how to get to an
actual copy of the article they wanted from a citation and felt there were too many steps involved with
the process, as noted by this student who was accustomed to a different system from her previous
university, “I find it really hard to jump through the hoops to get papers I want [here], but off-campus, I
don’t really even try because it’s hard to get what I want.”
Their desire for quick and easy access to electronic documents was also reflected in their approach to
the research process. Students wanted to rapidly assess whether the information in a particular paper
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was relevant for them and did not want to wait to receive this feedback, as exemplified by the student
who said, “you don’t need the whole paper, you just need a paragraph and a diagram, and it takes time
[to finally get the article] and[then discover] it’s not useful.” Disconcertingly, participants were unaware
of library resources available to them, particularly when they were off-campus. For instance a
participant commented, “at home you don’t have access to IEEE any more, if there was a way to access
from home that would be great.” Participants also noted the lack of books the library held in their
areas, or the advanced age of the books in their areas. Participants generally seemed aware of Summit,
but seemed to want to find more books in their areas on OSUL shelves.
Training – Some participants were appreciative of the workshops already offered through the library.
However, students were often unaware of training opportunities available to them or how to connect
with the library to receive this training. Participants expressed interested in the idea of a library
orientation or an introduction to the library session. For some participants this need for a more
comprehensive introduction to the library arose out of the fact that they were returning to school after
a sizable time gap. As one participant expressed, “I’ve been out of school for a long time, 10 years, and
school is really different now, and with technology things are really different now.” Another student
described the need for an overview to all graduate student services at OSU that would be, “like grad
student 101, I was so accustomed to where I was before, most of us come from other places, Freshmen
have U-Engage.” This participant thought a U-Engage program for graduate students might be useful,
and went on to comment about the initial difficulty of navigating basic services like paying bills and using
Blackboard. Other students agreed, expressing frustration with insider acronyms and their desire to
have a general overview to OSU in addition to the departmental orientations they receive.
Participants discussed a wide array of opportunities for training they would find useful, some of which
could be or are already provided by the library, including citation management software workshops
(including LaTeX, EndNote, Zotero, Mendeley), citation workshops (Chicago, MLA, APA), and an
introduction to library databases.
Other training ideas might be best supported by groups on campus with specific technical expertise.
This group of desired training options includes training in statistics software packages (including SAS, R,
and SPSS), dealing with data and databases, computer services and server space availability on campus,
using the Mac Operating System, training in Adobe Illustrator, and training in programming languages
(Perl, InDesign, MATLAB, STELLA, C and Java). For training in the various software packages mentioned,
some participants expressed a desire to have a several day seminar to immerse them in the software
program. However, other participants thought a broad overview of the software packages available to
them could be helpful so they could make informed decisions about what tools to choose.
Some training options could be offered in partnership with the Center for Writing and Learning, such as
sessions on writing papers, creating graphs, skim reading or speed reading. And some workshops might
best be offered by the Graduate School, including an overview of funding options and deadlines for
students who are looking for campus GTA positions and a centralized way of how to navigate this
process. Participants were particularly interested in guidance on writing and formatting their thesis.
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The idea of having templates available in a centralized digital repository for the different types of thesis
formats used across campus was appealing to many.
Students from the College of Forestry often seemed to have a wider array of resources available to
them, and this was particularly true in the area of training. Participants from the College of Forestry
discussed a workshop program in their college that emphasized the technical needs forestry students
needed to be successful. Other participants thought that “outsourced workshops” in locations other
than the library might be helpful, especially if they were specific to a particular department or college’s
interests.
Participants frequently mentioned the need for training opportunities to be offered both in-person and
virtually so they could have the opportunity to go back and view the presentations again or to access the
content at a time of their choosing if they had been unable to attend the workshop offering.
Communication, Support & Collaboration Themes
We identified several themes within the broader category of “Communication, Support and
Collaboration.” Participants discussed both communication and collaboration ideas that could enhance
their research process. Under this broader theme, participants also described a wide range of
mentoring and GTA training options that could help make them better scholars and teachers.
Communication - Issues in this area surfaced repeatedly and ranged from how students receive
needed information from various administrative units at OSU, including the library, to lack of knowledge
of library-specific services, such as online access from off-campus. In general students expressed the
need to be better informed about services, resources and events across campus and recognized that
they don’t the full range of opportunities available. One student noted, “I think there’s a lot of things I
don’t know exist” while another said, “I only know a quarter of what you can do [at the library.]”
In addition to being better informed, participants expressed the desire that communication directed
toward them be tailored to their specific areas of interest or delivered closer to the actual event. When
discussing the potential of a library email listserv participants said, “… if I could sign up for a more
specific list, if I could just get what was pertinent for now…” or “I’d sign up for something specific, like a
specific prompt about a week before, research workshops or guest speakers.” They also provided tips
for how to better target emails routed through their departmental lists and suggested, “maybe thinking
about how to title the emails so people pay more attention to them.”
Given that librarians generally don’t have direct access to graduate student email lists, but instead must
rely on mediated listservs, of concern were several comments indicating that some students are simply
not receiving email communication regarding the library. One student simply said, “I don’t get any
emails,” while another noted, “I get emails from my department head, but not all the time, only things
that they think are pertinent are sent to us.”
Mentoring - Related to communication but more specifically communication between advisor and
graduate student is the issue of mentoring. One participant recognized that both mentor and mentee
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need a shared understanding of the journey ahead in order to succeed. One participant expressed the
process of achieving this shared understanding in this way, “… expectant parents go to Lamaze, if [the]
advisor and advisee went to a meeting together [where] you would learn about what to expect, it would
be useful for both parties to know the same thing at the same time.” Participants expressed frustration
that advisors don’t have a complete understanding of the requirements and timeline imposed by the
Graduate School noting “you can go to your advisor, but they’re out of touch what you need to do for
that anyway” and, “your advisor just does research and they just think you should find out about that
other [grad school] stuff.”
GTA Needs - Graduate students also struggle to figure out and meet their responsibilities as teachers
and to develop their skills in this crucial area. The seeming lack of support for GTAs was particularly
difficult to hear as this has potential impact on a significant proportion of the OSU student population.
The lack of preparation for the teaching role came through in comments like “I just started as a TA and
I’m totally lost” and “…our TAs are just flung out there, and it’s terrible, if there weren’t other TAs to
help you out, everything would be a mess” and “I need more teaching resources too, I feel like a lot of
times we’re thrown into these TA positions and we don’t have resources…” Another participant noted,
“… we have to figure out how to make the class more applicable and useful to [students] and other
people who [TA] teach classes face the same sorts of issues and it would be nice to pool teaching
resources [in a central location].” One student, discussing specific workshops that might be helpful said,
“… it would be good to have one for grad students, and grad student TAs, maybe just some basic
teaching skills.”
GTAs do support each other and help each other learn to become teachers. “In my department people
pass down notes from previous grad students [on how to teach the classes].” As noted earlier, the
centralizing of resources or easier access to materials developed for previous classes would help new
GTAs; one participant suggested, “I don’t know if there’s anything with Blackboard [where you could
access resources from previous classes to help with teaching].”
GTAs, especially those in the Humanities also need support for the materials they need to prepare for
their classes, in particular the need for printing and copying support. One English GTA expressed
disbelief and frustration that some departments support free printing and said, “I can’t believe you guys
get free printing [from your departments], I just printed 14 copies of a 16 page paper (for students for
classes), we find other ways to do it [because it is hard to plan ahead to have it printed out through their
departmental office procedure], or pay through the library.” In another student’s department, twelve
graduate students share three computers and free printing is generally not available because the
department has run out of money to support this. It is difficult to hear that substantial costs associated
with teaching are being personally absorbed by GTAs who can little afford to bear these costs.
Collaboration - In their role as researchers, participants plainly expressed a desire for more
interdisciplinary interactions, opportunities for collaboration or just the ability to discover others with
possible overlapping research interests. “On the individual level, if you could go online and see what
types of research projects other grad students were doing so we could see if we could connect with
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them or what they’re doing…my professor has an idea of who to work with, but it would be nice if I
could figure that out on my own.” Another participant clearly recognized that there was similar work
going on in different departments noting, “In my department, in my field, toxicology is doing one thing,
chemistry is doing one thing, and you’re doing the same type of research, but there’s no connection.
For me to see how research is done and learn more about it, we’re interconnected, businesses are
saying how can we use you for less money, but we’re always in a competition.”
Participants also offered potential solutions to this siloing of research by suggesting, “what might be
helpful [is] some kind of database where research projects would be updated so you could search and
find…it would have been nice to have this [database type of option]. More specifically, one participant
noted that the library might play a role, “I would like to see the library put together a clearinghouse of
all the research that is happening across campus, so we could browse through what other people are
doing and make connections across campus.” One participant had prior experience with this type of
resource noting “[at my undergrad] there was a central place for all IRB approved studies.” This
participant noted the usefulness of such a resource for those conducting human research saying, “that
would be really conducive for scheduling people, both the tester and the subject would be served.”
Beyond a campus research or IRB database, the library can play other roles in fostering interdisciplinary
collaboration. One participant summed this up perfectly saying “if the library can sponsor
presentations, interdisciplinary talks, [where] each department gives talks…maybe undergrads would
come and listen too instead of just a few members of your research group being there… we could get to
know each other by giving each other feedback.”
Short Term Recommendations Using Existing Resources
Based on the feedback from the student in the four focus groups, the following six short-term
recommendations are put forth for immediate consideration, as they primarily require altering policies
or otherwise using resources already in existence. By implementing these recommendations, the OSU
Libraries can quickly and positively impact the OSU graduate student experience.
1) Increase study room checkout times to 6 hours for graduate students - When graduate students
settle down to research or write, it is often for significant periods of time. The inconvenience of
having to pack all work materials back up after three hours and find a new room or space to
continue working is frustrating and discourages some students from using OSUL study rooms. One
simple solution is to allow graduate students to check out study rooms for longer periods (e.g. six
hours).
Potential Stakeholders: OSUL Access Services
Resources Needed: Staff time to change policy webpage and staff time to change room checkout
periods
2) Allow for renewal of 90-day rooms (when no waiting list) - Several Ph.D. candidates noted that 90
days was not enough time to complete writing once they were in the dissertation writing process.
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Especially during summer periods when room demand is low (e.g. no waiting list), allowing current
90-day room holders to renew the room for an additional 90-day period would serve to facilitate the
dissertation writing and completion process.
Potential Stakeholders: OSUL Access Services
Resources Needed: Staff time to change policy webpage and room checkout periods; Access staff
training time
3) Allow M.S. students access to 90-day rooms for a modified checkout period (30-60 days) Participants nearing completion of their master’s degree also expressed the desire to have access to
long-term research and writing space in order to facilitate the thesis writing and completion process.
Master’s students who present a letter confirming their scheduled degree completion within two
terms (for instance) could be allowed 90-day room access for a modified period, for example 30-60
days.
Potential Stakeholders - OSUL Access Services
Resources Needed - Staff time to change policy webpage and room checkout privileges; Access staff
training time
4) Open up OSUL classrooms (Barnard, Autzen, Willamette East) for after-hours use by graduate
student group work - In order to accommodate graduate student needs for social group study space
without the time limits imposed by the checkout of normal group study rooms, allow graduate
students after-hours access to unused classrooms without the use of the reservation system. This
would also help mitigate the uneven access to computing resources experienced by graduate
students in “have-not” departments.
Potential Stakeholders - OSUL Reference Desk staff
Resources Needed - Staff time to change policy webpage; reference staff training time
5) Form Library Graduate Student Advisory Committee - While there is currently a Graduate Student
Services Committee in the library, there is no formal graduate student representation on the
committee. The formation of a Library Graduate Student Advisory Committee would allow for
regular engagement and ongoing conversation with graduate students and timely feedback on
decisions regarding spaces and services for this segment of the OSU student population.
Potential Stakeholders - Library Graduate Student Services Committee, Graduate School, graduate
students
Resources Needed -Time to contact and solicit a group of interested graduate students; food for the
advisory committee meetings (incentive for attending and participating)
6) Improved communication of services and spaces - Participants noted the need for more explicit
communication of library services and spaces for graduate students. A more robust communication
plan for contact with graduate students is needed that should include: increased liaison contact
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with departments to promote library services and existing graduate student spaces, making library
services and spaces more visible on the library website, more high-profile library orientations for
new graduate students, occasional use of print advertising, potentially advertising in the Barometer,
and more frequent, but short emails through listservs that directly reach graduate students.
Potential Stakeholders - OSUL subject librarians, OSUL Team 200/U-Team, OSU Graduate School,
Student Multimedia Services
Resources Needed - Redesigned web space, funding for print advertising, staff time for designing
promotions
Mid-Term Recommendations Using Potential Resources
Based on the feedback from the students in the four focus groups, the following three medium-range
recommendations are put forth for consideration in the next year, as they require leveraging resources
from a variety of stakeholders, but the potential resources are likely already available on campus. By
implementing these recommendations, the OSU Libraries can quickly and positively impact the OSU
graduate student experience.
1)
Better maps immediately in the library - Graduate students expressed the desire for better wayfinding tools in order to navigate the library more effectively and efficiently. While there are maps
in the main entry way, they are decorative in nature and therefore do not draw attention. Also floor
maps on each floor are geared to those patrons utilizing the elevator as opposed to the stairs. Thus
a more high-profile entryway library map and stairwell maps are recommended to increase
independent navigation of the library.
Potential Stakeholders - OSUL Administrative Assistant, OSUL Spaces Committee
Resources Needed - time to evaluate best signposting practices; poster printing
2)
Subsidize printing for graduate teaching assistants - Graduate teaching assistants, especially those
in “have not” departments bear the financial burden of preparing course materials related to their
teaching that other graduate students do not. Asking graduate student university employees to
bear this cost seems onerous. Implementing subsidized printing for GTAs would help mitigate this
burden.
Potential Stakeholders - OSUL Emerging Technology Services, OSU Graduate School
Resources Needed - budget for GTA printing
3) Improved training and resources for graduate teaching assistants - Graduate teaching assistants
often start their teaching careers with little or no preparation for teaching. Considering that GTAs
interact with many of OSU’s students and that teaching interaction is related to student retention,
the specific development and support of graduate students as a unique category of OSU instructors
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must be addressed. Training and support can include workshops on teaching, library materials
related to graduate student teaching, web space for sharing teaching resources, and space for
workshops.
Potential Stakeholders – OSU Center for Teaching and Learning, OSUL – Instruction Work Group
(purchase materials), OSU Graduate School,
Resources Needed - collection budget, workshop space, Web space to post materials, experienced
teachers willing to lead workshops
Examples – OSU Biology TA training program,
http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/lifeatosu/2010/oregon-state-trains-graduate-students-to-bebetter-tas/
Long Term Recommendations Requiring Brand New Resources
Based on the ideas and feedback shared by the graduate students in these focus groups, we have five
key long-term recommendations that either the OSU Libraries, or the Libraries in partnership with other
campus stakeholders could implement to improve the OSU graduate student experience. These
recommendations will require more time to implement as they will require multiple stakeholders and
additional funding and resources.
1) Provide document delivery services for graduate students and faculty – A frequently repeated issue
in the library resources theme was the need to remove barriers for students to receive quick and
efficient access to research materials, both from libraries around the world and from our own library
here on campus. A document delivery service would help provide increased access to OSUL
materials and would mitigate some of the frustration students have in the exploration stage of
finding and retrieving resources.
Potential Stakeholders: OSUL Access Services, OSUL Interlibrary Loan
Resources Needed: Funding for time needed to fulfill requests, transportation system to deliver
materials on campus
Existing Examples: UC Davis Libraries,
http://lib.ucdavis.edu/dept/access/circ/ill/studentsandstaff.php, where a fee is charged; University
of Washington Libraries pilot project, http://www.lib.washington.edu/ill/pilot.html, where no fees
are charged for students and faculty; Indiana University Bloomington Libraries,
http://www.libraries.iub.edu/index.php?pageId=542, where no fees are charged for students and
faculty
2) Create a database of campus research and researchers – Each group of participants noted the need
for increased collaboration across disciplinary lines. Independently, multiple participants floated the
idea of a research database, which would allow researchers across campus to easily view what
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research was being conducted by other individuals and research units in order to explore avenues
for interdisciplinary cooperation. Graduate students felt the need for a transparent researcher
database was particularly relevant for them as they have not been on campus long enough to know
about some of the researcher connections that may take many years to learn about. Ideally, these
graduate students would like to see a comprehensive online database with each graduate student
and faculty members’ research projects and agendas listed.
Potential Stakeholders: OSUL ScholarsArchive, OSUL subject librarians, the OSU Graduate School,
the OSU Research office, individual departments.
Resources Needed: Funding for time needed to manage the database, server space to host the
database, campus-wide buy-in to contribute information to the database, funding for data entry
Existing Examples: University of Rochester’s Institutional Repository, which includes researcher
profiles, https://urresearch.rochester.edu/home.action
3) Create a university-wide plan for graduate student training needs - To best serve graduate student
needs, OSU must approach their training needs in a holistic fashion. In order to approach graduate
student needs strategically, and to promote training opportunities in a clear manner, all of the
campus stakeholders with an interest in graduate student training needs should meet and form a
plan for implementing training for graduate students at OSU to ensure that all OSU graduate
students have the opportunity to succeed.
Potential Stakeholders: Graduate School, Center for Teaching and Learning, Center for Writing and
Learning, OSUL, colleges and/or departments, especially those with heavy use of GTAs
Resources Needed – Leadership to bring together these diverse groups
4) Create a graduate student-specific virtual space – Participants noted a need for enhanced
community both in physical and virtual spaces. In addition, participants voiced a need for enhanced
transparency for resources that were available to them as graduate students, both within the library
and across campus. Participants wanted an easier way to navigate to library resources, including
databases, workshop listings, tips to make their research more effective (such as connecting Google
Scholar and OSUL) and available study spaces. Participants also wanted a way to connect with other
students to share ideas and concerns about professional development, technology resources, thesis
writing, and teaching resources. Such a Web space could serve as both a communication vehicle
and a collaboration tool.
Potential Stakeholders: OSUL Team 200, OSUL subject librarians, OSUL Access Services, the
Graduate School
Resources Needed: Web space, server space, funding for time for Web site management, funding to
promote the Web site
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Existing Examples:
GradShare.com, http://gradshare.com/, a non-institution specific graduate student community
created by ProQuest to facilitate graduate students’ question about the research process and
graduate student life;
Graduate Junction, http://www.graduatejunction.net/site/index, a non-institution specific graduate
student community created by graduate students to provide community, resources, and advice;
NYU Law Community, https://nyulaw.affinitycircles.com/nyulaw/auth/login, a space for job
postings, professional questions, and networking;
Goldsmiths of the University of London Virtual Graduate School, http://grad.gold.ac.uk/, provides
professional development resources, Graduate School policies, networking opportunities, event
listings, and training and funding resources
5) Provide a graduate student-specific space on campus – Participants overwhelmingly wanted
graduate student-specific spaces for both private study and group work, which could include social
spaces. While graduate students in some colleges like Engineering and Science already had office
space available to them, few students felt adequate space was available for collaborative work.
Students from colleges like CLA and HHS often lacked adequate space for studying quietly, and felt
that current library spaces that were also available to undergraduates did not meet their more
intensive research needs. For private study spaces, students wanted quiet spaces with access to
computers, printing, and a wireless network. In addition, they wanted this space to feel inviting in
terms of comfortable seating and light. For group study spaces, students wanted whiteboards,
wireless access, projectors, a variety of seating and table options, and the ambience attributes of
the private spaces, including good lighting. In addition, graduate students wanted a common area
where they could escape from studying and relax with food, drink, and perhaps the option to play
video games. Participants felt that access to these spaces needed to be available 24 hours a day.
When queried, students felt that this space did not necessarily need to be in the library, but many
felt that the library was a central space that would provide many of the additional resources that
they valued.
Potential Stakeholders: OSUL Admin, the Graduate School, Student Multimedia Services
Resources Needed: an appropriate space, funding to renovate space, funding for technology for
space, funding to promote the space, staff time to administer the space
Existing Examples:
University of Rochester Libraries, http://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=3476
NYU Bobst Libraries, http://nyu.libguides.com/content.php?pid=31133&sid=629459
UVa Libraries, http://www2.lib.virginia.edu/scholarslab/about/
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UNLV Libraries, http://library.nevada.edu/services/grad/lounge.html
University of Michigan Shapiro Science Library http://www.lib.umich.edu/node/1547
Ryerson University Library http://www.ryerson.ca/library/
(see images below)
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Photographs of graduate spaces in other libraries
Figure 1: University of Rochester Messinger Graduate Study Accessed from
http://www.rochester.edu/news/photos/hi_res/hi500.jpg
Figure 2: NYU Bobst Individual Grad Study Space Accessed from
http://nyu.libguides.com/print_content.php?pid=31133&sid=629459
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Figure 3: NYU Bobst Collaborative Grad Study Space. Acccessed from
http://nyu.libguides.com/print_content.php?pid=31133&sid=629459
Figure 4: NY Bobst Collaborative Grad Study Space, view 2 Accessed from
http://nyu.libguides.com/print_content.php?pid=31133&sid=629459
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Figure 5: UVa Scholars Lab Accessed from lgwright via Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/loriwright/224208432/sizes/l/
Figure 6: UVa Scholars Lab Accessed from lgwright via Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/loriwright/271238435/sizes/m/
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Figure 7: UNLV Libraries GPSA Office and Computer Lab Accessed from
http://gpsa.unlv.edu/officeComputerLab.html
Figure 8: University of Michigan Shapiro Science Library Graduate Study Room. Accessed from
http://www.lib.umich.edu/node/1547
Figure 9: University of Michigan Shapiro Science Library Graduate Study Room. Accessed from
http://www.lib.umich.edu/node/1547
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Figure 10: Ryerson University Library (Canada): Graduate Studies Lounge Accessed from
http://www.ryerson.ca/library/blog/2008/09/4th-floor-now-open.html
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Ideal OSU Libraries Graduate Student Space
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