Fresno State University: From Laptops to the Reference Desk, “Library Student Services Vary in Popularity”

From The Collegian: (Student Newspaper at Fresno St. University)

Since its remodel in 2009, The Henry Madden Library has had 4,262,955 students, faculty, and community members walk through its doors, but few of those people know all that it has to offer.
“I wasn’t exposed to any of the services,” said Michelle Moua, a second-year social work student from Fresno. “If I knew more about them, I would try to use them more. A laptop and even tutoring would have been very helpful my first year.”

Quick Comment: When Pew Internet released a report one month ago it said just about the same thing that the student in the quote above has to say about her academic library.
Btw, when I was working in an academic library more than a decade ago I also heard similar comments from students. In my case, I heard these comments from graduate students. Several of the thoughts I shared about public libraries and lack of awareness of library services are also applicable to academics. Here’s our post from a month ago.
What this one student has to say would most likely be heard from many students (and even faculty members) at many universities.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that library services at Fresno St. University are not used. Hardly.
The Collegian article continues with a more about how students are using the Fresno St. Library.

Laptop lending, which is the most popular service, allows students the opportunity to check out a free laptop or power cord for as little as a few hours to as long as a full semester. Last year alone, laptops were checked out 97,000 times.
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In contrast to laptop lending, one of the most underutilized services is the reference desk.

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Filed under: Academic Libraries, Libraries, News, Public Libraries