Running head: UAA library open 24 hours April 21, 2014 Robin Hanson University of Alaska Anchorage Consortium

library 3211 Providence Drive Anchorage, AK 99508 Subject: Feasibility Study Dear Ms. Robin Hanson,

On February 15, 2014 I wrote a proposal requesting you to give me permission to do a feasibility report on having the University of Alaska Anchorage library open 24 hours Sundays through Thursdays. I am pleased to inform you that I have completed my research. I would like to thank you for letting me do this feasibility report. I have attached my finding on this research and recommendation. I am currently a student at the University of Alaska Anchorage campus and I am one of many students that use the UAA library all the time to do my school work. There are lots of students that that use the night library services. There have been many studies on how important college libraries are for college student. I did my primary research by distributing a questionnaire to my classmates in my technical writhing class. I had 23 participants answer questions about how they felt on having the University of Alaska open 24 hours Sundays through Thursdays. I also did secondary research by research how important college libraries are to college students by using the UAA library database. Sincerely, Florlinda Batdorf

Running head: UAA library open 24 hours

University of Alaska Anchorage should be open 24 hours: A Feasibility Report Florlinda Batdorf Technical Writing University of Alaska Anchorage March 28, 2014

Running head: UAA library open 24 hours Abstract This paper is a feasibility report on having the University of Alaska Anchorage library open 24

hours Sundays through Thursdays. The University of Alaska Anchorage library current hours are Sunday through Thursday 7:30am to 1:00am for UAA students. Sundays through Thursdays are the days it would be good to have the library open 24 hours because those are the days students use the library the most. I did my primary research by distributing a questionnaire to my classmate asking questions about how they felt on extending the library hours to have it open 24 hours Sundays through Thursdays. My secondary research was conducted by using the UAA library database, researching how important college libraries are to college students. With this research I have found that more primary research would have to be conducted before going forward with having the UAA library open 24 hours. My recommendations is to have more questionnaires done by the students that use the UAA library regularly, to see if it would be worth having the library open 24 hours.

Running head: UAA library open 24 hours Table of Contents

Abstract3 Table of Contents.4 Introduction..5 Research Methods8 Results..9 Conclusions12 Recommendations..13 References..14 Appendix A: Questionnaire...15

Running head: UAA library open 24 hours Introduction On February 15, 2014, I requested approval to study the feasibility on having the University of Alaska Anchorage library open 24 hours Mondays through Thursdays. The proposal was based on how students would benefit from having the UAA Anchorage library

open 24 hours Mondays thought Thursdays. I also researched how important college libraries are to college students. The current hours right now at the University of Alaska Anchorage library are Sundays 12:00pm to 1:00am, Mondays through Thursdays are 7:30am to 1:00am, Fridays 7:30am to 10:00pm, and Saturday 10:00am to 10:00pm. The UAA library should be open 24 hours only Sundays through Thursdays because those are the days that college students use that library the most. When the weekends come around students put their book aside until Sunday night when they remember all the school work that they have to do for the week. There are many students that study and do school work at night, some because that is the only time that have and others because at night there are fewer distractions around the library. As matter of fact, there are many successful people that say, there is not time to sleep if you want to be successful. The college libraries are also very important in a students life during college years. Soria, Fransen, Nackerud (2013) found that students that use the library have higher GPA then students that do not use the library. They probably have a higher GPA because students that use the library usually take school very serious and work harder on getting their school work done. Couse of these findings, all college students should have access to a library at all time. With many students now a days having very busy schedules, not every student has time to make it to the library during the day.

Running head: UAA library open 24 hours Some students could only concentrate while they are at the library, according to Orientation and Functions of Library in Quality Education of College, Yang (2011) Libraries help college students to improve and expand their knowledge by rich stored resources, creating a quiet and harmonious study fields with elegant and nice environment, and civilized reading atmosphere. Many students get more school work done at the library then they do at home or any other places. The library is the best place to get school work done because most students are there for one process and it is to do school work. Because we all know that at home or in other places we have too many distractions.

College libraries also play an important role on students retention. Mezick (2007), states that students that use the school libraries, come back the next semester and do better in classes, then the students that do not use the school libraries. For lots of college students the first year could be very stressful and finding a place to study and do school work while getting help if they need it, makes a big difference in a study life. With college libraries having quiet place to study, computer, librarians to help if you need it and study room to have studies groups, it make students feel comfortable while they are at the library. With students having a place like the library to help them succeed in school, makes them feel like they could be successful in school. All new students should have the opportunity of learning all the advantage of using the college library. The college should have a library orientation. Some students do not realize how helpful a college library could be when doing school work. Students that use library more often also are more involved in school actives and they are the students that are serious about their grades. Spievak ,Bohanan (2013) Survey results indicated support for single session information literacy instruction in that participants exposed to a librarian classroom visit reported that they would be significantly more likely to have used library databases, checked out a book,

Running head: UAA library open 24 hours asked a librarian for help, and to predict that they would ask a librarian for help at a later time Implications of these findings suggest that academic librarians should design library research skills courses to increase students focused use of the academic library and its resources in order to increase their critical thinking skills. Whitmire (1998). These programs for new students would be good for students to take, so they could understand how helpful a library could be to them. Todays campus library is more than just a place to get resources. Its a destination that supports new, technology-driven teaching, learning, and research patterns, offering everything

from books to digital databases to a social space for students to gather.Frade, Washburn, (2006). There has also been some studies that has showed that students that study late night often get better grades. The study found that late night library users have slightly higher than average grade point averages and retention rates the university averages. Scarletto, Burhanna, Richardson (2013). Who has time to sleep now a days? There is no time to sleep when there are thing to get down.

Running head: UAA library open 24 hours Research Methods The following methods were used to research and gather information regarding the

feasibility of having the University of Alaska Anchorage library open 24 hours Sundays through Thursdays. I conducted primary research through a questionnaire that I had my classmate take asking how they felt about having the UAA library open 24 hour Sundays through Thursdays. I did my secondary research my using the UAA Consortium Library and reviewed peerreviewed articles addressing the importance of the college libraries. I analyzed the data on the completed questionnaires and made it into graphic information I spoke to other students at the library about what though of having the UAA library open 24 hours Sundays through Thrusdays Criteria After review and evaluation the questionnaire and research, my recommendations were made based on the following criteria: Do you think the UAA library should be open 24 hours Sunday-Thursday? What would be your concerns on having the UAA library open 24 hours? Do you feel that the library is a good place to do school work? Would you like to see the library extend its hours?

Running head: UAA library open 24 hours Results

The purpose of this study was to determine whether it would be feasible to have the UAA Anchorage library open 24 hours Sundays through Thursdays. Its a proven fact that college libraries are important to college students life while in college. College students that use college libraries have a higher retention and higher GPA then the students that do not use the library on a regular base. A lot of college in the lower 48 like the University of South Florida have 24 hours libraries that student could use and they are very successful. For the past three months, I have been researching if it is feasible to have the UAA Anchorage library open 24 hours Sundays through Thursdays. I distributed a questionnaire to all my classmates in my Technical Writing Class at the University of Alaska. I had 23 classmates respond to my questionnaire. In figure 1, the participants were asked if they thought the UAA Anchorage library should be open 24 hours Sundays through Thursdays. Out of 23 participants, 47% said no and 53% said yes. Most of these students are taking online classes because they do not have the time to make it to campus. Which this means that more questionnaire has to be conducted in the library or around campus to see how other students that actually use the campus, feel about extending the hours of the UAA library.

Do the students think the UAA library should be open 24 hours Sundays-Thursdays

47% 53%

Yes

No

In Figure 2, is another question in the questionnaire that I asked my classmates Do you feel that the library is a good place to do school work? In this figure it shows you that 73% of

Running head: UAA library open 24 hours respondents said yes and 28% said no. Most of the participants think that the library is a good place to do school work and study. The UAA Anchorage library is a great place to do school work with quiet places to study, computers to do school work and librarians to help you if you need help. There are some students that do not have computers at home and rely on the

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computers at the library to do their school work. With most students answering yes, it show that students are aware of the good thing the library has to offer to student.

80% 60% 40% 20% 0%

Do you feel that the library is a good place to do school work?

Yes

No

Another question on the questionnaire, participants were asked, if they would you like to see the library extend its hours. In Figure 3, it show that 47% answered yes and 53% said no. This means that without further research and doing a questionnaire around the campus it is not feasible to have the UAA Anchorage library open 24 hour at the moment.

Would you like to see the library extend its hours?

47% 53%

Yes

No

Running head: UAA library open 24 hours There are many other questions to be answered before going ahead with extending the hour. The cost that it would take to have UAA library extend its hours, which I do not have financial information. There would have to be some research done to see if UAA has the

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financially support the extended hours. There was also some concerns of the safety in having the UAA library open all night, would the library have some kind of surety. And how often would students actually use the late night hours? Maybe having a trial period to see the use patterns during late night hours would help to determine if it would be feasible the extend the UAA Anchorage library hours.

Running head: UAA library open 24 hours Conclusions We all know that college libraries are very important for college students but more research has to be conducted before proceeding to have the UAA Anchorage library open 24 hours. At this time it is not feasible to extend the hour of the UAA library without further research. More questionnaire should be conducted in the library, asking students that use the library often. The questionnaire that I conducted was only given to the students of my online

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class and most student that take classes online is because they cannot make it to the campus most of the time. This is why more students at the library or around campus should also do a questionnaire about how they feel about extending the UAA library hours.

Running head: UAA library open 24 hours Recommendations

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After my research results, my recommendations are to have students at the UAA library do a survey on the library usage. With the survey the library could determine if the students would even use the 24 hour library services. If it looks like lots of students would use the library at night then they should have a trial period having the library open 24 hours before making it official. The UAA library should also try to have a library orientation, that way new students could learn all the advantages of using the college library.

Running head: UAA library open 24 hours References Frade,P.A, Washburn, A. (2006). The Center of a University Education? Libraries and the Academy, 6(3) 327-346. DOI: 10.1353/pla.2006.0037 Mezick, E. M., (2007). Return on Investment: Libraries and Student Retention. The Journal of Academic Librarianship,33(5) 561-566. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org.proxy.consortiumlibrary.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2007.05.002

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Scarletto, E. A., Burhanna, K.J., Richardson, E., (2013). Wide Awake at 4 AM: A Study of Late Night User Behavior, Perceptions and Performance at an Academic Library. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 39(5) 371-377. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org.proxy.consortiumlibrary.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2013.02.006

Soria, K.M., Fransen, J., Nackerud, S. (2014). Library Use and Undergraduate Student Outcomes: Academy, New Evidence for Students Retention and Academic Success. Libraries & the 13(2), 147-164. Retrieved from

http://web.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.consortiumlibrary.org/ehost/detail?vid=11&sid=234c5

Spievak, E.R., Hayes-Bohanan, P. (2013). Just enough of a Good Thing: Indication of LongTerm Efficacy in One-Shot Library Instruction. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 39(6), 488. Doi:org.proxy.consortiumlibrary.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2013.08.01399

Whitmire, E, (1998). Development of Critical Thinking Skills: An Analysis of Academic Library Experiences and Other Measures. College &Research Libraries, 59(3) 266-273. Retrieved From http://crl.acrl.org/content/59/3/266.abstract

Running head: UAA library open 24 hours Appendix A: Questionnaire I am a student at University of Alaska and I'm completing a feasibility study in my Technical Writing class.

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The purpose of this questionnaire is to gather information on how many students would use the University of Alaska Anchorage libraries if it was open 24 hour Sunday-Thursday. Your responses will be kept confidential and thank you for your time in completing this questionnaire. If you have any questions you could contact my Professor at kmbot@uaa.alaska.edu Do you think the UAA library should be open 24 hours Sunday-Thursday?

Yes No

What is your educational status?

Freshmen

Sophomore Junior Senior

Are you currently employed?

Yes No

How far do you live from the UAA Anchorage library?

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1-10 mile away 11- more

What would be your concerns on having the UAA library open 24 hours?

Safety Parking Hours of the public bus lines that go by the UAA library

Where do you study best?

Home UAA library Other

What time of the day do you prefer to study?

Morning Afternoon Evening Night

Would you like to see the library extend its hours?

Yes No Don't care

What time of the day do you use the library?

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Morning Afternoon Evenings Nights Never use the library

Do you feel that the library is a good place to do school work?

Yes No

If you had access to the UAA Anchorage library 24 hours a day, how often do you think that you would use the library at night?

Once a week Twice a week Three times a week Never

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